The Detention Center
Mercer County Jail
- Operated byMercer County Sheriff's Office
- Address410 Van Slyck Ave, Stanton, ND 58571
- Rated capacity52, confirmed both by the DOCR inspection and by the county's own site, which describes it as "a 52-bed facility"
- Population on inspection day21 (Jul 29, 2025)
- GradeGrade one — up to a one-year hold
- ComplianceIn compliance with all 107 applicable standards (1 N/A); six standards (032 Inmate Observation, 033 Daily Written Record Requirements, 034 Formal Count, 036 Searches-Clothed and Unclothed, 062 Evacuation Plans, 104 Staff Training Requirements) initially showed non-compliance but were resolved through accepted corrective action plans
- Counties/agencies served, per the DOCR inspection reportOliver, Grant, Eddy, Sheridan, McLean, Stutsman, Burleigh, and Morton Counties; cities of Beulah, Mandan, Hazen, Zap, Golden Valley, Stanton; USMS; DOCR Parole and Probation
Source: Mercer County Jail — DOCR Inspection Report (Jul 29, 2025) · checked 2026-08-25
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 builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds52
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Terry Ternes
- Runs the jailYes — statutory keeper under NDCC 11-15-03(1)(f); Sheriff Ternes also serves personally as the Mercer County Jail's Jail Administrator, per the DOCR inspection report
- ElectedYes — NDCC 11-10-02, four-year term
- Office410 Van Slyck Ave, PO Box 39, Stanton, ND 58571; 701-745-3333
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Mercer County Jail — DOCR Inspection Report (Jul 29, 2025) · 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 — South Central Judicial District
- Cynthia M. Feland (Presiding Judge)
- Daniel J. Borgen
- James S. Hill
- Jason Hammes
- Jackson J. Lofgren
- Pamela A. Nesvig
- Lindsey Nieuwsma
- Marina Spahr
- Bonnie L. Storbakken
- Bobbi Weiler
- 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 →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff Terry Ternes is also named as the Jail Administrator in the DOCR inspection report, so jail_administrator is recorded null.
- Mercer County's own Commission page confirms agendas and minutes are published (checked directly, spanning 2022-2026), but a distinct budget document page was linked from the site's document-library categories and could not be opened this session, so 'budget' is recorded no rather than assumed.
- The jail-dispatch page states the facility 'also houses inmates from other counties through contractual agreements' but publishes no per-county rates, so 'contracts' is recorded no.
- Board of County Commissioners (NDCC 11-11-01). Meets 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month, 9 a.m. CT, per the county's own Commission page; individual commissioners' names were not listed on the page opened this session.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Mercer 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