Lewis County

The Detention Center

Lewis County Jail

• Operated byLewis County Sheriff's Office, Corrections Bureau
• Jail address351 NW North St., Chehalis, WA 98532 — 360-748-9241 (24/7)
• Size"remodeled in 2005 and is approximately 69,000 square feet" (county Corrections/Jail page)
• Rated beds / average daily population250 rated beds, ADP 172.0 in CY2025 — WASPC, not the county
• Staffing publishedA Captain, a Lieutenant, six Sergeants, forty-one Corrections Deputies, an Administrative Assistant and five Support Technicians
• Contracted servicesNaphcare for inmate medical services and Cascade Mental Health for mental health counselling and treatment (named on the county page; no rates published)
• Commissary debt rule published"should an inmate have medical fees, or debt from a previous incarceration, 80% of all incoming funds placed on their account will be taken to recover said costs", and unpaid debt after release may go to a collection agency
• Vendors namedHomeWav for phone and video, jailatm.com for commissary funds
• Year built / original cost / fundingNot found — checked the Corrections/Jail page, Basic Jail Information, Bail Information, the Jail department page, the Sheriff pages and the Budget department pages

Source: Lewis County — Corrections/Jail · checked 2026-08-23

• ✓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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Lewis County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-08-23. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

• Year builtNot found — the county says only that the jail was "remodeled in 2005"
• Original costNot found
• Paid for byNot found
• BedsNot published by the county. WASPC records 250 rated beds against an average daily population of 172.0 in CY2025. The county publishes the building's size (about 69,000 square feet) but no bed count.

The Sheriff

Sheriff Robert R. Snaza

• Runs the jailYes — "The Corrections Bureau encompasses the Lewis County Jail"; no separate county department of corrections exists, so RCW 70.48.090(4) leaves the Sheriff in charge
• Day-to-day jail managementChris Sweet, Corrections Chief
• How the office is filledElected countywide
• UndersheriffKevin Engelbertson
• Office345 West Main Street, Chehalis, WA 98532 — 360-748-9286

Source: Lewis County — Sheriff · checked 2026-08-23

The Judges

Washington Superior Court judges are elected in nonpartisan countywide races and District Court judges in nonpartisan district races; municipal court judges are elected or appointed by the city. All 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 at courts.wa.gov. No presiding judge is identified on Lewis County Superior Court's own web pages.

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 →