Hanson County

The Detention Center

Not found

• Operated byNone — Hanson County pays Davison County to hold its prisoners
• Where prisoners goHanson County's own commissioners' minutes for September 16, 2025 record a disbursement of "Davison County Sheriff, 5,985.00, jail bill" — a published payment for jail services to Davison County
• Not in 2020 Census facility listHanson County does not appear among the county jails counted in the Prison Gerrymandering Project's republished 2020 Census facility file cited in the state-layer research, while Davison Co. Jail does appear
• Official domain notehansoncounty.net (the domain listed by the South Dakota Association of County Officials) redirects to hansoncountysd.gov, the domain used throughout this entry

Source: Hanson County, SD — Commissioners Minutes, September 16, 2025 · 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
• ✗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 Hanson 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 Brandon Wingert

• Runs the jailNot applicable — Hanson County operates no jail of its own (see below); deputies "transport inmates to and from court hearings," per the Sheriff's Office page
• How the office is filledElected countywide, four-year term (SDCL 7-7-1.1)
• Also serves asHanson County's departments page lists Brandon Wingert as both Sheriff and (jointly, with Thomas Brown) Emergency Management

Source: Hanson County, SD — Sheriff's Department · 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 Hanson 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 →