The Detention Center
Asotin County Justice Complex and Jail
- Operated byAsotin County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address2950 6th Ave, Clarkston, WA 99403 — 509-758-1668 (the jail is in Clarkston, not in the county seat)
- Published capacity144 inmates (standard capacity, county jail page)
- Staffing1 Commander, 4 Sergeants, 1 Administrative Assistant, 20 Corrections Officers, 4 Control Room Technicians, staffed 24 hours
- Who it holdsPrimary detention facility for Asotin County, the City of Asotin and the City of Clarkston
- Other agenciesOffers bed space to the Washington State Department of Corrections to temporarily house probation violators — no rate or contract published
- 2025 average daily population58 (WASPC 2025 jail statistics)
- 2025 bookings1,204 admissions; average length of stay 22.2 days; no in-custody deaths reported (WASPC 2025)
- ServicesMedical, mental health and dental contracted out; volunteer-run life skills, education and religious programs; limited commissary and a library
- Inmate labourInmate work crews for the county landfill, courthouse, fair board, litter control and weed control
- Year built / original cost / fundingNot found — checked the Jail page, the Sheriff page, the Finance page, the budget archive and the county sitemap
Source: Asotin County — Jail · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✗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
- Beds144 standard capacity (county jail page); WASPC 2025 also reports 144 facility beds and an average daily population of 58
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff John Hilderbrand
- Runs the jailYes — the county's own page says the Asotin County Justice Complex and Jail 'is operated by the Asotin County Sheriff's Office'
- Day-to-day jail managementNate Uhlorn, Jail Commander
- How the office is filledElected countywide
- Office127/135 Second Street, PO Box 130, Asotin, WA 99402 — 509-243-4717
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Asotin County — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-23
The Judges
Washington Superior Court judges are elected in nonpartisan countywide races, and District Court judges are elected in nonpartisan district races. Both are state judicial officers, not county officials — the county pays part of the cost but does not choose the judge. A judge, not the sheriff or the jail, sets bail. Court rosters here come from the Administrative Office of the Courts' county directory. Asotin County shares its Superior Court judge, Brooke J. Burns, with Columbia County.
Asotin County Superior Court — County Courthouse, 135 2nd St, Asotin
- Brooke J. Burns, Judge
- Julie E. Karl, Commissioner
- Robert Richard King, Commissioner
- David R. Risley, Commissioner
Asotin County District Court — 135 2nd St, Asotin (also sits as Asotin and Clarkston municipal court)
- Tina L. Kernan, Judge
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-08-23
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 →
Notes on the record
- capacity: 144 beds is published, but no daily or average population is published by the county, so the check fails on the second half.
- contracts: the jail page says it sells bed space to the Washington State Department of Corrections but publishes no rate and no agreement.
- fees: the jail page links inmatesales.com and jailatm.com for phone, video, email and commissary but publishes no rates of its own.
- bond_info: no page on the county site explains how to post bail at the jail — checked the Jail page, the Sheriff page, the District Court pages and the Superior Court pages.
- WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics: https://www.waspc.org/annual-jail-statistics
- Three commissioners elected by district: Chris Seubert (District 2, Chairman), Brian Shinn (District 1, Vice Chairman), Chuck Whitman (District 3). Regular meetings 9 am Mondays, quarterly 6:30 pm night meetings. No jail district and no published dedicated jail tax.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Asotin 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.
The county auditor runs the election in Asotin County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from USA.gov and vote.gov.
Names verified 2026-08-23 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered