Charles Mix County

The Detention Center

Charles Mix County Jail

• Operated byCharles Mix County Sheriff's Office (Sheriff Randy L. Thaler)
• Address215 S 6th St / PO Box 610, Lake Andes, SD 57356 (Sheriff's Office)
• Jail staffJarred Niehus, Jail Sgt.
• 2020 Census custodial population42 people on April 1, 2020 (a one-day snapshot, not a bed count)
• What was triedNo jail-specific budget, capacity, PREA, inspection, death, bond, or fee page found anywhere on charlesmixcounty.gov

Source: Charles Mix County, South Dakota — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-25

• ✓The jail is named
• ✗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 Charles Mix 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 Randy L. Thaler

• Chief DeputyDerik Rolston
• Jail staffJarred Niehus, Jail Sgt.
• In office sinceJanuary 2011 (per South Dakota Sheriffs' Association)
• How the office is filledElected countywide, four-year term (SDCL 7-7-1.1)

Source: Charles Mix County, South Dakota — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-25

The Judges

South Dakota circuit judges are elected in a nonpartisan election for an eight-year term (SD Const. Art. V §7; SDCL 16-6-3); a mid-term vacancy is filled by the Governor from Judicial Qualifications Commission nominees. Full-time magistrate judges are nominated by the circuit's presiding judge and approved by the Supreme Court (SDCL 16-12B-1.2) for four-year terms; part-time magistrates serve at the presiding judge's pleasure. Magistrates and clerk magistrates, not the elected circuit judge, most often set bond at a rural first appearance (SDCL 16-12B-7, 16-12C-10). No county-specific judge names were located from a source opened this session.

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 →
• Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →