The Detention Center
Uintah County Jail
- Operated byUintah County Sheriff's Office
- AddressPublic Safety Complex, 641 E 300 S, Vernal, UT 84078
- Phone(435) 781-1300
- Phone/video vendorSecurus Technologies
- Commissary vendorInmate Canteen
- What was trieduintah.gov/residents/sheriff_s_office.php and the jail page checked for beds, year built, and cost — none published; no specific fee rates found for Securus or Inmate Canteen on the county's own site
Source: Uintah County — Uintah County Jail · checked 2026-08-24
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗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
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
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Steve Labrum
- Runs the jailYes — Uintah County Jail, under the Sheriff's Office
- Association roleSecretary, Utah Sheriffs' Association
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Utah Sheriffs' Association — Sheriff Directory (Sheriff Steve Labrum, Uintah County) · 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 Eighth Judicial District covers Daggett, Duchesne, and Uintah Counties. Uintah County's Justice Court is linked from the county's own site to Vernal City's Justice Court page; Utah justice court judges may serve as both county and municipal judges.
Eighth District Court — Presiding Judge
- Samuel P. Chiara
Justice Court
- Ray Richards (appointed January 2012)
- 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.
- 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 →
Notes on the record
- The jail page names its phone/video vendor (Securus Technologies) and commissary vendor (Inmate Canteen) but publishes no specific per-minute or per-item rates itself, so 'fees' is marked no.
- No dedicated agendas/minutes, budget, roster, or bail-guidance page was located on uintah.gov in this session.
- No Utah Sheriffs' Association jail standards result for Uintah County found published on the county's own site.
- Uintah County Commission: John Laursen (Chairman, a former Uintah County Sheriff), Sonja Norton, Willis LeFevre.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Uintah 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