Meade County

The Detention Center

Not found

• Operated byMeade County Sheriff's Office
• LocationHoused within the Meade County Law Enforcement Center, 1400 Main Street, Sturgis, per the county's own 'Find Us' page, which lists 'Jail, Probation, Sheriff's Office, Sturgis Police' at that building
• 2020 Census snapshotThe Prison Policy Initiative's republished U.S. Census correctional facility file lists a 'Meade Co. Jail,' a local facility with 65 prisoners, surveyed 12/31/2013 — a point-in-time count, not a current capacity figure, and not the county's own publication
• What was triedhttps://www.meadecounty.org/sheriffs-office, https://www.meadecounty.org/find-us, https://www.meadecounty.org/contact — no bed count, year built, budget figure, or formal facility name found on the county's own site

Source: County of Meade — Sheriff's Office · 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 Meade 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 Pat West

• Runs the jailYes — the elected sheriff is the jail's officer in charge under SDCL 24-11-13; the Sheriff's Office lists Corrections (Jail) as one of three divisions
• How the office is filledElected countywide, four-year term (SDCL 7-7-1.1); county site lists current term as 2023-2026

Source: County of Meade — Sheriff's Office · 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, sec. 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 this county were not located from the sources reviewed 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 →