The Detention Center
Sandoval County Detention Center
- Operated bySandoval County
- Who runs itGilbert Armendariz — Warden, Sandoval County Detention Center. Reports to: County government (County Manager / Board of County Commissioners) - the Detention Center is a county department, not a Sheriff's Office division
- Jail address1100 Montoya Road, Bernalillo, NM 87004
- Capacity500 detainees
- PopulationApproximately 125 at the time the page was read
- SizeApproximately 50,000 square feet
- Recent workCounty describes multi-million-dollar renovation and remodeling updates over the past five years
- AccreditationNew Mexico Counties accredited through the Adult Detention Standards Council
- Visitation office address1500 Idalia Road, Building D, Bernalillo, NM 87004
Source: Sandoval County Detention Center - About This Facility · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
6/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✓Independent inspection
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds500
Since then
- County describes multi-million-dollar renovations and remodeling over the past five years, including infrastructure and security upgrades; no dates or costs published
The Sheriff
Sheriff Jesse James Casaus
- Runs the jailNo - the Sandoval County Detention Center is a separate county department with its own warden
- Sheriff's roleThe Sheriff's Office transports adult and juvenile prisoners in and out of the county
- How the office is filledElected county sheriff; second term, January 2023 - December 2026
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Sandoval County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-24
The Judges
New Mexico judges are initially appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy, then must run in a partisan election at the next general election, and thereafter face non-partisan retention elections. District and magistrate judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. Sandoval County is in the Thirteenth Judicial District; a magistrate court also sits in the county, but no county-specific magistrate page was reachable.
Thirteenth Judicial District Court - Chief Judge
- Cindy M. Mercer (Division VI, Valencia County)
Thirteenth Judicial District Court - Sandoval County divisions
- George P. Eichwald (Division II)
- James A. Noel (Division V)
- Christopher G. Perez (Division VII)
- Division VIII - vacant
- Allison P. Martinez (Division IX)
District serves
- Cibola, Sandoval and Valencia counties
- 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
- The PREA check is marked yes for the county's published Annual Assessment of Sexual Abuse reports covering 2016 through 2024. These are the facility's own annual PREA assessments, not third-party PREA audit reports; the county does not publish separate audit findings.
- The inspections check is marked yes only because the county states on its own facility page that the detention center is New Mexico Counties accredited through the Adult Detention Standards Council. No inspection report document is published.
- Fees: the county publishes remote video visitation at $9.99 per 30-minute session and free on-site console visits limited to two per week per detainee. Phone and commissary rates are not published.
- Budget: the county finance page points to a County Financials and Transparency page rather than publishing a corrections budget figure; no detention budget line was found published.
- New Mexico has no mandatory statewide jail inspection body; the NM Association of Counties accreditation program is voluntary.
- NMSA 1978 Section 33-15-3, the death-in-custody statute, applies to private correctional facilities only. County-operated jails have no state death-reporting requirement.
- Five-member Board of County Commissioners. 2026 board: Katherine A. Bruch (D, District 1), Jon Herr (R, District 2, Vice-Chairman), Michael Meek (R, District 3), Jordan Juarez (R, District 4, Chairman), Joshua Jones (D, District 5).
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Sandoval 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