The Detention Center
Not separately named by the county. The jail is the cell block built onto the rear of the Esmeralda County Courthouse in Goldfield
- Operated byEsmeralda County Sheriff's Office, Detentions Division
- What the county publishes about the building'The fortress or armory-like building is a two-story stone structure 75 feet by 85 feet with the jail added onto the rear of the building. The jail is 30 feet by 50 feet with three metal tiers of cells, built by the Pauly Jail Company of St. Louis, Missouri'
- When it was builtThe county seat moved to Goldfield on 1 May 1907; the commissioners bought the courthouse land in May 1907 and awarded the construction bid in July 1907. 'Final payment of $24,000 for the jail was made in May 1908.' The courthouse opened for county business before 1 May 1908
- What it cost'The $79,833 construction bid for the courthouse was awarded to John Shea of Salt Lake City, Utah in July 1907.' The jail's own final payment was $24,000 in May 1908; the furniture cost $21,000
- Still in use'The courthouse has been in continuous use by the county since the building opened. Today, the main floor of the courthouse contains the offices of the Assessor, Auditor/Recorder, District Attorney, Sheriff, and the Justice of the Peace's courtroom'
- AddressEsmeralda County Courthouse, 233 Crook Street (postal 403 Crook Avenue), Goldfield, NV 89013
- What was triedEvery page on the county's own site map was checked - the Sheriff page, Justice Court, Fifth Judicial District Court, Commissioners, the courthouse history page under Tourism, the meeting packets page and the community pages. Esmeralda County publishes no detention or jail page, no roster, no visiting or telephone information, no bail guidance, no fee schedule, no budget document, no bed count, no daily population, no death in custody, no PREA audit result and no inspection result
Source: Esmeralda County - County Court House · checked 2026-08-23
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 built1907-1908. The county seat moved to Goldfield on 1 May 1907, the construction bid was awarded in July 1907, final payment for the jail was made in May 1908 and the courthouse opened for county business before 1 May 1908
- Original cost$79,833 construction bid for the courthouse, awarded to John Shea of Salt Lake City in July 1907; final payment of $24,000 for the jail in May 1908; $21,000 for the furniture
- Paid for byNot found. The county publishes no funding source for the 1907-08 building and no budget document of its own
- BedsNot found. The county publishes the jail's footprint - 30 feet by 50 feet, three metal tiers of cells built by the Pauly Jail Company of St. Louis - but no bed count
Since then
- Not found. 'The courthouse has been in continuous use by the county since the building opened'
The Sheriff
Sheriff Julian Melendez
- Runs the jailYes. 'Esmeralda County Sheriff's Office is a full service agency, with Patrol, Detentions, Coroner, Communications/Dispatch and Administrative Division.' The office recruits Category III Jail Deputies
- How the office is filledElected office, currently filled by appointment. The county's own Sheriff page carries the words 'appointed sheriff' immediately above 'Julian Melendez - SHERIFF'. Under NRS 248.010 the sheriff is an elective office; a mid-term vacancy is filled by the board of county commissioners until the next election
- OfficeEsmeralda County Sheriff, PO Box 520, Goldfield, NV 89013. Phone 775-485-6373, fax 775-485-3524, ecso@esmeraldacountynv.gov. The Sheriff's offices are on the main floor of the county courthouse at 233 Crook Street, Goldfield
- Cross-checkThe Nevada Association of Counties 2026 directory also lists Julian Melendez as Sheriff of Esmeralda County, without the word 'appointed'
- What was not foundThe county publishes no date of appointment, no name of a predecessor and no minute recording the appointment on any page reachable from its site map
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Esmeralda County - Sheriff · checked 2026-08-23
The Judges
Nevada District Court judges are elected in nonpartisan district-wide races to six-year terms, and Justices of the Peace are elected to six-year terms in their township. Both are state judicial officers under Article 6 of the Nevada Constitution, not county officials, although the county pays for the Justice Court. At first appearance it is normally the Justice of the Peace who sets bail; the Justice Court also holds preliminary examinations in felony and gross misdemeanour cases. Mid-term vacancies are filled by appointment - by the Governor for a District Court seat, by the board of county commissioners for a Justice of the Peace - and the appointee then stands at the next election. NRS 211.030 makes the sheriff the custodian of the county jail and NRS 248.050 makes the sheriff responsible for the prisoners in it, so the judge who sets bail and the officer who holds the prisoner are answerable to different electorates. Esmeralda County is the smallest county in Nevada and shares its district court with Nye and Mineral counties; the district judges sit in Tonopah, in another county, and come to Goldfield for law and motion days. The Justice of the Peace sits in the same building as the jail. Both district judges reached the bench by the routes the directory records - Judge Wanker took office in May 2011 and Judge Lane was elected in November 2000.
Fifth Judicial District Court (Esmeralda, Mineral and Nye Counties) - sits for Esmeralda at the courthouse in Goldfield, with chambers in Tonopah
- Kimberly Wanker - Department 1, Tonopah office, 775-482-8141. Took office 24 May 2011, term expires 3 January 2027
- Robert W. Lane - Department 2. Elected 7 November 2000, took office 2 January 2001, term expires 3 January 2027
Esmeralda Township Justice Court, PO Box 370 / 403 Crook Avenue, Goldfield - the court in the same building as the jail, and the court that sets bail at first appearance
- Danielle Johnson - Justice of the Peace. Appointed 19 September 2017, took office 3 October 2017, term expires 7 January 2031. Court Clerk: Michelle G.
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-23
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 single most important finding here is on the county's own Sheriff page: the words 'appointed sheriff' sit directly above 'Julian Melendez - SHERIFF'. Nevada sheriffs are elected under NRS 248.010; this one is filling the office by appointment. The Nevada Association of Counties directory lists him without that qualifier, so a record built from the state association alone would miss it. The county publishes no appointment date and no predecessor's name.
- All ten checks are marked no, and that is the finding. Esmeralda County - fewer than a thousand residents - publishes a Sheriff contact page, a Justice Court contact page and a courthouse history page, and nothing else about the jail. There is no detention page at all.
- named is marked no because the county never gives the jail a name. What it does publish, on a tourism page, is a physical description of the cell block on the back of the 1907-08 courthouse - which is a better building record than several larger counties in this group manage.
- The meeting packets page is the county's agenda and minutes route, but the newest item on it when checked was the agenda for 16 September 2025, roughly eleven months old. That matters for the quarterly jail inquiry NRS 211.020 requires: there is no recent published record to look in.
- The county's own site names the Detentions Division and advertises for Category III Jail Deputies, which is how the existence of an operating jail was established; no page describes its operation.
- Board of County Commissioners, three members elected by district, meeting the first and third Tuesday of the month in the County Courthouse at 233 Crook Street, Goldfield. Fred Perez (District 2) is Board Chair, Rachel Holt (District 1) Vice Chair and Mary Jane Zakas (District 3) the third member. County Manager Joseph Dunn; BOCC Administrative Assistant Maureen Glennen. There is no jail district and no dedicated jail tax, and the county publishes no budget document on its own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Esmeralda 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.
The county clerk or registrar of voters runs the election in Esmeralda County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from USA.gov and vote.gov.
Names verified 2026-08-23 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered