Benzie County

The Detention Center

Benzie County Jail

• Operated byBenzie County Sheriff's Office
• Jail addressCo-located with the Sheriff's Office at 505 S Michigan Avenue, Beulah, MI 49617 (Jail and Law Enforcement Center on US-31 in Beulah).
• BedsMaximum inmate capacity of 47, per the county's published jail history.
• BuiltGroundbreaking December 9, 1990; brick/block structure of approximately 19,000 sq ft; total cost came in about $300,000 under the $3,500,000 estimate.

Source: Benzie County, MI - Jail History · checked 2026-09-19

• ✓The jail is named
• ✗Who is in custody — not published
• ✓Beds and daily population
• ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
• ✗Deaths in custody — not published
• ✗PREA audits — not published
• ✓Independent inspection
• ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
• ✗How to post bond — not published
• ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Benzie County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-19. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

• Year built1990 (groundbreaking December 9, 1990)
• Original costAbout $3.2 million (roughly $300,000 under the $3,500,000 estimate)
• Paid for by1989 county millage proposal approved by Benzie County voters to build and operate a new jail facility
• Beds47 (maximum inmate capacity)

The Sheriff

Sheriff Kyle Rosa

• Runs the jailThe Benzie County Jail 'is operated under the direction of Sheriff of Benzie County, specifically pursuant to Michigan law.'
• How the office is filledElected, four-year term, MCL 51.70. Sheriff Rosa was elected to the Office of Sheriff for a four-year term beginning January 1, 2021, after decades as a Benzie County deputy/undersheriff.
• Statutory basisMCL 51.75; Michigan Dept. of Corrections Administrative Rules for Jails and Lockups govern jail operations.

Source: Benzie County, MI - Law Enforcement Division · checked 2026-09-19

The Judges

Michigan circuit and district court judges are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms under Mich. Const. art. VI — state judicial officers, not county officials.

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-19

The County Commissioners

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

• What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
• What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
• The boardBenzie County Board of Commissioners; seven members, four-year terms; Chair Art Jeannot (District II), per the board's own page. →
• Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →