Fall River County

The Detention Center

Not found

• Operated byFall River County Sheriff's Office
• County-published confirmationThe county's own Sheriff page publishes a separate Jail contact number (605-745-5158), distinct from Dispatch (605-745-5155), confirming the county operates a jail, though no facility name, address, or bed count beyond the Sheriff's Office address was found on the county's own site in this pass
• Roster explicitly not publishedThe same page states the facility does not publish an inmate roster because 'this list can change on an hourly basis,' directing callers to phone the jail directly to ask about a specific person — a stated county policy, not an omission
• Beds27-bed facility, per the South Dakota Sheriffs' Association (not a county-published source)
• 2020 Census snapshotFall River Co. Jail population 18 on April 1, 2020, per the state-layer research citing the Census facility file
• Oglala Lakota County contextOglala Lakota County, which is unorganized and administered from Hot Springs, has its own elected sheriff (per southdakotasheriffs.org) operating from an office in Hot Springs; no page opened in this pass described a jail-holding contract between the two counties, so none is asserted here

Source: Fall River County, SD — Sheriff · 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 Fall River 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 Lyle Norton

• Office address906 N. River St., Hot Springs, SD 57747
• Runs the jailSouth Dakota Sheriffs' Association lists the office as operating a 27-bed facility; the county's own site confirms a separately staffed jail line by publishing a dedicated jail phone number
• How the office is filledElected countywide, four-year term (SDCL 7-7-1.1)

Source: Fall River County, SD — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-25

The Judges

South Dakota circuit judges are elected in a nonpartisan election for an eight-year term (S.D. Const. Art. V, section 7; SDCL 16-6-3); a mid-term vacancy is filled by the Governor from two or more nominees of the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Magistrate judges, who in practice handle most rural first appearances and bail-setting under SDCL 16-12B-7, are not elected: the presiding judge of the circuit nominates them and the Supreme Court approves or disapproves the appointment (SDCL 16-12B-1.2); full-time magistrates serve four-year terms, part-time magistrates serve at the presiding judge's pleasure (SDCL 16-12B-1.3). Named circuit or magistrate judges for Fall River County were not located from a source opened in this pass.

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 →