The Detention Center
Madison County Jail
- Operated byMadison County Sheriff's Office
- Vendors documented in proceedingsAdvanced Correctional Healthcare (medical), Summit Food Service LLC (inmate meals), Bob Barker Company (jail supplies), Champs Inc. (jail equipment/services)
- Jail administratorNone named separately; sheriff's office operates the jail
Source: Madison County Board of Commissioners proceedings, January 20, 2021 · checked 2026-08-25
Transparency rating
0/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗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
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Todd Volk
- TitleCounty Sheriff
- Runs the jailYes — Madison County Jail; vendor claims paid through Commissioners for jail medical, food, supplies and inmate fund confirm an operating county jail
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Madison County Board of Commissioners proceedings, January 20, 2021 · checked 2026-08-25
The Judges
Nebraska judges are merit-selected: the Governor appoints from a judicial nominating commission's list, then the judge faces periodic uncontested retention elections (Neb. Const. Art. V, sec. 21). The County Court judge sets bail at first appearance and is a state judicial officer, not a Madison County employee.
County Court Judge
- Not found
District Court Judge
- Not found
- 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
- The county's own jail is confirmed only indirectly through vendor line items in commissioners' proceedings PDFs, not through a dedicated jail page; a direct board-of-commissioners page (madisoncountyne.gov/board-of-commissioners/) was blocked by the site's robots.txt during this research and could not be read.
- No roster, capacity, death, PREA, inspection, contract-rate, bond, or fee information for the jail was found published on madisoncountyne.gov.
- Nebraska Jail Standards Board inspection reports go to the county governing body, not the public; no publication by Madison County was found.
- Board of County Commissioners. As of the January 13, 2026 proceedings: Troy Uhlir (Chairperson), Eric Stinson (Vice-Chairperson), Ron Schmidt (Commissioner). An earlier January 2021 document shows Troy Uhlir (Chair), Ron Schmidt (Vice-Chair), Eric Stinson — the same three members, roles rotate.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Madison 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