The Detention Center
Not found. The county acknowledges 'our jail' but publishes no name for it
- Operated byPershing County Sheriff's Office
- What the county calls itThe Sheriff's Office page says only 'our jail'. The Lake Township Justice Court page refers to 'the county jail' in describing its jurisdiction: 'The Court's jurisdiction is limited to misdemeanors which are punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed six months, a fine not to exceed $1,000.00 or a combination of both'
- MoneyThe county's audited annual report for the year ended 30 June 2025 carries a Jail activity within the Law Enforcement Fund, under 'Protective services activity': salaries and wages $467,825 actual against $454,670 budgeted, employee benefits $233,328 against $362,338, services and supplies $131,778 against $221,607, capital outlay nil against $10,000 - total $832,931 actual against $1,048,615 budgeted. The comparable actual for the year ended 30 June 2024 was $812,134
- How the fund is filledThe Law Enforcement Fund is filled by a transfer from the General Fund - $3,657,500 in the year ended 30 June 2025, up from $3,522,500 the year before. The fund closed the year with a balance of $1,336,268
- A new jail is being saved forThe same report records: 'The Building Fund increased its fund balance by $1,114,168 mainly as a result of a $1,000,000 transfer in to accumulate funds for a future detention facility'
- Extradition revenueThe audited report shows a General Fund miscellaneous revenue line 'Jail extradition revenue' of $4,525 actual against $2,000 budgeted for the year ended 30 June 2025, and $9,275 for the prior year
- Police activity for comparisonIn the same fund and year, Sheriff police activity ran to $1,999,593 actual and Dispatch to $433,810, total police activity $2,433,403, against the Jail's $832,931
- What was triedThe Sheriff's Office page, the Lake Township Justice Court page, the Board of Commissioners page, the Clerk-Treasurer page, the Recorder-Auditor page and its Budgets and Audits section, the FY25-26 fourth-quarter financial report and the 2024-2025 annual audit report, and the agendas and minutes index. The county publishes no jail name, no jail address, no roster, no bed count, no daily population, no death in custody, no PREA material, no inspection result, no contract rate, no bail guidance and no fee schedule
- A note on the county's own linksSeveral link paths on pershingcountynv.gov are built with a duplicated directory prefix and return 404 as published; the documents themselves resolve under /document_center/. The URLs cited here are the ones that actually resolve
Source: Pershing County, NV - 2024-2025 Annual Audit Report · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗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
- Paid for byNot found for the existing jail. For operations, a Jail activity inside the Law Enforcement Fund - $832,931 actual for the year ended 30 June 2025 - the fund being filled by a General Fund transfer of $3,657,500. For a replacement, the county transferred $1,000,000 into the Building Fund in the same year 'to accumulate funds for a future detention facility'
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found. The published intention is a replacement rather than an expansion - a $1,000,000 transfer in the year ended 30 June 2025 'to accumulate funds for a future detention facility'
The Sheriff
Sheriff Jerry Allen
- Runs the jailYes, and the county says so in its own words: 'The Pershing County Sheriff's Office is responsible for the professional care and custody of those confined in our jail, the security of our courts and the prompt investigation of crime(s) when they are reported'
- How the office is filledElected. Nevada sheriffs are elected under NRS 248.010
- OfficePershing County Sheriff's Office, Lovelock, NV 89419. Telephone (775) 273-2641; second line (775) 273-5052
- Inmate labourThe Sheriff's Office page carries a 'Request for Inmate Labor' link
- Cross-checkThe Nevada Association of Counties 2026 county directory also lists Jerry Allen as Sheriff of Pershing County, at jallen@pershingcountynv.gov
- Not to be confused with the state prisonLovelock also hosts the Lovelock Correctional Center, which is a Nevada Department of Corrections prison and not a county facility. Nothing about it is recorded here
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Pershing County, NV - Sheriff's Office · 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. Pershing County shares the single-department Eleventh Judicial District Court with Lander and Mineral Counties, and Bryce Shields took that seat on 5 January 2026. The local bench is the Lake Township Justice Court at Lovelock, held by Darrell Mancebo since 7 January 2025. Both judges serving this county took office within about a year of this research. The county's own Justice Court page states the custodial stake directly: its jurisdiction covers misdemeanours 'punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed six months'.
Eleventh Judicial District Court (Lander, Mineral and Pershing Counties)
- Bryce Shields - Department 1, the only department in the district. The Nevada Judicial Directory of 17 March 2026 records him elected or appointed 2 January 2026 and in office from 5 January 2026, term expiring 3 January 2027
Lake Township Justice Court, Lovelock
- Darrell Mancebo - Justice of the Peace, named on the county's own page as 'Hon. Darrell Mancebo'. The Nevada Judicial Directory records him 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
- The finding worth carrying out of Pershing County is that it is saving for a new jail and has said so in its own audited accounts: 'The Building Fund increased its fund balance by $1,114,168 mainly as a result of a $1,000,000 transfer in to accumulate funds for a future detention facility.' Nothing on the county website mentions this. It is in the audit, and only in the audit.
- named is marked no. The Sheriff's Office page acknowledges responsibility for 'those confined in our jail', and the Justice Court page refers to 'the county jail', but the county never gives the facility a name or an address of its own.
- budget is marked yes. The audited annual report breaks the Jail out as a distinct Protective services activity - $832,931 actual for the year ended 30 June 2025 against $1,048,615 budgeted, and $812,134 the year before - which is more granular than several larger counties in this group manage.
- For scale: in the same fund and year the Jail cost $832,931 while Sheriff police activity cost $1,999,593 and Dispatch $433,810.
- roster, capacity, deaths, prea, inspections, contracts, bond_info and fees are all marked no. The county publishes nothing on any of them.
- A small revenue line worth recording because it shows prisoners moving: 'Jail extradition revenue' of $4,525 for the year ended 30 June 2025 and $9,275 the year before.
- Practical note for anyone re-checking this work: many document links published on pershingcountynv.gov carry a duplicated directory prefix and return 404 exactly as printed. The documents resolve under /document_center/, and that is the form cited here.
- Lovelock also hosts the Lovelock Correctional Center, a Nevada Department of Corrections prison. It is not a county facility and nothing about it is recorded here.
- Board of Commissioners, three members, meeting the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Joe Crim Jr. is Chair and Connie Gottschalk Vice Chair; Chuck Sayles is the third member. Clerk-Treasurer Lacey Donaldson, who is also head of Human Services; Recorder-Auditor Melanie Hamilton; District Attorney (Interim) Jack Bullock. Mailing address PO Drawer E, Lovelock, NV 89419. There is no jail district and no dedicated jail tax. The jail is a Protective services activity inside the Law Enforcement Fund, which is filled by a General Fund transfer of $3,657,500. Separately, the board has begun saving for a replacement: $1,000,000 was transferred into the Building Fund in the year ended 30 June 2025 'to accumulate funds for a future detention facility'.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Pershing 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 Pershing 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