The Detention Center
None — McHenry County has no jail
- Operated byN/A
- Where prisoners goHeart of America Correctional & Treatment Center (Rugby), Ward County Detention Center (Minot), and Bottineau County Correctional Center
- Also sourced toND DOCR inspection report — Ward County Detention Center (naming this county as a sending county) — https://www.docr.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/jails/Ward%20County%20Inspection.pdf
- Also sourced toND DOCR inspection report — Bottineau County Correctional Center (naming this county as a sending county) — https://www.docr.nd.gov/sites/www/files/documents/jails/Bottineau%20County%20Inspection.pdf
Source: ND DOCR inspection report — Heart of America Correctional & Treatment Center (naming this county as a sending county) · 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 — no county jail
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Trey Skager
- Runs a jailNo — McHenry County has no operating jail
- Where prisoners goHeart of America Correctional & Treatment Center (Rugby, Pierce County), Ward County Detention Center (Minot), and Bottineau County Correctional Center
- StaffingSheriff's Office describes itself as comprised of 9 sworn officers plus reserve officers
- Contact407 Main St S Rm 303, Towner, ND 58788; (701) 537-5633; tcskager@nd.gov
- 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 (McHenry 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 — Northeast Judicial District
- Anthony Swain Benson (Presiding Judge)
- Kari Michelle Agotness
- Kelley Cole
- Michael P. Hurly
- Lonnie Olson
- Ashley Samuelson
- 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
- McHenry County operates no jail; it is one of 33 North Dakota counties that contract for detention elsewhere.
- Its prisoners are booked into Heart of America Correctional & Treatment Center (Rugby), Ward County Detention Center (Minot), and Bottineau County Correctional Center per those facilities' own DOCR inspection reports.
- The county's own site (mchenrycountynd.gov) does publish a Sheriff's Office page and a Commission page with named commissioners, but neither concerns a jail, since the county has none.
- Board of County Commissioners, five members by district (Armann Anderson — Chair, Bryan Bruner — Vice Chair, Brady Nelson, David Schmitt, Lance Johnson), per the county's own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in McHenry 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