The Detention Center
None — Burke County operates no jail
- Operated byN/A
- Where Burke County's prisoners are held (confirmed)Ward County Detention Center, Minot, and Bottineau County Correctional Center — both confirmed directly from those facilities' own DOCR inspection reports
- Ward County — exact language"maintains verbal and contractual agreements to house inmates from the counties of Renville, McHenry, Burke, the cities of Minot, Surrey..."
- Bottineau County — exact language"BCCC maintains active verbal and contractual agreements to house inmates from different jurisdictions, including DOCR Parole and Probation, and the counties of Renville, Pembina, Rolette, Burke, and McHenry."
- Mountrail County — not confirmedND state-layer research notes also named Mountrail County Correctional Center as a Burke destination, but Mountrail's own DOCR inspection report, opened this session, does not mention Burke County anywhere and instead names only DOCR, DAS, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the MHA Nation as its outside agreements — this connection is recorded as not confirmed rather than repeated as fact
Source: Ward County Detention Center — DOCR Inspection Report (Mar 25-26, 2026) · 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 — Burke County operates no jail
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Nick Throntveit
- Runs the jailNo county jail — Burke County has no jail; per the Ward County and Bottineau County DOCR inspection reports, Burke is among the counties they hold inmates from
- ElectedYes — NDCC 11-10-02, four-year term
- OfficePO Box 250, Bowbells, ND 58721; 701-377-2311
- 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 (Burke 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 — North Central Judicial District
- Gary H. Lee (Presiding Judge)
- Todd L. Cresap
- Richard L. Hagar
- Steven A. Lautt
- Stacy J. Louser
- 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
- Burke County operates no jail; its prisoners are held at the Ward County Detention Center (Minot) and the Bottineau County Correctional Center, both confirmed directly from those facilities' own DOCR inspection reports.
- No official Burke 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: Jarret Van Berkom, 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 Burke 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