Walla Walla County, Washington — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Walla Walla County Jail

Operated byWalla Walla County Corrections Department (a county department separate from the Sheriff's Office)
Who runs itNot found — Head of the Walla Walla County Corrections Department — title not published on the county website, appointed by the Not found — the county publishes no appointment authority for the position
Jail address300 West Alder Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362 — main entrance at the corner of 5th and Alder
Phone509-524-5431
Year built1982 (county Corrections Department page)
Who it holdsPrisoners of the Walla Walla Police Department, the College Place Police Department and the Sheriff's Office
Beds84 (WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics; the county itself publishes no bed count)
Average daily population79.9 in calendar 2025, with 2,407 admissions and an average length of stay of 14 days (WASPC 2025)
Deaths in custodyWASPC's 2025 return for the Walla Walla County Corrections Dept records 'Yes' to in-custody deaths
RosterPublished as a dated PDF list, not a live database
Original cost / funding / expansionsNot found — checked the Corrections Department page, the Jail Roster page, the Electronic Home Monitoring page, the Sheriff page, the Commissioners pages and the Auditor's accounting page

Source: Walla Walla County — Corrections Department · 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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Walla Walla 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 built1982 (county Corrections Department page)
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds84 (WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics). The county publishes no bed count of its own.

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Mark Crider

Runs the jailNo — Walla Walla County has a separate Corrections Department, which under RCW 70.48.090(4) takes the jail out of the Sheriff's charge
How the office is filledElected countywide
UndersheriffJoe Klundt
Chief Criminal DeputyRichard Schram (Operations Division)
Chief Civil DeputyJaney Gutierrez (Administrative Services Division)
Office240 West Alder Street, First Floor, Walla Walla, WA 99362
SuccessionSheriff Crider did not file for re-election in 2026; candidate filing for the office closed with Richard Schram and Ashley Daschofsky on the ballot

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Walla Walla County — Sheriff's Page · 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. A judge, not the sheriff and not the Corrections Department, sets bail. Court rosters here come from the Administrative Office of the Courts' county directory, which names no presiding judge for either Walla Walla court.

Walla Walla County Superior Court

Brandon L. Johnson, Judge, Department I
Patricia Fulton, Judge, Department II

Walla Walla County District Court

Jared N. Hawkins, Judge
Kristian E. Hedine, Judge

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

Walla Walla is one of the Washington counties that took the jail out of the sheriff's hands: the county lists Corrections as its own department alongside the Sheriff, and the Sheriff's page carries no jail function. The county does not publish the name, title or appointing authority of whoever heads that department — checked the Corrections Department page and its sub-pages, the county department list, the Human Resources page and the public-records-coordinator list (which names Steven Barker and Keri Weber only as records coordinators for Corrections).
roster: a dated PDF roster is posted on the county's Jail Roster page rather than a searchable live database.
capacity: no bed count and no daily population figure appear anywhere on the county site.
budget: the Auditor's accounting page posts adopted county budgets from 2007 through 2026 (2026 Budget, Reso 25-261) plus monthly county expenditure status reports.
bond_info: the Corrections Department page explains that bail is posted at the respective court during business hours and at the jail after hours, cash only for local charges and for out-of-county warrants at any time.
fees: the county names CTEL for phone accounts and Access Corrections / My Care Pack for commissary but publishes no rates.
contracts: the county states the jail serves the Walla Walla and College Place police departments as well as the Sheriff's Office, but publishes no agreement and no per-day rate.
WASPC 2025 statewide jail statistics for the Walla Walla County Corrections Dept: ALOS 14 days, ADP 79.9, 84 beds, 2,407 admissions, in-custody deaths 'Yes' (https://www.waspc.org/annual-jail-statistics).
Three commissioners elected by district: Bertha J. Clayton (District 1, term 2025–2028), Todd L. Kimball (District 2, 2026 Chair, term 2025–2028), Gunner Fulmer (District 3, term 2023–2026). No jail district and no dedicated jail tax is published by the county.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Walla Walla 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 Walla Walla 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