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

The Detention Center

Platte County Sheriff's Office Detention Center

Operated byPlatte County Sheriff's Office, Detention Division
OpenedJuly 2002. Eight pods, maximum 92 inmates.
Holds for othersThe county states it fills vacant cells with contract prisoners from surrounding counties, the Department of Corrections and the U.S. Marshals Service, and has rented cell space for 22 years.

Source: Platte County detention · checked August 21, 2026

Transparency rating

4/10Partial

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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Platte 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 builtJuly 2002
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds92 in eight pods; 2024 average daily population 59

The Sheriff

Sheriff Anthony “Tony” Krotz

Took officeThe county states he was appointed sheriff on October 17, 2025, becoming the 16th sheriff of Platte County — appointed mid-term, not elected to the seat.

Still needed

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

Source: Platte County Sheriff · 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, 8th Judicial District

Hon. Clark C. Allan — appointed January 2021; term expires January 2027
Hon. Jacqueline K. Brown — appointed July 2025; term expires January 2027
Magistrate Wendy Palen — no appointment or term date published

800 9th Street, Wheatland, WY 82201

District Court, 8th Judicial District

Hon. F. Scott Peasley — appointed August 2017; term expires January 2031
Hon. Edward A. Buchanan — appointed September 2022; term expires January 2031

800 9th Street, Wheatland, WY 82201

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 sheriff was appointed to fill a vacancy in October 2025 rather than elected; the seat is on the November 2026 ballot.
The jail rents bed space to other counties, the state and the U.S. Marshals Service — a revenue line worth following.
The county clerk's budget page says the budget and audits are “below.” Nothing is attached. The only detention dollar figure Platte publishes is revenue — $1,091,897 in 2021–22 from housing other agencies' prisoners.
Its own annual report breaks the jail population down by agency: 36 U.S. Marshals detainees against 6 Platte County inmates in 2024. It publishes no agreement and no rate.
The 2023 and 2024 annual reports are posted with template placeholders still unfilled — “During 2024 there was XX inmate incidents.”
The meeting dashboard is the usable archive; agendas and minutes attach to each calendar entry, 2019 to now.

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Platte 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 Platte 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