The Detention Center
No operating jail — the former Columbia County Jail closed in March 2023
- Operated byColumbia County Sheriff's Office until closure; prisoners are now held by Walla Walla County Corrections
- StatusClosed. 'As of March of 2023, Columbia County Sheriff's Office has closed our jail. Inmates are now being transported and held in the Walla Walla County Corrections facility.' — county sheriff page
- Where prisoners goWalla Walla County Corrections, and other neighbouring county jails
- The buildingA steel cell block built in 1874 by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Co. as a ship's brig and installed in Columbia County in 1886 — among the oldest jails in the state when it shut (East Oregonian / Union-Bulletin, April 13, 2023)
- Capacity when open11 — four two-bunk cells plus three beds on the catwalk
- Why it closedCells had no toilets so prisoners could not be separated, the staffing budget could not cover guards, and officials cited liability from lawsuits in other rural counties
- Cost of housing elsewhereAbout $65,000 in the first ten months of 2020, before closure; current per-day rates not published
- What is nextA new criminal justice building with a modern jail was said in March 2023 to be roughly five years away
- WASPC statusThe 2025 statewide jail statistics list the Columbia County Sheriff's Office under 'Agencies Not Reporting' with the explanation 'Agency historically closed.'
- Contract or rate with Walla Walla CountyNot found — checked the Sheriff pages, the Board of County Commissioners page, the County Contracts and Agreements archive and the 2026 budget resolution
Source: Columbia County — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-23
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗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 built1874 — built by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Co. as a ship's brig; placed in Columbia County in 1886
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds11 when open — four two-bunk cells plus three beds on the catwalk
Since then
- None published. The county said in March 2023 that a new criminal justice building with a modern jail was about five years away.
The Sheriff
Sheriff Joseph A. Helm
- Runs the jailThere is no jail to run — the Sheriff's Office closed the Columbia County jail in March 2023 and prisoners now go to Walla Walla County Corrections
- How the office is filledElected countywide. Helm is the 27th person to hold the office since 1875
- OfficeGround floor of the Columbia County Courthouse, 341 E. Main St., Suite 1, Dayton, WA 99328 — 509-382-2518
- Where to ask about a prisonerWalla Walla County Corrections, 509-524-5430 — the county's own sheriff page says so
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Columbia 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. Columbia County shares its Superior Court judge, Brooke J. Burns, and its court commissioners with Asotin County.
Columbia County Superior Court — 341 E Main St, Ste 2, Dayton
- Brooke J. Burns, Judge
- Julie E. Karl, Commissioner
- Robert Richard King, Commissioner
- David R. Risley, Commissioner
Columbia County District Court — 341 E Main St Ste 4, Dayton (also serves Dayton as municipal court)
- Kimberly R. Boggs, 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
- This is a no-jail county, and the county says so plainly on the Sheriff's page, including the phone number and inmate-search link for Walla Walla County Corrections. That disclosure is why the gap is recorded rather than counted as a failure to publish.
- named: marked no because the county names no jail of its own — there is none to name.
- budget: the Board of County Commissioners page publishes 2026 current expense, various and public works budgets, plus an archive of earlier budgets at https://www.columbiaco.com/Archive.aspx?AMID=65 .
- contracts: the county publishes a County Contracts and Agreements archive (https://www.columbiaco.com/Archive.aspx?AMID=66) but no jail housing agreement or per-day rate with Walla Walla County was found there.
- WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics: https://www.waspc.org/annual-jail-statistics
- Three commissioners elected by district: Ryan R. Rundell (District 1, 2026 Chairman, term 2025–2028), Marty J. Hall (District 2, term 2025–2028), Jack G. Miller (District 3, term 2023–2026). Clerk of the Board Virginia Schmidt. Regular meetings the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month, work sessions the 2nd and 4th. No jail district and no published dedicated jail tax.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Columbia 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 Columbia 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