Aurora County

The Detention Center

No county-operated jail

• Operated byN/A — Aurora County is not among the counties shown operating a jail in the 2020 Census correctional facility file (a floor count, since no South Dakota agency licenses or inspects county jails)
• Where Aurora County's prisoners goPer the South Dakota Sheriffs' Association page: 'Aurora County contracts with other jails for bed space.' The specific host facility was not named in any source read here.
• What was triedNo official Aurora County government domain was found; https://www.auroracountysd.org/ was attempted directly and could not be fetched

Source: South Dakota Sheriffs' Association — Aurora County Sheriff Roman Briggs · checked 2026-08-25

• ✗The jail is named — not published
• ✗Who is in custody — not published
• ✗Beds and daily population — not published
• ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
• ✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Aurora County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-25. 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
• Original costNot found
• Paid for byNot found
• BedsNot found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Roman Briggs

• Runs the jailNo county jail — Aurora County contracts with other jails for bed space (facility not named in sources reviewed)
• TermElected, four-year term (SDCL 7-7-1.1)
• Office401 N. Main Street, Aurora County Courthouse, Plankinton, SD 57368; 605-942-7736
• County websiteNo official Aurora County government website was located via the search budget available; only the South Dakota Sheriffs' Association page (not the county's own domain) and the state's dakotaathome.sd.gov contact directory (also not the county's own domain) were found

Source: South Dakota Sheriffs' Association — Aurora County Sheriff Roman Briggs · checked 2026-08-25

The Judges

South Dakota circuit judges are elected in nonpartisan elections to eight-year terms (SD Constitution Art. V §7; SDCL 16-6-3); a vacancy is filled by the Governor from nominees of the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Magistrate judges, who often set bail in practice, are appointed rather than elected: full-time magistrates are certified by the presiding judge and approved by the Supreme Court for four-year terms (SDCL 16-12B-1.2, 16-12B-1.3); magistrate courts have concurrent jurisdiction with circuit courts to fix bond (SDCL 16-12B-7). A third tier, clerk magistrates, may also fix bond off an adopted schedule (SDCL 16-12C-10). Aurora County sits in the First Judicial Circuit.

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-25

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