The Detention Center
Rock County Jail
- Operated byRock County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address200 E. US Highway 14, Janesville, WI 53545
- BedsNot found
Source: Rock County, WI - Official Website · checked 2026-09-19
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✓Who else it holds, and for how much
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗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
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Curtis Fell
- Runs the jailRock County Sheriff's Office operates the Rock County Jail
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term, Wis. Stat. ch. 59
- Statutory basisWis. Stat. ch. 59 gives the elected Sheriff custody of the county jail
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Gazette Xtra (gazettextra.com) · 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.
Rock 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 boardNot found
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Jail page cites 'Rock County Policy 606 Prison Rape Elimination Act,' posts annual PREA reports 2020-2024, and a 2025 PREA Audit Final Report; PREA contact is Sgt. Robb Scott.
- Jail page names contracted service providers ICSolutions (visitation, phone, commissary) and Government Payment Services, Inc. (bail/fine credit-card processing).
- The sheriff's name (Curtis Fell) could not be confirmed from any Rock County government page actually opened — several co.rock.wi.us pages (main sheriff's office page, sheriff contact page, administration page) returned 403 errors on every attempt. He is identified only via a Gazette Xtra news article confirming he is the incumbent seeking re-election in 2026, so the 'named' audit check is marked no per the own-domain rule even though the sheriff field itself is populated from that outside source.
- What was tried: https://www.co.rock.wi.us/departments/sheriff-s-office, .../contact-the-sheriff-s-office, .../administration, and https://legacy.co.rock.wi.us/sheriff-jail all returned 403 client errors on repeated attempts.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Rock 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