Sanborn County

The Detention Center

Not found — Sanborn County does not operate a jail facility

• Operated byNot applicable
• Association pageStates directly: "The county does not operate a jail facility."
• 2020 Census correctional facility fileConsistent with this: Sanborn County is not among the 26 counties whose facilities are listed.
• Where prisoners goNot established from a source opened this session.
• What was triedSanborn 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 Sanborn.

Source: South Dakota Sheriffs' Association — Sanborn 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 Sanborn 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 Tom Fridley

• ElectedYes — SDCL 7-7-1.1, four-year term
• Contact604 W 6th St, Woonsocket, SD 57385; (605) 796-4511; tomf@sanborncounty.net
• Department size5 total staff, including 2 full-time deputies and 1 part-time deputy (per the association profile)

Source: South Dakota Sheriffs' Association — Sanborn 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