The Detention Center
None — Sioux County has no county jail
- Operated byNone
- Where Sioux County's prisoners goBurleigh Morton Detention Center, Bismarck (a two-county Burleigh/Morton facility) — per plains_states.json state-layer research citing that facility's own DOCR inspection report, which lists Sioux among the counties it holds for (not independently reopened this session)
- What was triedNo official Sioux County government website domain was located within the group's search budget; https://www.ndcourts.gov/court-locations/sioux-county gave court contact info only, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux_County,_North_Dakota did not name an official site
Source: Burleigh Morton Detention Center — DOCR inspection report (cited via plains_states.json state-layer research) · 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 Leo Belgarde Jr.
- StatusListed as Interim Sheriff in the ND Association of Counties directory
- Runs the jailNo county jail — Sioux County has no operating adult facility
- ElectedNDCC 11-10-02 requires each county to have an elected sheriff, four-year term; whether the interim status reflects an appointment pending election was not established
- ContactPO Box L, Fort Yates, ND 58538-0529; leobelgarde@nd.gov; 701-854-3481
- 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 (Sioux 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 — South Central Judicial District
- Not listed on the page opened
- 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
- Sioux County has no county jail; DOCR facility inspection reports (via plains_states.json) list it as a sending county to the Burleigh Morton Detention Center in Bismarck.
- No official Sioux County government website domain (as opposed to the ND Association of Counties directory) was located within this session's search budget, so the ten transparency checks could not be evaluated against the county's own site and are recorded as 'no' rather than assumed.
- The sheriff is listed as 'Interim' in the ND Association of Counties directory; the current permanent officeholder, if different, was not established from a source opened here.
- Board of County Commissioners (NDCC 11-11-01). Three commissioners are named in the ND Association of Counties directory — Larry Silbernagel (Chair), Kenneth Snider, and Terry Comeau — but no official Sioux County website was located this session to confirm board size, terms, or a minutes page.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Sioux 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