Hamlin County

The Detention Center

Not found

• Operated byNone — Hamlin County has no county-operated jail
• Where prisoners goThe Sheriff's Office page states plainly: "Our inmates are housed in Brookings and Codington County Detention Centers." As of a February 2024 update on the county's own detention-centers page, the arrangement is with the Brookings Detention Center and the Codington Detention Center (Watertown)
• No rates publishedHamlin County's own site links out to the two receiving facilities' contact information and websites but does not publish the contract terms or per-day rate it pays either county
• Consistent with Census dataNeither a Hamlin County facility appears in the 2020 Census facility list cited in the state-layer research, while both "Brookings Co. Det. Ctr." and "Codington Co. Det. Ctr." do appear

Source: Hamlin County, SD — Detention Centers · 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 Hamlin 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 Chad Schlotterbeck

• Runs the jailNot applicable — Hamlin County operates no jail of its own (see below)
• How the office is filledElected countywide, four-year term (SDCL 7-7-1.1)
• CoverageThe Sheriff's Office serves contract communities including Estelline, Castlewood, Bryant and Hayti across 538 square miles, per the South Dakota Sheriffs' Association

Source: Hamlin 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 Hamlin County were not located from any source opened.

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 →