The Detention Center
Tonopah Jail and Pahrump Jail - two facilities, named as separate activities in the county's own final budget
- Operated byNye County Sheriff's Office
- Two jails, and the budget separates themThe Nye County Jail Fund (10236) in the FY2026-27 final budget splits Public Safety into 'Tonopah Jail' at $805,943 final approved and 'Pahrump Jail' at $4,753,118 final approved, plus a 'Nye County' line of $659,488, Nye County IT of $169,353 and Nye County Buildings and Grounds of $250,839
- The whole fundNye County Jail Fund total resources and total commitments of $6,638,741 for the year ending 30 June 2027, funded almost entirely by an operating transfer in from the General Fund of $6,626,071
- What the fund used to earnThe same schedule shows the Jail Fund's prior-year intergovernmental revenue for the year ended 30 June 2025: 'Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Contract $1,109,485' and 'Transportation $19,364'. Both are budgeted at zero for the current year and for the year ending 30 June 2027. No per-day rate is published anywhere
- The jail was borrowed forThe county's debt schedule lists two general obligation jail bonds, both refunded in FY21 and both issued 1 August 2021: 'G.O. Bond - Jail Bond (Refunded FY21) 2020A', original amount $12,140,000, 30-year term, final payment 1 February 2041, interest 1.87%, outstanding $11,522,881 at 1 July 2026; and 'G.O. Bond - Jail Bond (Refunded FY21) 2020B', original amount $6,591,000, 30-year term, final payment 1 February 2029, interest 1.65%, outstanding $4,087,119
- And is still being paid forJail bond debt service for the year ending 30 June 2027 is $1,378,433 - principal $850,000 and interest $528,433. An earlier fund, 'Bonds- County Jail 2010' (10451), still carries $496,676
- Tonopah addressSheriff's Office Substation, 101 Radar Road, Tonopah, NV 89049; county mailing address P.O. Box 153, Tonopah, Nevada 89049
- Pahrump addressSheriff's Office Headquarters, 1520 E. Basin Ave, Pahrump, NV 89060
- Who sets bailThe county's Tonopah Justice Court page: the court 'handles gross misdemeanor and felony cases from the initial arrest through the preliminary hearing stage, including bail setting and probable cause determinations'
- What the county says about bail moneyThe Criminal Court Information page says only: 'If someone posts bail on your behalf, and if a refund is to be made, it will be payable to the person that posted the bail.' There is no guidance on how or where to post bail
- What was triedThe Sheriff page, the Inmate Visitation link, the County Judges page, the Courts, Justice Courts, Beatty, Pahrump and Tonopah Justice Court pages, Criminal Court Information, the Board of County Commissioners page, the site map, the Final Budgets index and the Nye County FY2026-27 final budget. The county publishes no roster, no bed count, no daily population, no death in custody, no PREA material, no inspection result, no contract rate, no bail-posting guidance and no phone, video or commissary price list
Source: Nye County, NV - Fiscal Year 2027 Final Budget, Nye County · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓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 — 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. What is published is the borrowing: general obligation jail bonds of $12,140,000 (2020A) and $6,591,000 (2020B), both refunding earlier debt and both issued 1 August 2021
- Paid for byTwo general obligation jail bonds, refunded FY21 and reissued 1 August 2021 - Series 2020A $12,140,000 over 30 years at 1.87%, final payment 1 February 2041, outstanding $11,522,881 at 1 July 2026; Series 2020B $6,591,000 over 30 years at 1.65%, final payment 1 February 2029, outstanding $4,087,119. An earlier 'Bonds- County Jail 2010' fund still carries $496,676. Operations run through the Nye County Jail Fund (10236), $6,638,741 for the year ending 30 June 2027, filled by a $6,626,071 transfer from the General Fund
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Joe McGill
- Runs the jailYes. The county's Sheriff page publishes a 'Detention' telephone line for each of the three area commands, and the county's final budget carries a Nye County Jail Fund with separate Tonopah Jail and Pahrump Jail activities
- How the office is filledElected. Nevada sheriffs are elected under NRS 248.010
- Three commands, three detention numbersNorth Area Command, Sheriff's Office Substation, 101 Radar Road, Tonopah, NV 89049 - Detention (775) 482-7358. Central Area Command, 426 C Avenue, Beatty, NV 89003 - Detention (775) 553-2345. South Area Command, Sheriff's Office Headquarters, 1520 E. Basin Ave, Pahrump, NV 89060 - Detention (775) 751-7027
- Cross-checkThe Nevada Association of Counties 2026 county directory also lists Joe McGill as Sheriff of Nye County, at jmcgill@nyecountynv.gov
- What could not be readThe Sheriff's Office runs a separate site at nyecountysheriffsoffice.com, to which the county's 'Inmate Visitation' and 'File A Report' links point. It is a script-driven application that returns no readable content to this researcher and returned HTTP 403 on the inmate information path, so nothing from it is cited here
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Nye 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. Nye County is geographically vast and its courts are spread to match: the Fifth Judicial District Court with two departments, and justice courts at Tonopah, Beatty and Pahrump. The county's own County Judges page names Wanker, Lane, Klapper, Vitto and Sullivan. There is a discrepancy on the second Pahrump seat - the Nevada Judicial Directory of 17 March 2026 lists Pahrump Township Justice Court Department 2 as 'Awaiting further direction' since 20 December 2022, while the county page lists only Department A. The Tonopah Justice Court page is unusually plain about its own role in custody: it 'handles gross misdemeanor and felony cases from the initial arrest through the preliminary hearing stage, including bail setting and probable cause determinations'.
Fifth Judicial District Court (Esmeralda, Mineral and Nye Counties by statute; the county's own page lists it for Nye)
- Kimberly A. Wanker - Department 1. Named on the county's own County Judges page. The Nevada Judicial Directory of 17 March 2026 records 'Kimberly W. Wanker' elected or appointed 24 May 2011, in office the same day, term expiring 3 January 2027
- Robert W. Lane - Department 2. Named on the county's own County Judges page. The Nevada Judicial Directory records him elected 7 November 2000, in office 2 January 2001, term expiring 3 January 2027
Nye County justice courts - three townships
- Jennifer Klapper - Tonopah Township Justice Court, the bench at the county seat. Elected 6 November 2012, took office 7 January 2013, term expires 7 January 2031
- Kirk Vitto - Pahrump Township Justice Court, Department 1. The county's page calls it 'Dept A'. Appointed 18 July 2022, took office 8 August 2022, term expires 7 January 2031
- William 'Gus' Sullivan - Beatty Township Justice Court. Appointed 19 July 2005, took office 1 August 2005, term expires 7 January 2031
- Pahrump Township Justice Court Department 2 - the Nevada Judicial Directory of 17 March 2026 carries the entry 'Awaiting further direction', dated 20 December 2022, term expiring 7 January 2031. The county's own County Judges page lists only one Pahrump judge
- 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
- Nye County names its jails only in its budget. There is no detention page on the county website; the Sheriff page gives three 'Detention' phone numbers and the rest is handled by a separate Sheriff's Office site that returns no readable content and answered HTTP 403 on the inmate information path. The county's own final budget, by contrast, is explicit - Tonopah Jail and Pahrump Jail are separate budget activities inside a dedicated County Jail Fund.
- The single most notable line in that budget: the Nye County Jail Fund recorded intergovernmental revenue of $1,109,485 from an 'Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Contract' for the year ended 30 June 2025, together with $19,364 for transportation. Both are budgeted at zero for the current year and for the year ending 30 June 2027. The contract itself is not published and no per-day rate appears anywhere, so contracts is marked no - but the county has published, in its own budget, that its jail fund was earning over a million dollars a year holding prisoners for another agency, and that the money has stopped.
- Pahrump carries the weight. Of the two jails, Pahrump is budgeted at $4,753,118 against Tonopah's $805,943 - roughly six to one - though Tonopah is the county seat.
- The jail is still being paid for. Two general obligation jail bonds, refunded in FY21, run to 2029 and 2041 and cost $1,378,433 in debt service in the year ending 30 June 2027.
- bond_info is marked no. The only thing the county publishes about bail money is what happens to a refund. Nothing tells a family where to go, what is accepted, or when someone will be released.
- roster, capacity, deaths, prea, inspections and fees are all marked no. For a county operating two jails on a $6.6 million fund, nothing is published about how many beds they hold, how many people are in them, who those people are, whether anyone has died, whether the facilities have ever been audited or inspected, or what a phone call costs.
- A discrepancy worth carrying: the Nevada Judicial Directory of 17 March 2026 lists Pahrump Township Justice Court Department 2 as 'Awaiting further direction' since 20 December 2022, while the county's own County Judges page lists a single Pahrump department.
- Board of County Commissioners, five members elected by district, meeting the first and third Tuesday of each month, alternating between County Commission Chambers in Tonopah and in Pahrump; when a holiday falls on a Monday the meeting moves to the Wednesday. Ron Boskovich is Chair and John Koenig (District 2) Vice Chair; the others are Bruce Jabbour (District 1, Tonopah), Ian Bayne (District 3, Pahrump) and Debra Strickland (District 5, Pahrump). County Manager Brett Waggoner; Comptroller Helen Bae. There is no jail district, but there is dedicated jail debt: two general obligation jail bonds refunded in FY21 with original amounts of $12,140,000 and $6,591,000, costing $1,378,433 in debt service in the year ending 30 June 2027, and a separate County Jail Fund (10236) of $6,638,741.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Nye 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 Nye 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