Washington County

The Detention Center

Washington County Jail

• Operated byWashington County Sheriff's Office, Jail Division
• Jail address215 SW Adams Ave, Hillsboro, OR 97123, adjoining the Washington County Law Enforcement Center, two blocks from the courthouse and bordered by Washington, Baseline, Adams and Dennis Streets
• What it holds'Washington County's only jail, located in Hillsboro, houses people awaiting trial or serving a sentence less than 365 days'
• Beds572-bed capacity configured among 9 separate living areas called pods, one of them for women, plus a medical unit, classrooms, kitchen and exercise area
• Population'The county jail holds over 572 adults in custody at any given time', the Sheriff's Office's own figure on its About Us page
• When it opened1998. It is the county's fifth jail. The fourth, built in 1970 on the north side of the courthouse, opened with 144 beds and had grown to 191 beds when it ceased to be a jail in 1998; that building is now used for holding people going to and from courtrooms and for training
• Earlier jailsThe first Washington County jail, a log building, was completed and ready for prisoners on 6 December 1853. By 1858 the keeping of prisoners and insane persons together with the upkeep of the jail made up 38 per cent of the county budget
• Growth'Due to the rapidly growing population of Washington County it is again necessary to expand jail capacity' - the county's own published history
• Transport'The Jail Transport Unit is responsible for transporting adults in custody for medical services not available in-house, moving to and from other jails and detention facilities, and the courthouse for court appearances'
• StandardsCALEA accredited since 2004 with the Meritorious Award for more than 15 years of continuous compliance; compliant with the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association's 309 Oregon Jail Standards since 2000; the jail's health care is accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care
• Cost of a jail day'With incarceration costs between $82.00 and $102.00 per day' - the county's own Adult Recovery Court page
• What was triedThe Jail Division overview and all its sub-pages, the About Us page, the Accountability page, the 2026 organizational chart, the published history of the Sheriff's Office, the county budget pages and the county's own site search for PREA, 'death in custody', 'in-custody death' and 'jail capacity' were all read. The only PREA material the county publishes belongs to the Juvenile Department, not the jail, and no death in custody at the jail was found published

Source: History of the Washington County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-08-23

• ✓The jail is named
• ✓Who is in custody
• ✓Beds and daily population
• ✓What it costs taxpayers
• ✗Deaths in custody — not published
• ✗PREA audits — not published
• ✓Independent inspection
• ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
• ✓How to post bond
• ✓Phone, video and commissary rates

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Washington 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 built1998
• Original costNot found
• Paid for byNot found
• Beds572

The Sheriff

Sheriff Caprice Massey

• Runs the jailYes. The Jail Division is one of the five divisions of the Sheriff's Office, under Chief Deputy Erroll McCrea and Jail Division Commander David Marzilli
• How the office is filledElected. ORS 204.005 requires Oregon sheriffs to be elected to four-year terms
• UndersheriffJohn Koch
• Command staffChief Deputy Al Roque; Chief Deputy Erroll McCrea; Kevin Kane, Data, Analysis and Technical Assistance; Cmdr. David Marzilli, Jail Division; Cmdr. John Bennett, Professional Standards; Cmdr. Tim Tannenbaum, Investigations; Cmdr. Jim Wheaton and Cmdr. John Crecelius, Patrol; Melaney Koch, Services Division
• Jail lieutenantsLt. Jacob Sehorn and Lt. Dustin Gannon
• Size'Your Sheriff's Office is the largest in the State of Oregon' - the office's own published history
• OfficeSheriff's Office Headquarters and Jail, 215 SW Adams Ave, MSC 32, Hillsboro, OR 97123 - 503-846-2700; jail 503-846-2600
• How this was verifiedNamed as Sheriff at the top of the county's own 2026 Sheriff's Office organizational chart

Source: Washington County Sheriff's Office 2026 Organizational Chart · checked 2026-08-23

The Judges

Oregon Circuit Court judges are state judicial officers, not county officials. They are elected in nonpartisan races to six-year terms under Article VII of the Oregon Constitution and ORS chapter 3; mid-term vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment and the appointee then stands for election. A judge, not the sheriff, sets security (bail) amounts and release conditions; the sheriff's office or the jail only receives the money and releases the person. ORS 169.320 makes the sheriff the keeper of the county jail and allows the sheriff to appoint a keeper, but the sheriff remains responsible. Washington County has no Justice Court; the Circuit Court in Hillsboro, together with the municipal courts of the county's cities, is where security amounts are set. The Sheriff's Office says plainly that it 'processes bail on behalf of the courts' and that 'bail (also known as security) is the amount determined by the court'.

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 →