White Pine County, Nevada — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Not found. The county publishes no name for its jail

Operated byWhite Pine County Sheriff's Office
What the county publishes about the jailOne page, /312/Jail-Information, sitting under the Sheriff. It contains no address, no bed count, no visiting hours, no rules and no facility name - only three PDF links: an Inmate Visitor's Application, and the State of Nevada sex offender registration and verification change forms from 2019
The visitor applicationHeaded 'WH1TE PINE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT - INMATE VISITOR'S APPLICATION' (the typo is in the original). It carries the notice 'YOU MAY ONLY VISIT 1 INMATE PER VISITING DAY. VISITING CAN BE CANCELED WITHOUT NOTICE. VISITING IS A PRIVELAGE AND CAN BE TAKEN AWAY FROM AN INMATE' and asks the visitor for date of birth and social security number. It does not name the facility either
What it costs to runDepartment 304, SHERIFF-JAIL, in the adopted budget for the year ending 30 June 2027: salaries and wages $662,000, fringe benefits $504,400, services and supplies $278,800, capital outlay nil - a final approved total of $1,445,200. Actual spending in the year ended 30 June 2025 was $1,091,416; the estimated current year to 30 June 2026 is $1,775,900
Inmate meals are bought from the stateThe FY2027 Schedule of Existing Contracts (Form 4404LGF, 90 contracts) lists line 44 'NDOC $189,530 INMATE MEALS' and line 46 'NEVADA DEPT OF PRISONS $85,000 ONGOING-PRISONER MEALS'. Ely State Prison is in White Pine County
Other jail-related contracts in the same scheduleLine 20 'CORRECTIONS ONE $645 TRAINING SITE FOR EMPLOYEES'; line 68 'RADIATION DETECTION $11,277 BODY SCANNER MONITORING PROGRAM'; line 4 'ARC $25,600 ONGOING CONTRACT FOR REQUIRED MEDICAL PHYSICALS'. The schedule records no privatization contracts at all - 'Total Number of Privatization Contracts: 0'
It used to board other agencies' prisonersThe general fund revenue schedule carries a line 'PRISONER BOARD FEES': $104,015 actual in the year ended 30 June 2025, $500 estimated for the current year to 30 June 2026, and $0 tentative and final approved for the year ending 30 June 2027. The county publishes no agreement and no per-day rate
A separate juvenile line'JUVENILE DETENTION REIM' appears in the same revenue schedule at $0 across all four columns. Juvenile Detention is a separate department, 210
What was triedThe Sheriff page, the second Sheriff page at /347, the Jail Information page, the Inmate Visitor's Application PDF, the Sheriff's Office directory entry, the full county staff directory, the Board of Commissioners page, the Budget & Finance page and the FY2027 adopted budget, the Seventh Judicial District Court and Justice Court pages, the Bonds, Certificates & Forms and Bail Bond Agents pages, and the Agenda Center full-text search for 'jail', 'detention', 'inmate' and '211.020'. No roster, no bed count, no daily population, no PREA audit, no inspection result, no guidance on posting bail and no phone, video or commissary price list is published

Source: White Pine County, NV - Jail Information · checked 2026-08-23

Transparency rating

2/10Closed

✗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
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what White Pine County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-23. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtNot found for the current jail. The county's Seventh Judicial District Court page records that the 1908 courthouse had 'a two-story jail added to the rear in 1925', and that a new Justice Center was built on 1 November 2021 'to help preserve the historic court house in downtown Ely'. Neither statement identifies the building the Sheriff's Office uses as a jail today
Original costNot found. The same court page records that the 1908 courthouse itself was designed by George T. Beardslee and built by R.E. Dodson and G.W. Weller for $49,688
Paid for byGeneral fund. Department 304, SHERIFF-JAIL, final approved $1,445,200 for the year ending 30 June 2027. There is no jail district and no dedicated jail tax
BedsNot found

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Scott Henriod

Runs the jailYes. The county's Sheriff page carries a child page titled 'Jail Information', and the county's own adopted budget runs the jail as Department 304, SHERIFF-JAIL, inside the Sheriff's general fund appropriation
How the office is filledElected. Nevada sheriffs are elected under NRS 248.010. Nothing on the county site suggests an appointment or an acting capacity
The county's own site does not name himNeither the Sheriff page, the Jail Information page, the Sheriff's Office directory entry (did=32) nor the county staff directory names any person in the Sheriff's Office. The staff directory lists 34 department categories and a photo roster of named employees; the Sheriff's Office entry carries only an address, a phone number and a generic 'Email the Sheriff's Office' link
Where the name was foundThe Nevada Association of Counties 2026 county directory names Scott Henriod as Sheriff of White Pine County, at shenriod@whitepinecountynv.gov, 289-8808
Cross-check on the county's own siteThe Board of County Commissioners agenda for 22 April 2020 lists item B.2 as 'Scott Henriod, Sheriff' with sub-item (a) 'Discussion/For Possible Action: Approval of the White Pine County Sheriff's in-custody death report as required by NRS 211.020'. That is the only place found in the county's own published material where the Sheriff is named
Office1785 Great Basin Boulevard, Ely, NV 89301. Phone 775-289-8808, fax 775-289-1468, emergency 911. Email command@whitepinecountynv.gov
Staffing paid for in FY2027The adopted budget funds six sheriff's departments: 301 Administration, 302 Detective, 303 Patrol, 304 Jail, 305 Coroner, 306 Dispatch. The Sheriff is also the county coroner

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Nevada Association of Counties, 2026 County Directory - White Pine County · 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. White Pine County's district court seats are shared with Eureka and Lincoln Counties; the county does not name either district judge on its own website, and its Justice Court page is the only county page that names a judge at all. The City of Ely also runs a municipal court, which is not a county bench.

Seventh Judicial District Court (Eureka, Lincoln and White Pine Counties) - sits at the White Pine County Justice Center, Ely

Steven Dobrescu - Department 1. The Nevada Judicial Directory of 23 March 2026 records him elected or appointed 13 March 2001, in office the same day, term expiring 3 January 2027
Dylan Frehner - Department 2. The same directory records him in office since 11 April 2025, term expiring 3 January 2027

Ely Township Justice Court, 1786 Great Basin Blvd., Suite 6, Ely - the bench that sets bail at first appearance

Stephen Bishop - Justice of the Peace. Named on the county's own Justice Court page. The Nevada Judicial Directory of 23 March 2026 records him elected or appointed 12 October 2011, in office 18 October 2011, term expiring 7 January 2031. Court clerks Kayleen Lamb, Patricia Noriega and McKenzie Shady; phone 775-293-6540, fax 775-289-3392

Still needed

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

named is marked no. The county has a page called 'Jail Information' but never gives the jail a name, an address or a bed count. The only county document that describes the place at all is a visitor application form headed 'WH1TE PINE COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT'.
The county's own website does not name its Sheriff anywhere. That is the single most striking finding here. The name recorded above, Scott Henriod, comes from the Nevada Association of Counties 2026 directory, and is corroborated inside the county's own material only by a Board of Commissioners agenda from 22 April 2020.
deaths is marked yes, and the reason needs to be stated precisely. The county's Agenda Center full-text search returns exactly one hit for '211.020': the Board of Commissioners agenda of 22 April 2020, item B.2(a), 'Discussion/For Possible Action: Approval of the White Pine County Sheriff's in-custody death report as required by NRS 211.020'. The county therefore publishes the fact that an in-custody death report came before the board. It publishes no name, no date, no cause and no report. The minutes for that meeting are posted, but they are a 17-page scanned image with no text layer, so the discussion cannot be read from the published file.
budget is marked yes on the strength of the Department of Taxation adopted budget for the year ending 30 June 2027, which sets the jail out as its own department with four expenditure lines and three years of comparatives. The Budget & Finance page also carries quarterly revenue and expenditure reports, quarterly payments-to-vendors reports, annual fiscal summaries, and audited annual financial statements back to the year ended 30 June 2021.
contracts is marked no. The county publishes the revenue it earned from boarding other agencies' prisoners - $104,015 in the year ended 30 June 2025 - and publishes that it has budgeted $0 for the same line in the year ending 30 June 2027, a fall to nothing in two years. It publishes no agreement and no per-day rate, so the check fails on its own terms while the underlying fact is on the record.
The budget also shows the traffic running the other way: the county pays the Nevada Department of Corrections $189,530 and the Nevada Department of Prisons $85,000 a year for inmate and prisoner meals. Ely State Prison is in White Pine County, and the county jail buys its food from it.
roster, capacity, prea, inspections, bond_info and fees are all marked no. The Bail Bond Agents page under the district court explains how a bail bondsman registers with the county clerk and the sheriff under NRS Chapter 697, and that the filing fee for a bail bond power of attorney in White Pine County is $15 - but it tells a member of the public nothing about how to post bail for someone in the jail.
Board of County Commissioners, five members. Paula Carson is Commission Chairman and Tim Pauley Commission Vice Chairman; the other members are Patricia Robison, Hank Vogler and Jose Noriega. The board meets the second and fourth Wednesday of each month in the White Pine County Library Conference Room, 950 Campton Street, Ely, with remote attendance by Microsoft Teams, the joining details printed on the first page of each agenda. The Commission Office is at 801 Clark Street, Suite 4, Ely; there is a Commissioner Hotline on 775-289-7777 that takes voicemail 24 hours a day and forwards the recording to the commissioner by email. Agenda items must reach the Clerk's Office by noon on the Tuesday of the week before the meeting, with supporting documentation, or they will not be placed on the agenda. There is no jail district and no dedicated jail tax: the jail is Department 304 of the general fund, and the Sheriff's six departments together account for a large share of the county's $25.6 million annual budget.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in White Pine 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 sheriff is on your ballot

The county clerk or registrar of voters runs the election in White Pine 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