Potter County

The Detention Center

Not found — Potter County does not operate its own jail

• Operated byNot applicable
• Association pageStates directly that Potter County "contracts with other counties for jail bed space" — the specific host county was not named on the page opened.
• 2020 Census correctional facility fileConsistent with this: Potter County is not among the 26 counties whose facilities are listed.
• Where prisoners goPotter County contracts jail bed space with other counties under the SDCL 24-11-3/24-11-4 sharing mechanism; which specific county holds Potter's prisoners was not established from a source opened this session.
• What was triedPotter County has no official website: the South Dakota Association of County Officials directory (sdcounties.org/counties/) states "Those Counties without a link do not maintain a website," and lists none for Potter. A guessed ujs.sd.gov Sixth Judicial Circuit / Potter County court-finder URL was refused for lack of provenance.

Source: South Dakota Sheriffs' Association — Potter County · 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 Potter 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 Curtis Hamburger

• ElectedYes — SDCL 7-7-1.1, four-year term; in office since 2011
• Contact201 S Exene St, Gettysburg, SD 57462; (605) 765-9405; sdpcso@venturecomm.net
• Department sizeStaff of 4, including 2 deputies, serving approximately 898 square miles (per the association profile)

Source: South Dakota Sheriffs' Association — Potter County · checked 2026-08-25

The Judges

South Dakota circuit judges are elected in a nonpolitical election to eight-year terms (SD Constitution Art. V §7; SDCL 16-6-3); a midterm vacancy is filled by the Governor from Judicial Qualifications Commission nominees. Many first appearances go instead to an appointed magistrate judge (SDCL 16-12B-1.2) or a clerk magistrate working off a bond schedule (SDCL 16-12C-10), neither of whom is elected. All are state judicial officers, not county officials.

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