The Detention Center
Cowlitz County Jail
- Operated byCowlitz County Corrections Department, Jail Division
- Who runs itMarin Fox — Department Director, Cowlitz County Corrections Department, appointed by the Not found - the county website does not say who appoints the Corrections Director. The county code is hosted on eCode360 (https://ecode360.com/CO4712), which returned a block page to us.
- Jail address1935 First Avenue, Longview, WA 98632 - 360-577-3094
- Only detention centre in the countyServes Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Kalama, Woodland and the unincorporated county
- Population the county publishes"Averaging around 325 residents at any given time" (Jail Division page); the live county roster showed 181 in custody on 23 August 2026
- BedsNot published by the county. A Cowlitz County commissary RFP (contract C-692, hosted by MRSC) states "The Jail Annex has a bed capacity of 356"; that document's sales figures are from 2013
- Building"The Cowlitz County Jail expanded it's footprint by building a new facility to better serve our community in 2005" (Jail Division page). Original cost and funding not published
- Contract holdingThe jail "contracts with the Washington State Department of Corrections to house inmates who violate the terms of their post conviction supervision agreement" - no rate published
- Other divisionsOffender Services Division, Hall of Justice 3rd floor, runs alternative sentencing
- Jail captainsBlain Lux, Christopher Moses and Pat Connors, Captains
Source: Cowlitz County - Jail Division · 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 builtA new jail facility was built in 2005 (county Jail Division page); the year the original jail was built is not published
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot published by the county. 356 bed capacity for the Jail Annex appears in county commissary RFP C-692 hosted at https://mrsc.org/getmedia/c9584664-ca86-4aab-8c5b-edd4c28b0372/c692rfpCommissary.pdf
Since then
- 2005 - new facility built, described by the county as expanding the jail's footprint
The Sheriff
Sheriff Brad Thurman
- Runs the jailNo - Cowlitz County has a separate Corrections Department, so under RCW 70.48.090(4) that department, not the Sheriff, has charge of the jail
- How the office is filledElected countywide
- What the Sheriff still does at the jailPREA criminal investigations are conducted by the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office (county PREA page)
- OfficeSheriff's Office page names Brad Thurman as Sheriff; office serving the county since 1854
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Cowlitz 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 and not the jail, sets bail. Court rosters here come from the Administrative Office of the Courts' county directory.
Cowlitz County Superior Court - 312 SW 1st Ave, Kelso
- Gary B. Bashor, Judge
- Michael H. Evans, Judge
- Patricia M. Fassett, Judge
- Jill Karmy, Judge
- Thad E. Scudder, Judge
- Carlee Bliss, Commissioner
- Jamie Foster, Commissioner
Cowlitz County District Court - 312 SW 1st Ave, Kelso (also hears the Castle Rock, Kalama, Kelso, Longview and Woodland municipal calendars)
- Kevin G. Blondin, Judge
- John A. Hays, Judge
- M. Jamie Imboden, 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
- Cowlitz is one of the Washington counties where RCW 70.48.090(4) puts the jail under a county department rather than the sheriff: the Corrections Department, under Department Director Marin Fox, runs the Jail Division and Offender Services.
- capacity: marked no - the county publishes an average population ("around 325") and a live roster count, but no bed capacity on its own site.
- budget: the 2026 Budget page publishes a Budget Summary, a Budget Resolution and a 164-page scanned General Fund Revenues and Expenses detail. We OCR'd the detail and found the jail's own budget lines under fund 199, department 110100 CCCD-Jail. The scan is not text-searchable.
- prea: the county publishes a PREA policy statement and a reporting line, not audit results.
- contracts: the county says the jail contracts with the Washington State Department of Corrections to house supervision violators, but publishes no rate.
- fees: the county publishes an inmate voicemail price of $1.99 and says on-site video visits are free and remote visits limited to one 10-minute visit a week, but publishes no phone per-minute rate and no commissary prices.
- WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics list Cowlitz County Corrections with an average daily population of 171.8 and an average length of stay of 12.5 days: https://www.waspc.org/annual-jail-statistics
- Three commissioners elected by district in partisan races: Steve Rader (District 1), Steven L. Ferrell (District 2), Richard Dahl (District 3). No jail district and no dedicated jail tax is published by the county. The 2026 general fund line-item detail carries the Corrections Department's jail budget under department 110100, CCCD-Jail.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Cowlitz 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 Cowlitz 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