The Detention Center
St. Charles County Department of Corrections (SCCDOC) facility
- Operated bySt. Charles County Department of Corrections, a county department
- Who runs itDirector of the St. Charles County Department of Corrections (head of the department that runs the jail) — the county does not name the current holder
- Answers tothe St. Charles County Department of Corrections, a county department
- Why this is differentThe elected county sheriff does not run this jail.
- Mission publishedThe department states it provides care, custody and control for adult offenders
- Beds592, published by the county as the facility's capacity
- Year built1989, described by the county as a maximum security second generation jail
- Housing unitsThe county describes housing units of 24 to 48 capacity each
- Who is heldThe county states the population consists of inmates awaiting trial, committed and sentenced inmates, state prisoners, and holds for other jurisdictions including local municipalities and federal inmates
- VisitationOne 60-minute non-contact visit every other week, time set by housing unit, maximum four visitors, two at a time; video visitation booths on the first floor, arranged at least 24 hours ahead by calling 636-949-7500 ext. 3610
- Kiosk and tablet callsThe county states there is a fee for calls made through the kiosk and tablet vendor, but publishes no rate
- Daily populationNot found
- What was triedsccmo.org Corrections and Facility pages were opened. The county's Corrections staff directory, Department of Corrections Divisions page, jail FAQ, staff directory, two news items about new jail units and jail improvements, and a posting for the Director of Corrections all failed with connection timeouts on repeated attempts, so the director's name and the recent jail expansion were not confirmed. mo-stcharlescounty.civicplus.com/204/Facility timed out. stcharlescountycourt.org was opened and states it is a privately owned website not operated by any government agency; it is not cited.
Source: St Charles County, MO - Facility · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓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 — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1989
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds592
Since then
- A county news item titled as a media tour of new units at the St. Charles County Jail, and another titled Major Improvements to County Jail, appeared in search results on sccmo.org, but neither could be opened, so no expansion detail is recorded
The Sheriff
Sheriff Scott Lewis
- Runs the jailNo - the county's own pages present the jail as the St. Charles County Department of Corrections (SCCDOC), a county department; no county page that could be opened mentions a sheriff in connection with the jail
- How the office is filledNot established from a county page. St. Charles County is a charter county with a County Executive and County Council, and county-wide policing moved to an appointed St. Charles County Police Department; the current role and holder of any sheriff's office were not confirmed from a page that could be opened
- Why RSMo 221.020 does not settle it hereThe ordinary rule that the sheriff keeps the jail does not describe this county's arrangement; the county's own Corrections pages attribute the facility to its Department of Corrections
- Source of the nameName from the Missouri Law Enforcement Agencies list kept by the Missouri Department of Public Safety (POST program), a state list, not a county page; checked 18 September 2026
- Office (state list)St Charles County Sheriff's Office, 201 N. Second Street Suite 429, St. Charles, MO 63301; phone (636) 949-3010
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Missouri Law Enforcement Agencies list (Missouri Department of Public Safety, POST program; shown on the Attorney General's Police and Sheriffs Contacts page) - statewide list, checked 18 September 2026 · checked 2026-09-18
The Judges
Missouri's 1940 Nonpartisan Court Plan covers the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals statewide, but at circuit level it applies in only six jurisdictions - Clay, Greene, Jackson, Platte, St. Louis County and St. Louis City. This county is not one of them, so its circuit and associate circuit judges are elected on a partisan ballot. They are state judicial officers, not county officials. St. Charles County is a charter county but is not a Missouri Plan circuit. No judge's name and no circuit number was confirmed from a page that could be opened.
Still needed
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-18
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The county's Department of Corrections 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 belong to the St. Charles County Department of Corrections, a county department.
- The boardThe County Council
Notes on the record
- Structural point: St. Charles County does not follow Missouri's ordinary sheriff-as-jailer model. Its own site presents the jail as the St. Charles County Department of Corrections, a county department. This record does not name an elected sheriff as jailer.
- The director of the Department of Corrections was not named on any county page that could be opened. A county job posting for Director of Corrections appeared in search results but could not be opened, so nothing is claimed about whether the post is currently filled.
- Wikipedia states the St. Charles County Police Department took over policing of unincorporated areas on 1 January 2015 and that the sheriff's department had handled court services and prisoner transport. That is recorded only as background; the current status of the sheriff's office was not confirmed from a county page.
- The capacity check is met on the county's published bed count of 592. No daily population figure is published.
- The contracts check is recorded as no: the county states it holds prisoners for local municipalities and federal agencies, but publishes no contract or per-diem rate on a page that could be opened.
- The fees check is recorded as no: the county mentions a fee for kiosk and tablet calls but publishes no rate.
- The county's council, budget and minutes pages could not be reached, so no budget, board of visitors report or grand jury jail report was examined; nothing is claimed either way.
- No Missouri state agency inspects county jails. The Department of Corrections operates and inspects state prisons under RSMo chapter 217; that authority does not reach chapter 221 county and city jails. The Missouri Sheriffs' Association publishes non-binding jail guidance and runs jail-administrator training, but it is a private association of sheriffs, not a regulator. The only statutory mechanisms are local and lay: a grand jury visit to the jail under RSMo 221.300, and a county board of visitors under RSMo 221.320-221.350, which RSMo 221.350 requires to report yearly to the county.
- Missouri has no death-in-custody reporting law and no public dataset; RSMo 58.451(1)(5) requires only notice to the coroner.
- Charter county: the governing body is a County Council with a separately elected County Executive rather than the three-member County Commission used by ordinary Missouri counties. Wikipedia describes a seven-member council elected by district and a county executive elected county-wide. The county's own council and staff directory pages could not be opened, so no current council member or county executive is named here.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in St. Charles County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
This jail is run by a county department, not by an elected sheriff. The officials who oversee it are elected.
Names verified 2026-09-18 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered