The Detention Center
None — Sargent County operates no jail
- Operated byN/A
- Where Sargent County's prisoners are held"When an individual is arrested in Sargent County they are taken to the Richland County Jail in Wahpeton" — stated directly on Sargent County's own Sheriff's Department page. If that facility cannot accept prisoners, individuals are transferred elsewhere.
- Consistent with state-layer and Richland County's own researchRichland County Jail's own DOCR inspection report independently confirms an agreement to house Sargent County inmates
Source: Sargent County — Sheriff's Department page · 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 — Sargent County operates no jail
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Travis A. Paeper
- Runs the jailNo county jail — Sargent County contracts detention to Richland County
- ElectedYes — NDCC 11-10-02, four-year term
- Office355 Main Street South, Forman, ND 58032; 701-724-6241
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Sargent County — Sheriff's Department page · 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 — Southeast Judicial District
- Daniel D. Narum (Presiding Judge)
- Bradley A. Cruff
- James D. Hovey
- Troy J. LeFevre
- Jay A. Schmitz
- James T. Shockman
- Nicholas D. Thornton
- 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
- Sargent County operates no jail and is not among the 20 ND counties with an operating adult correctional facility.
- 'named' is recorded yes because Sargent County's own Sheriff's Department page names the Richland County Jail as its destination facility — this is the finding, not a gap.
- 'budget' is recorded yes for a published 2025 Preliminary Budget Memo; whether jail/detention contract costs are itemized within it was not confirmed.
- 5-member Board of County Commissioners: Jason Arth, Lyle Bopp, Jerry Waswick, Wade Anderson, Scott Johnson. Regular meetings first and third Tuesdays of the month at 9:00 AM CST, with remote/GoToMeeting access offered.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Sargent 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