The Detention Center
None — Billings County operates no jail
- Operated byN/A
- Where Billings County's prisoners are heldSouthwest Multi-County Correctional Center / Dickinson Adult Detention Center, Stark County
- Facility statsGrade one, rated capacity 124, DOCR inspection Aug 27-28, 2025
- Exact language"maintains verbal and contractual agreements to house inmates from different jurisdictions including U.S. Border Patrol, United States Marshal Service, and the DOCR Parole and Probation as well as the counties of Adams, McKenzie, Billings, Bowman, Dunn, Golden Valley, Hettinger, Slope and Stark"
- Governing boardSouthwest Multi-County Correctional Center is governed by a seven-county board of commissioners, one per county, including Billings County, per ND state-layer research (not reopened this session)
- What was triedNo official Billings County government website domain was located within this session's search budget; the only sourced details come from the ND Association of Counties directory and the host facility's own inspection report
Source: Southwest Multi-County Correctional Center Inspection Report (DOCR, Aug 27-28, 2025) · checked 2026-08-25
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot applicable — Billings County operates no jail
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Dean Wyckoff
- Runs the jailNo county jail — Billings County has no jail; per the Southwest Multi-County Correctional Center's own DOCR inspection report, Billings is among the counties it holds inmates from
- ElectedYes — NDCC 11-10-02, four-year term
- OfficePO Box 157, 495 4th Street, Medora, ND 58645; 701-623-4323
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: North Dakota Association of Counties — County Officials Directory (Billings County) · checked 2026-08-25
The Judges
North Dakota district judges are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms (ND Constitution Art. VI, Sec. 1). Midterm vacancies are filled by the Governor from a list submitted by a judicial nominating committee, unless the Governor instead calls a special election (ND Constitution Art. VI, Sec. 13). District judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. Under ND Supreme Court Administrative Rule 20, a presiding judge may appoint a magistrate with delegated authority to hold initial appearances and set bail under NDCC ch. 29-08.
District Court — Southwest Judicial District
- William A. Herauf (Presiding Judge)
- Rhonda R. Ehlis
- James D. Gion
- Dann E. Greenwood
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-25
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 boardBoard of County Commissioners
Notes on the record
- Billings County operates no jail; its prisoners are held at the Southwest Multi-County Correctional Center in Dickinson (Stark County), confirmed directly from that facility's own DOCR inspection report.
- No official Billings County website domain was located within this session's search budget, so the ten transparency checks default to 'no' rather than being assumed.
- Board of County Commissioners (NDCC 11-11-01). Commission Chair: Dean Rodne, per the ND Association of Counties directory. Other members and a board/minutes page were not found from a source opened this session.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Billings 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.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-08-25 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered