Detention Bureau/Detention Division

Captain Wayne Yarbrough and Captain John Spencer
Phone: (775) 328-3062 & 325-6406

The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office operates the only adult detention facility for pretrial detainees within Washoe County. The Washoe County Detention Facility currently accepts detainees from over thirty law enforcement agencies, including those at the local, state and federal levels.

The average daily inmate population level in 2010 was 1038 inmates. The Sheriff’s Office continues to strive to reduce the inmate population with innovative and proactive inmate release programs. These programs include court-sponsored pretrial releases and community-based work programs which are coordinated through the Sheriff’s Office.

The facility includes housing units for inmates with special needs. These units help treat those inmates with special needs who cannot or should not be housed in general population. These units are staffed with Mental Health workers and Sheriff’s Deputies.

Designed as one of the first direct-supervision detention facilities in the nation, the Washoe County Detention Facility has become a model facility for jails in the United States. The detention facility is routinely used as an example for other governmental agencies that are planning to construct new jails. Additionally, due to the proximity of the National Judicial College on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno, the facility functions as a stop for judges throughout the world. The facility has also served as host to governmental and social dignitaries from around the world.