Thayer County

The Detention Center

Thayer County Jail (housed in the Thayer County Law Enforcement Center, Hebron)

• Operated byThayer County Sheriff's Office
• LocationLaw Enforcement Center, Hebron, Nebraska — shares the building with the 911 dispatch center
• What was triedThe county's own Sheriff page was the only source located naming the jail; no separate jail page, capacity, budget, or facility-history page was found on thayercountyne.gov

Source: Thayer County Government — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-25

• ✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Thayer County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-25. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

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

The Sheriff

Sheriff David Lee

• How the office is filledElected countywide (Neb. Rev. Stat. 32-520 — partisan ballot, four-year term)
• Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office page states 'the County Jail and the 911 dispatch center are also located in the Law Enforcement Center' in Hebron

Source: Thayer County Government — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-25

The Judges

Nebraska uses merit selection with retention elections for every level of court, including the county court judges who set bail at first appearance. Under Nebraska Constitution Article V, section 21, the Governor fills a vacancy from a list of at least two nominees from a judicial nominating commission; if the Governor does not act within 60 days the Chief Justice appoints. An appointed judge later faces an uncontested retention vote. Trial courts are the District Court (general jurisdiction, felony trials) and the County Court (misdemeanors, small claims, probate, most first appearances and bail-setting). Judges are state judicial officers, not county officials.

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 →