The Detention Center
Lyon County Detention Facility, in the Lyon County Justice Complex
- Operated byLyon County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address911 Harvey Way, Yerington, NV 89447. Telephone 775-463-6600
- Who it holds'The Lyon County Sheriff's Office provides detention services for law enforcement agencies in Lyon County and surrounding counties'
- Daily population'Average Daily Population: 90 inmates (72 Male, 18 Female)' in 2024, with an average stay of 11 days 10 hours - the county's own 2024 Sheriff's Office Annual Report
- Throughput2024 bookings 1,756 - 1,311 from Lyon County Sheriff's Office arrests and 445 from outside agencies. Total releases 1,821
- Who else books into itThe 2024 report names each outside agency: Nevada Highway Patrol 190, Yerington Police Department 86, Nevada Parole and Probation 39, Yerington Paiute Tribal Police 37, Fernley Marshal's Office 24, Walker River Tribal Police 16, Nevada Division of Investigation 10, Fernley Municipal Court 9, Mineral County Sheriff's Office 7, Nevada Youth Parole Bureau 7, Nevada Division of State Parks 6, Fernley Justice Court 5, Lyon County Juvenile Probation 2, and one each from Carson City Sheriff's Office, Duckwater Tribe Police, Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribal, Nevada Wildlife Enforcement, Storey County Sheriff's Office, US Department of Wildlife and Walker River Tribal Fire
- Why people leftThe 2024 reasons for release are published in full: own recognizance 823, time served 220, on bond 194, cash bail 183, to other agency 151, to correctional facility 52, temporarily 45, to probation officer 33, no charges filed 32, book and release 30, hold authority 22, by judge 8, tribal authority 4, ICE 2, medical authority 2, charges dismissed 2, CPC authority 1
- MoneyThe county's FY2026-27 final budget carries a Corrections function with a single Jail activity: $6,719,289 final approved for the year ending 30 June 2028, against $6,347,094 estimated for the current year and $5,982,911 actual for the year ended 30 June 2026. Of the final figure, salaries and wages are $2,931,811, employee benefits $1,951,270 and services and supplies $1,836,208, with no capital outlay
- Jail contracts in the budgetThe same budget's schedule of existing contracts lists Recon Health Care for the 'Jail Medical Contract' at $909,989 a year, running 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2026, and Summit Food Service for 'Jail Food & Services' at $401,020 for FY2026-27 and $413,051 for FY2027-28, a three-year contract from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2027
- Prisoner board revenueThe budget carries a General Fund revenue line 'PRISONER'S BOARD' of $140,116 actual for the year ended 30 June 2026, budgeted down to $50,000 for each of the next two years. No per-day rate is published
- BailThe Bail Bonds page is unusually specific: bonds are accepted in the main lobby of the Justice Complex 24 hours a day, an intercom by the locked front doors summons detention staff after hours, surety and currency bonds from bail agents are taken around the clock, card payments can be made online without attending, the cash pay location code is 4211, the inmate account window takes only exact-amount US paper currency, cashier's cheques or money orders, 'Detention facility staff does not have change', and release 'may take up to five hours'
- Phone, video and messagingNCIC. 'Telephone System Fees Apply' and 'Fees and Messaging rates apply' - but no rate is published on the county's pages
- Money accounts'Twenty-five percent of all money account deposits will be applied toward the inmate account if there is a negative balance. Negative balances generally occur when an inmate receives medical treatment and medicine for pre-existing injuries or illnesses.' Released funds are issued as a debit card
- PREAThe county publishes a policy statement and a reporting line - 'The Lyon County Detention Facility is a ZERO tolerance facility' and 'The telephone number for reporting Sexual Misconduct is (775) 463-6600' - but no audit result
- Work crewsThe 2024 report lists inmate work crews of two to four inmates under at least two deputies, including 'Surroundings of the jail - removal of weeds from the exterior'
- A dead link on the county's own siteThe Jail page links 'Lyon County Detention Facility' to https://www.lcsonv.com/jail, which returns a 404
- Inmate search is an app, not a pageThe Sheriff's Office site says only: 'Download the Lyon County Sheriff's App to search inmate information, submit tips & more.' There is no web roster
Source: Lyon County, NV - Jail · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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
- ✗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 for construction. For operations, a Corrections function inside the General Fund: $6,719,289 final approved for the year ending 30 June 2028
- BedsNot found. The county publishes an average daily population of 90 for 2024 but no bed count or rated capacity
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Brad Pope
- Runs the jailYes. 'The Lyon County Sheriff's Office provides detention services for law enforcement agencies in Lyon County and surrounding counties.' The Jail page is a child of the Sheriff page on the county's own site
- How the office is filledElected. Nevada sheriffs are elected under NRS 248.010. The county's Sheriff page carries his vision statement by name: 'Sheriff Brad Pope envisions the Lyon County Sheriff's Office moving forward...'
