The Detention Center
Clark County Jail (Main Jail), with the Jail Work Center on Lower River Road
- Operated byClark County Department of Jail Services
- Who runs itDavid Shook — Director, Clark County Department of Jail Services, appointed by the The Clark County Manager — the county's own news release of September 26, 2022 is headed 'County manager appoints David Shook to lead new Jail Services department'. Still identified as jail director in December 2025 (OPB).
- Jail addressClark County Law Enforcement Center, 707 West 13th Street, Vancouver, WA 98660 — 24-hour line 564-397-2207
- Main jail openedJuly 1984, with a capacity of 300 beds
- Bed history1988 double-bunked dormitories +50 (350); 1989 old city jail reopened +28 (378); 1992 city jail closed −28 (350); 1994 medium security double-bunked +111 (461); 2006 H Pod reopened +56 (614); 2009 budget cuts closed H Pod −57 and 36 staff positions
- Jail Work CenterOpened April 2000 with 200 beds across two units; closed as inmate housing in April 2020 and now runs laundry and kitchen services only
- Current expansionA 64-bed medium-security J Pod at the Jail Work Center, expected complete in 2026, and a 56-bed minimum-security H Pod in the main jail, expected 2025
- Proposed fundingAt a July 21 hearing the County Council approved putting two measures on the November 2026 ballot: general obligation bonds not to exceed $366,204,000 for public safety capital including a jail remodel and expansion, and a levy lid lift to $1.15 per $1,000 of assessed value beginning in 2027 to pay for the staff
- StaffDirector, a Deputy Director of Jail Administration, a Deputy Director of Jail Operations and 5 Commanders; 129 corrections officers, 18 sergeants, 4 support and 2 environmental staff, plus 16 support and 18 jail industries staff
- MedicalContracted; WellPath took over inmate medical care on March 1, 2023
- 2025 average daily population492.42 against 491 reported facility beds; 7,972 admissions; average length of stay 23.75 days (WASPC 2025)
- Federal holdsThe jail has no contract with the U.S. Marshals Service and is not reimbursed for holding federal arrestees (OPB, December 5, 2025)
- Original cost of the 1984 buildingNot found — checked the Jail history page, the Jail Remodel and Expansion Project page, the Jail facilities and staff page and the Budget Office pages
Source: Clark County — Jail Services overview · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗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
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtJuly 1984 (main jail, in the Clark County Law Enforcement Center); the Jail Work Center opened in 2000
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot published as a current figure by the county. The main jail opened with 300 beds and the history page traces changes to 614 in 2006 and back to about 557 after 2009. WASPC 2025 reports 491 facility beds against an average daily population of 492.42.
Since then
- 1988: dormitories double-bunked, +50 beds, capacity 350
- 1989: old city jail in the Vancouver Police Department basement reopened as women's work release, +28 beds, capacity 378
- 1992: city jail closed, −28 beds
- 1994: medium security cells double-bunked, +111 beds, capacity 461
- 2000: Jail Work Center opened with 200 beds
- 2006: H Pod reopened, +56 beds, capacity 614; main jail security retrofit
- 2009: H Pod closed in budget cuts, −57 beds
- 2020: Jail Work Center closed as inmate housing
- 2025 (expected): H Pod, +56 minimum-security beds
- 2026 (expected): J Pod at the Jail Work Center, +64 medium-security beds
The Sheriff
Sheriff John Horch
- Runs the jailNo — the Clark County Department of Jail Services does. On September 20, 2022 the County Council approved transferring management of the jail from the Sheriff's Office to the County Manager's Office; the department was established January 1, 2023
- How the office is filledElected countywide
- What the office still doesPatrol, investigations and other law enforcement; the Sheriff's Office no longer runs custody
- Office707 West 13th Street, PO Box 410, Vancouver, WA 98666 — 360-397-2211
Still needed
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Clark 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. The Superior Court presiding judge is named on the county's own Superior Court page (https://clark.wa.gov/superior-court).
Clark County Superior Court — 1200 Franklin St, Vancouver
- Derek J. Vanderwood, Presiding Judge
- Camara L.J. Banfield, Judge
- Suzan L. Clark, Judge
- Tsering D. Cornell, Judge
- Gregory M. Gonzales, Judge
- David E. Gregerson, Judge
- Christine Hayes, Judge
- Robert A. Lewis, Judge
- Nancy N. Retsinas, Judge
- Jennifer K. Snider, Judge
- Juliet C. Laycoe, Commissioner
- Christina Phelan, Commissioner
Clark County Superior Court — Family Law Annex, 601 W Evergreen, Vancouver
- John P. Fairgrieve, Judge
- Emily A. Sheldrick, Judge
- Stefanie Ellis, Commissioner
Clark County District Court — 210 E 13th Street, Vancouver
- Kristen L. Parcher, Presiding Judge
- James B. Smith, Assistant Presiding Judge
- Abigail E. Bartlett, Judge
- Chad E. Sleight, Judge
- Leslie Lopez, Judge
- Megan Peyton, Judge
- Chris Ramsay, Commissioner
- Erin E. Priest, Commissioner
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 2026-08-23
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
- Clark County is a Washington county where the elected sheriff is not the jailer. The Council voted on September 20, 2022 to move the jail to the County Manager's Office, and the Department of Jail Services was established on January 1, 2023; transition ran to April 12, 2023.
- capacity: the history and remodel pages give bed counts at various past dates but the county publishes no current capacity and no daily population.
- prea: no PREA audit or annual PREA report is published — checked the Jail Services overview, policies and procedures, annual reports and records pages.
- deaths: no death-in-custody disclosure on the county site, although the state Department of Health has published an unexpected-fatality review naming the Department of Jail Services.
- The jail's annual reports stop at 2019.
- WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics: https://www.waspc.org/annual-jail-statistics
- Clark County is governed by a five-member County Council, not a board of commissioners: Sue Marshall (Chair), Glen Yung, Michelle Belkot, Wil Fuentes and Matt Little. Voters approved a home rule charter in November 2014; the Board of County Commissioners became the Board of County Councilors on January 1, 2015, expanded from three to five district-elected members on January 1, 2016, and took the name Clark County Council in January 2018. A County Manager runs the executive side and now oversees the jail. No jail district; a jail bond and a public safety levy lid lift were approved for the November 2026 ballot.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Clark 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 sheriff is on your ballot
The county auditor runs the election in Clark 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