The Detention Center
Thurston County Corrections Facility
- Operated byThurston County Sheriff's Office — Corrections Bureau
- Jail address3491 Ferguson St SW, Tumwater, WA 98501 — 360-709-5900; the jail is in Tumwater, not in the county seat
- Daily population, county figure"approximately 425 inmates" — Corrections Bureau page; no bed count is published alongside it
- Rated beds (state figure)395 — WASPC 2025 Annual Jail Statistics
- Average daily population 2025300.8, against 395 rated beds (WASPC 2025)
- Throughput 20253,820 admissions, average length of stay 30.17 days — the longest average stay of any jail in this group (WASPC 2025)
- In-custody deaths 2025Yes — the Corrections Bureau answered "Yes" in the WASPC 2025 return; the county publishes nothing about it
- Posting bailCash accepted 24 hours a day; bonds through authorised bail bond agencies
- VisitationVideo only, through ViaPath / gettingout.com; 60 minutes free per inmate per week, with no price published for paid visits
- Phone vendorGTL — 1-866-516-0115; no rates published
- CommissaryOrders delivered Wednesdays and Saturdays; no price list published
- Year built / original cost / fundingNot found — checked the Corrections Bureau page, the Sheriff pages, the roster and released-inmate pages and the budget development page
Source: Thurston County — Corrections Bureau · 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 builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds395 rated beds in the WASPC 2025 return; the county publishes an approximate population of about 425 but no bed count
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Derek Sanders
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office Corrections Bureau operates the Thurston County Corrections Facility; the county has created no separate department of corrections
- How the office is filledElected countywide to a four-year term (RCW 36.16.030)
- Office1111 Israel Road SW, Tumwater, WA 98501-6512 — 360-786-5500
- Corrections chiefNot found — the Sheriff's Office and Corrections Bureau pages name no bureau chief
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Thurston 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. 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. Vacancies are filled by gubernatorial appointment until the next election. Court rosters here come from the Administrative Office of the Courts' county directory. Thurston also runs a Family and Juvenile Court with its own chief judge. Thurston County operates a separate Pretrial Services department, which publishes its own frequently asked questions about release decisions.
Thurston County Superior Court — 2000 Lakeridge Dr SW, Bldg 2, Olympia
- Anne Egeler
- Chris Lanese
- Christine Schaller
- John C. Skinder
- Mary Sue Wilson
- Kelly Wood
- Allyson Zipp
- Patrick Rawnsley, Commissioner
Thurston County District Court — 2000 Lakeridge Dr SW, Bldg 3, Olympia
- Brett Buckley, Judge
- Samuel G. Meyer, Judge
- Thomas L. Meyer, Judge
- Kalo Wilcox, Judge
- Jacob Stillwell, Commissioner
- Paul Wohl, Commissioner
Thurston County Family and Juvenile Court — 2801 32nd Ave SW, Tumwater
- Indu Thomas, Chief Judge
- Sharonda D. Amamilo, 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
- The capacity check is marked 'no' on a narrow point. Thurston is the only county in this group that publishes any population figure of its own — 'approximately 425 inmates' on the Corrections Bureau page — but it publishes no bed count to set against it, and the figure is materially higher than the 300.8 average daily population the county reported to WASPC for 2025 against 395 rated beds.
- Thurston reported a death in custody to WASPC for 2025. The county publishes nothing about it, and no Department of Health unexpected fatality review naming this facility could be found.
- The county names its vendors — ViaPath for video visits, GTL for phone — and publishes that each inmate gets 60 free video minutes a week, but no dollar rate for phone, paid video visits or commissary.
- Thurston publishes no PREA material, no inspection or accreditation result and no contract to hold another agency's prisoners.
- Thurston runs a separate county Pretrial Services department, which is unusual among the counties in this group.
- Board of County Commissioners — five commissioners elected to four-year terms, expanded from three: Carolina Mejia (District 1), Rachel Grant (District 2), Tye Menser (District 3), Wayne Fournier (District 4), Emily Clouse (District 5). The Board meets at 3000 Pacific Ave. SE, Room 110, Olympia. The county budgets biennially; the 2024-25 operating budget was adopted by Resolution 16345 and the capital budget by Resolution 16346, and the budget requests break out 'Sheriff's Office-Corrections' separately from 'Sheriff's Office-Law Enforcement'. No jail district and no dedicated jail tax appear on the county site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Thurston 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 Thurston 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