- Who runs the jail day to day'The Detention Center is overseen by Lieutenant John VanDiver' - the county's own 2024 Sheriff's Office Annual Report. He is a subordinate of the elected sheriff, not an appointed director, so jail_administrator stays null
- OfficeMain Office, 911 Harvey Way #1, Yerington, NV 89447, 775-463-6600. Substations at Fernley (555 East Main Street), Dayton (801 Overland Loop) and Silver Springs (2475 Ft. Churchill Road)
- Since'PROTECTING AND SERVING SINCE 1861'
- Cross-checkThe Nevada Association of Counties 2026 county directory also lists Brad Pope as Sheriff of Lyon County, at bpope@lyon-county.org
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Lyon County, NV - 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 answer to different electorates. Lyon County is served by the Third Judicial District Court, which sits for this county alone, and by three justice courts - Dayton, Canal at Fernley and Walker River at Yerington. Yerington and Fernley also run municipal courts, which are city benches rather than county ones; Brandi Jensen has held the Yerington Municipal Court since 28 July 2025 on an open-ended term. Note that Lori Matheus holds two benches at once, Canal Township Justice Court and Fernley Municipal Court. The Lyon County Detention Facility takes prisoners from all of these courts and from nineteen further agencies named in the Sheriff's 2024 annual report, so a person held at 911 Harvey Way may have been put there by a judge no Lyon County voter elected.
Third Judicial District Court (Lyon County)
- John Schlegelmilch - Department 1. Elected 4 November 2014, took office 5 January 2015, term expires 3 January 2027
- Leon Aberasturi - Department 2. Elected 7 November 2006, took office 1 January 2007, term expires 3 January 2027
Lyon County justice courts - three townships
- Camille Vecchiarelli - Dayton Township Justice Court. Appointed or elected 16 January 2009, took office 20 January 2009, term expires 7 January 2031
- Lori Matheus - Canal Township Justice Court at Fernley. Elected 6 November 2018, took office 7 January 2019, term expires 7 January 2031. She also sits as judge of the separate Fernley Municipal Court, in office since 3 January 2013
- Peter Spinuzzi - Walker River Township Justice Court at Yerington, the township holding the county seat and the jail. Elected 5 November 2024, took office 7 January 2025, term expires 7 January 2031
- 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
- Lyon County is the most forthcoming county in this group on what its jail actually does. The 2024 Sheriff's Office Annual Report, published in the county's own document centre, gives the average daily population, the average length of stay, the total bookings, a named list of every outside agency that booked someone in, and the reason every single person was released. Very few counties of this size publish the last of those.
- capacity is marked yes for the daily population - 90 inmates in 2024, 72 male and 18 female - but the county publishes no bed count or rated capacity, so the other half of that question is unanswered.
- contracts is marked no. The county publishes that it 'provides detention services for law enforcement agencies in Lyon County and surrounding counties', publishes the 445 outside-agency bookings by agency, and publishes a 'PRISONER'S BOARD' revenue line of $140,116 for the year ended 30 June 2026 - but no agreement and no per-day rate.
- fees is marked no. Three separate county pages say fees and messaging rates apply through NCIC; none of them says what the rates are. The Inmate Money Accounts page adds that 'Applicable fees are collected by the vendor, not the Lyon County Jail'.
- prea is marked no. The county publishes a clear zero-tolerance statement and a reporting number, which is more than most, but no PREA audit result.
- Worth recording plainly because it is a money fact and not a criticism: 25 per cent of every deposit into an inmate's money account is taken against a negative balance, and the county says negative balances 'generally occur when an inmate receives medical treatment and medicine for pre-existing injuries or illnesses'.
- The county's own Jail page links its detention facility to https://www.lcsonv.com/jail, which is a 404. The Sheriff's Office site offers inmate search only through a downloadable phone app, so there is no public web roster.
- One cross-county fact worth carrying: Mineral County Sheriff's Office booked 7 people into the Lyon County Detention Facility in 2024, and Storey County Sheriff's Office booked 1.
- Board of County Commissioners, five members elected from geographic districts on a partisan basis for staggered four-year terms; each is elected countywide and serves at large. The board meets the first and third Thursday of every month, normally at 9:00 a.m., and streams on YouTube. Scott Keller (District 2) is Chair and Tammy Hendrix (District 3) Vice Chair; the others are John Cassinelli (District 1), Robert Jacobson (District 4) and Dave Hockaday (District 5). County Manager Andrew Haskin; Comptroller Joshua Foli. There is no jail district and no dedicated jail tax - the jail is a Corrections activity inside the General Fund, at $6,719,289 final approved for the year ending 30 June 2028.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Lyon 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 Lyon 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