The Detention Center
Sauk County Jail/Huber Center (Law Enforcement Center)
- Operated bySauk County Sheriff's Department
- Jail address1300 Lange Court, Baraboo, WI 53913
- Beds463 total beds: six 24-cell housing pods (most double-occupancy) and two 48-bed dormitory-style units; two pods held empty for anticipated population growth
- Year openedLaw Enforcement Center opened May 12, 2003
- Medical careContracted to Advanced Correctional Healthcare (ACH)
- Electronic Monitoring ProgramAccommodates up to 24 off-site inmates
Source: Sauk County Wisconsin Official Website - Jail/Huber Division · 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
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗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 built2003 (opened May 12, 2003)
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds463
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Chip Meister
- Runs the jailSauk County Sheriff's Department operates the Jail/Huber Center (Law Enforcement Center)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term, Wis. Stat. ch. 59
- Statutory basisWis. Stat. ch. 59 (county sheriff)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Sauk County Wisconsin Official Website - Sheriff's Office · 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.
Sauk 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 boardSauk County Board of Supervisors; Chair Tim McCumber →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sauk County publishes daily jail population counts as monthly PDF reports ('daily count report submitted to the State') at co.sauk.wi.us/sheriffsoffice/daily-inmate-counts, but this is a population-count series, not a named inmate roster, and was not counted toward the roster check.
- A dedicated PREA Information page/link is listed on the Sheriff's Office site, satisfying the prea check.
- No jail budget, death-in-custody records, inspection reports, contracts, bond information, or fee schedules were found published on co.sauk.wi.us.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Sauk 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