Albany County, Wyoming — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Albany County Detention Center

Operated byAlbany County Sheriff's Office
Address420 Ivinson Avenue, Laramie, WY 82070. Phone 307-755-3521, open 24 hours.

Source: Albany County Detention Center, albanycountywy.gov · checked August 21, 2026

Transparency rating

3/10Closed

✓The jail is named
✗Who is in custody — not published
✓Beds and daily population
✓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 — not published
✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Albany County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked August 21, 2026. 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 builtNot found
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds66 maximum

Since then

2025–26 — emergency generator installed; cost not stated in the county's notice of final payment

The Sheriff

Sheriff Aaron Appelhans

Office525 E. Grand Avenue, Suite 101, Laramie, WY 82070.
On the ballotThe county's own elected-officials roster lists the term as 2020–2026.

Still needed

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

Source: Albany County Sheriff, albanycountywy.gov · checked August 21, 2026

The Judges

Wyoming splits the bench. Circuit Court handles initial appearances — the first place bond is set. District Court takes felonies after bindover.

Circuit Court, 2nd Judicial District

Hon. Robert J. Sanford — appointed July 2020; term expires January 2027

525 Grand Avenue, Room 400, Laramie, WY 82070

District Court, 2nd Judicial District

Hon. Misha Westby — appointed August 2022; term expires January 2031

525 Grand Avenue, Suite 305, Laramie, WY 82070

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 August 21, 2026

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 Wyoming Secretary of State's county-officials directory still names a former sheriff for this county. It was not used for any name here — the county's own pages were.
The sheriff's page says the jail holds “local, state and federal prisoners,” but no agreement or per-diem rate is published.
Commissioner minutes from November 2020 record an agreement letting arrestees post bond by debit or credit card — but the county publishes no bond instructions for the public.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Albany 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

In Wyoming the county clerk runs the election in Albany County and prints the ballot the sheriff’s name is on. Links from the Wyoming Secretary of State and vote.gov.

Names verified August 21, 2026 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered