The Detention Center
Lincoln County Detention Center
- Operated byCorrection Solutions Group, under contract to Lincoln County (named as such on the county's own commission agenda)
- Who runs itRoss Castleton — Warden, Lincoln County Detention Center. Reports to: County Manager (facility operated under private contract)
- How this was establishedThe county lists detention as its own department separate from the Sheriff's Office; the reporting line itself is not published.
- LocationCarrizozo — the Board of County Commissioners posted an open-meetings notice for a 7 August 2026 gathering to discuss 'Lincoln County Detention Center coordination' at 300 Central, Carrizozo
- Annual inspectionThe 18 August 2026 commission agenda includes consideration of the Lincoln County Detention Center Annual Site Inspection Report pursuant to NMSA 1978 §33-3-4
- BedsNot found — the county publishes no capacity figure
- What was triedhttps://www.lincolncountynm.gov/services/index.php ; https://www.lincolncountynm.gov/government/index.php ; https://www.lincolncountynm.gov/how_do_i/index.php ; https://www.lincolncountynm.gov/government/county_manager/county_managers_staff_directory.php — none has a detention department page
- Stale linkThe county's Services menu links 'Detention Center' to an external contractor site, http://www.emeraldcm.com/ (Emerald Correctional Management), not to a county page
Source: Lincoln County Board of County Commissioners agenda, 18 August 2026 · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗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 Michael Wood
- Runs the jailNo — the Lincoln County Detention Center is run under contract by Correction Solutions Group, with a warden reporting to the county
- Term1 January 2025 to 31 December 2028
- Office addressP.O. Box 278, Carrizozo, NM 88301
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Lincoln County Sheriff page · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
New Mexico district and magistrate judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. A judge is initially appointed by the Governor from a judicial nominating commission list, then stands in the next partisan general election, and thereafter faces non-partisan retention elections. The Twelfth Judicial District covers Lincoln and Otero counties.
Twelfth Judicial District Court — Chief Judge
- Daniel A. Bryant (Division III, docket split between Lincoln and Otero counties)
Twelfth Judicial District Court — judge sitting in Lincoln County
- John P. Sugg (Division V, Carrizozo)
Lincoln County Magistrate Court
- Mickie Vega (Division I, Carrizozo)
- Katie Lund (Division II, Ruidoso)
Still needed
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-24
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
- Lincoln County has no detention department page on its own website. The only place the county names its jail on its own domain is in Board of County Commissioners agenda and notice PDFs.
- The county's Services, Government and How Do I menus all link 'Detention Center' to an external contractor website (emeraldcm.com) rather than to any county page.
- The 18 August 2026 commission agenda names 'Warden Ross Castleton' and lists 'Lincoln County Detention Center — Correction Solutions Group' under threatened/pending litigation, which is how the current private operator was identified. The county publishes no contract document or per-diem rate.
- NMSA 1978 §33-3-1 provides that common jails are under the control of the respective sheriffs, independent contractors, or jail administrators hired by the board of county commissioners or other local public body, and specifically authorises contracts with private independent contractors to operate a jail.
- The same agenda item references the Lincoln County Detention Center Annual Site Inspection Report required by NMSA 1978 §33-3-4, but the report itself is not published in readable form in the posted agenda packet, so the inspections check is recorded as no.
- Sheriff Michael Wood's page carries no roster, bond guidance or fee schedule; the sheriff's office does not appear to run the jail.
- No county budget page was found on lincolncountynm.gov; budget material appears only inside commission agenda packets.
- New Mexico has no mandatory statewide jail inspection body. The New Mexico Association of Counties runs a voluntary accreditation program; no NMAC accreditation status for Lincoln County was found published.
- NMSA 1978 §33-15-3, the death-in-custody reporting statute, applies to private correctional facilities only. New Mexico county jails have no state death-reporting requirement.
- Five-member Board of County Commissioners elected by district: Kendal Wilson (D1), Samantha Serna (D2), MP Chavez (D3), Timothy Prather (D4), Mark Fischer (D5). County Manager is Jason Burns; Finance Director is Billie Jo Guevara.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Lincoln 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 2026-08-24 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered