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Oregon · County seat: McMinnville · Checked 2026-08-23

Yamhill County

The jail, the sheriff who runs it, and the judges who decide who sits inside. Every fact below comes from a named public record. Anything not yet sourced is marked still needed rather than guessed.

The Detention Center

Yamhill County Correctional Facility (YCCF)

Source: Yamhill County Sheriff's Office 2025 Annual Report · checked 2026-08-23

Transparency rating

6/10Partial

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Yamhill 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.

Since then

  • Not found, beyond the Sheriff's reference to a 'newest section'

The Sheriff

Sheriff Sam Elliott

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

Source: Yamhill County Sheriff's Office · 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. In the court's own words, 'The Yamhill Circuit Court is the 25th Judicial District of Oregon. Yamhill County's judicial district has four elected judges.' Yamhill County has no Justice Court. Bail is posted at the Trial Court Clerk's office in Room 135 of the courthouse during business hours and at the Team3 kiosk in the Correctional Facility lobby after hours, so the county jail and the state court share the bail counter between them.

Circuit Court - 25th Judicial District (Yamhill County), Yamhill County Courthouse, 535 NE 5th Street, McMinnville. The courthouse was built in 1964

  • Ladd J. Wiles - Presiding Judge, 503-434-3054
  • Jennifer K. Chapman
  • Cynthia L. Easterday
  • Cynthia Kaufman Noble
  • Mandi Montgomery - Trial Court Administrator (court staff, not a judge)
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.

Notes on the record

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Yamhill 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 runs the election in Yamhill 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