Owyhee County Jail

When the current jail was built it was done so with the future in mind. There is room for 40 bunks. Because Owyhee County does not fill all of those, we rent out the beds to other counties and the state of Idaho. In 2019, I brought over $284,000.00 into the county general fund for rented space. Because of that I can hold Owyhee County prisoners for a fraction of the cost of other counties. Since the new jail was built, every year we have passed the Jail Inspection requirements for the State of Idaho. These are rules set up by the Idaho Sheriff’s Association to keep the Counties out of litigation, to operate the jails safely and to provide the care that inmates are allowed by law. There are only a few of the Idaho Counties that pass this certification.