The Detention Center
Laramie County Detention Center
- Operated byLaramie County Sheriff's Office
- Detention commandChief Deputy Aaron Veldheer is listed over Detention; Lt. Tim Johnson over the Juvenile Detention/Crisis Center.
- Also calledThird-party inmate-search sites call it the “Laramie County Detention Facility.” The county's own pages say Detention Center.
Source: Laramie County Sheriff's Office — Inmate Programs · checked August 21, 2026
Transparency rating
7/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✓What it costs taxpayers
- ✓Deaths in custody
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✓Who else it holds, and for how much
- ✓How to post bond
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1989 — the current pod-style jail, replacing a 1917 bar-and-cage county jail
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found for the 1989 build. The 2019 expansion was paid for by a sixth-penny sales tax voters approved in 2017.
- Beds425 occupancy, average daily population 226, per the sheriff's own 2025 annual report. It opened in 1989 with 99.
Since then
- About 2004 — capacity raised from 99 to 324; cost not published
- 2018–19 — $16.2 million, a 37,250 square-foot addition to the Law Enforcement Center adding roughly 112 beds, funded by the 2017 sixth-penny tax
The Sheriff
Sheriff Brian Kozak
- Took officeElected November 8, 2022.
- Before thisChief of the Cheyenne Police Department, 2010–2021.
- Office309 W. 20th Street, Cheyenne, WY 82001.
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Laramie County Sheriff's Office, laramiecountywy.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, 1st Judicial District
- Hon. Antoinette Williams — appointed December 2014; term expires January 2029
- Hon. Sean C. Chambers — appointed July 2020; term expires January 2027
- Hon. Timothy J. Forwood — appointed January 2025; term expires January 2027
309 West 20th Street, Room 2300, Cheyenne, WY 82001
District Court, 1st Judicial District
- Hon. Catherine R. Rogers — appointed April 2014; term expires January 2029
- Hon. Peter H. Froelicher — appointed March 2019; term expires January 2027
- Hon. Robin S. Cooley — appointed March 2024; term expires January 2027
- Hon. Nathaniel S. Hibben — appointed May 2025; term expires January 2027
309 West 20th Street, Room 3205, Cheyenne, WY 82003
- 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
- Whether an inmate here can post a cash bond by card is an open question, and the reason this county was documented first.
- **The exact-cash rule is published, and it is the reason this project exists.** The county states: bonds posted at the detention facility must be the exact amount, change is not available, and no coins are accepted. Cash, county or city bonds only during non-court hours.
- There is a card kiosk in the lobby — but the county describes it for depositing money into an inmate's account, not for posting bond.
- Laramie is the only Wyoming county that published anything about a death in custody: a single press release, in August 2025, naming a woman who died at the detention center. There is no standing log or annual count.
- It also publishes a per-diem rate — $120 per detainee per day under an ICE agreement, in a county news release. Almost no other county publishes a rate at all.
- Agendas, packets, minutes and video run from 1991 to the present on the county's meeting portal — the deepest public record of any county in the state. Minutes from 1868 to 1994 are digitized separately.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Laramie 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.
- Find your polling place — Wyoming Polling Place Locator →
- Your county clerk — the office that runs the election (PDF) →
- Register to vote in Wyoming →
In Wyoming the county clerk runs the election in Laramie 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