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Utah · County seat: Salt Lake City · Checked 2026-08-24

Salt Lake County

The jail, the sheriff who runs it, and the judges who decide who sits inside. Every fact below comes from a named public record. Anything not yet sourced is marked still needed rather than guessed.

The Detention Center

Salt Lake County Jail (Metro Jail and Oxbow Jail)

Source: Salt Lake County Sheriff — Corrections Bureau · checked 2026-08-24

Transparency rating

5/10Partial

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Salt Lake County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-24. 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.

Since then

  • Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Rosie Rivera

Still needed
  • Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
  • Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
  • Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Salt Lake County Sheriff — Rosie Rivera · checked 2026-08-24

The Judges

Utah judges are appointed by the Governor through a nominating commission, then face retention election. They are state judicial officers, not county officials. The Third Judicial District covers Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties; the list above is the full published roster of district judges for the whole district, not Salt Lake County alone, and no single judge is designated for Salt Lake County specifically beyond the district's presiding judge.

Third District Court — Judges (serves Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties)

  • Matthew Bates
  • James T. Blanch
  • Heather Brereton
  • Patrick W. Corum
  • Richard Daynes
  • Robert P. Faust
  • Joel Ferre
  • James D. Gardner
  • Dianna Gibson
  • Todd Hilbig
  • Douglas Hogan
  • Elizabeth A. Hruby-Mills
  • Kristine E. Johnson
  • Linda M. Jones
  • Chelsea Koch
  • Barry G. Lawrence
  • Thaddeus May
  • Amber M. Mettler
  • Amanda Montague
  • Adam T. Mow
  • Richard E. Mrazik
  • Stephen Nelson
  • Richard Pehrson
  • Kara L. Pettit
  • Coral Sanchez
  • Laura Scott
  • Todd Shaughnessy
  • Randall Skanchy
  • Charles Stormont
  • Vernice Trease
  • Teresa L. Welch
  • Derek Williams
Still needed
  • The county's bond schedule
  • Share of the jail population held pretrial
  • Median time from booking to first appearance

Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-24

The County Commissioners

They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.

Notes on the record

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Salt Lake County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).

How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?

Your VOTE is POWERFUL.

The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.

Names verified 2026-08-24 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered