The Detention Center
Door County Jail
- Operated byDoor County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address1201-1203 S Duluth Avenue, Sturgeon Bay, WI 54235
- Beds143-bed direct supervision facility, operational capacity of 109 inmates
- DivisionsJail Division includes the main jail, a Huber Release Unit, an Electronic Monitoring Unit, and a Court Security Unit
- Jail AdministratorJail Lieutenant Michael Bertrand
Source: Door County, WI - Jail · checked 2026-09-19
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗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
- Beds143 (operational capacity 109)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Tammy A. Sternard
- Runs the jailDoor County Sheriff's Office operates the Door County Jail in Sturgeon Bay
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term, Wis. Stat. ch. 59
- Statutory basisWis. Stat. ch. 59 (county sheriff, custody of jail)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Door County, WI - Sheriff · checked 2026-09-19
The Judges
Wisconsin circuit court judges are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms under Wis. Const. art. VII — state judicial officers, not county officials.
Door County Circuit Court
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-19
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 boardDoor County Board of Supervisors (21 supervisors; Chairperson David Englebert, Vice Chairperson Todd Thayse per county site) →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Jail-Information page links to a 'Posting Bond' resource; no fee schedule, PREA policy, inspection reports, contracts, roster, or budget line items were found on co.door.wi.gov.
- What was tried: searched co.door.wi.gov for PREA and jail budget line items — search returned only the Sheriff's Department municipal code chapter and general county budget workshop agendas, not a sheriff/jail-specific budget document confirmed opened.
- State inspection/oversight: Wisconsin DOC Division of Community Corrections inspects county jails under Wis. Admin. Code DOC 350; not independently confirmed to apply to Door County on the county's own site.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Door 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.
Names verified 2026-09-19 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered