Meade County Jail Overview
Meade County Jail is operated by the Meade County Sheriff's Office. The facility is a county jail for adult local detention, not a state prison. The current sheriff is Douglas Ritter, the jail administrator listed in research is Derrek Berg, and sheriff staff pages list Linnea Brainard for records. The jail is connected to the sheriff office and local dispatch structure, so custody questions, records questions, and emergency communications all route through a small local agency rather than a large detention department.
The facility holds Meade County pretrial detainees, people serving local sentences, people awaiting transport to the Kansas Department of Corrections, and people housed for Clark County. The research did not locate a public housing-unit list, pod names, floor plan, daily population count, or complete visitation schedule. It did locate operational job descriptions showing that detention officers process inmates in and out, supervise transports, monitor medical needs, issue meals and medication, maintain jail reports and accounts, and protect the safety of inmates, staff, visitors, and the building.
Meade County Jail Capacity
The best located current capacity value is 56 beds from official sheriff employment material described in the research. Older 2006 facility data listed the jail at 24 beds, so the newer figure is more useful for current context while the older figure should be treated as historic. Meade County did not publish a live population count, average daily population, annual booking total, or demographic breakdown in the official pages reviewed.
Population data for this jail needs careful wording. A snapshot may include people arrested in Meade County, people arrested in Clark County, local sentenced inmates, and people waiting for transfer. It should not be read as only Meade County arrests unless the jail or sheriff office confirms the source of the count.
Who Meade County Jail Holds
Clark County's official sheriff and jail pages make the facility more than a one-county search target. Clark County states that Meade County dispatch assists Clark County emergency services and that Clark County inmates are housed at Meade County Jail. Its jail page also states that all persons arrested and taken into custody are transported to Meade County Jail for booking and incarceration.
That means a search for someone arrested outside Meade County can still end at this facility. A person arrested in Clark County may be held in Meade pending court, bond, sentence, or transfer. The same facility may also hold people who are awaiting KDOC movement after sentencing. Once a person transfers to KDOC, the Meade County Jail lookup path should be replaced by KASPER.
| Group | Why They May Be Held | Lookup Path |
|---|---|---|
| Meade County pretrial detainees | Held after arrest while charges, bond, or hearings are pending | VINE, jail phone, sheriff records |
| County-sentenced inmates | Serving local jail time or awaiting further order | Jail phone and records request |
| Clark County arrestees | Clark County uses Meade County Jail for booking and incarceration | Meade County Jail plus Clark County case context |
| KDOC transfer cases | Awaiting movement after sentencing or commitment | KASPER after state transfer |
Meade County Jail Inmate Lookup
The official county lookup path begins with the Meade County Inmate Search page, which sends users to Kansas VINE. VINE is for custody status and notification registration by telephone, internet, and mobile app. It is not a county mugshot gallery, and it is not a certified booking-record service. For immediate jail questions, call dispatch or the sheriff office.
- Open the county inmate-search page and follow the Kansas VINE custody-status route.
- Use the web, phone, or mobile app option documented by the county.
- If VINE does not return the person, call the jail information line at 620-873-8765.
- Ask sheriff records about booking details, public records, or copies that are not posted online.
- Use KDOC KASPER, BOP, or ICE ODLS if the person has moved out of county jail custody.
The county inmate-search page screenshot below shows why VINE and phone follow-up are the core lookup channels for this facility.
The county page confirms that the facility's public search path is custody status through VINE rather than a detailed local booking roster.
Meade County Jail Contact
The City of Meade emergency-services page and sheriff directory give the jail and sheriff office address and phone paths. Use the dispatch line for urgent custody-status routing, the sheriff office for general office questions, and records staff for copies or open-records requests. Do not call emergency lines for routine inmate records.
Meade County Jail
223 North Meade Center
P.O. Box 487
Meade, KS 67864
620-873-8765 dispatch / jail information
Office: 620-873-8766; toll-free: 800-590-8294; fax: 620-873-8778
The City of Meade emergency-services directory is a useful source for confirming the sheriff address and phone numbers.
The directory reinforces that dispatch, office, fax, emergency, and toll-free paths are separate, so routine jail questions should not be sent to 911.
Visit Meade County Jail
Meade County did not publish a full in-person visitation schedule, dress code, visitor ID rule, video-visit schedule, attorney-visit window, or mail policy in accessible text. The county's Contact Inmates page displays CidSpace guide images, which indicates CidSpace is relevant to inmate contact, but the text captured during research did not expose the detailed rules.
Because the published details are limited, confirm custody, eligibility, schedule, ID requirements, and arrival rules before traveling. Do not assume that vendor rules from a different Kansas county apply to Meade County Jail. Call the jail or open the official Contact Inmates page for the current CidSpace instructions.
| Service | Officially Located Detail | Practical Action |
|---|---|---|
| In-person visitation | Schedule not published in accessible text | Call the jail before traveling |
| Video visitation | CidSpace guide images appear on county Contact Inmates page | Confirm current instructions through the county page or jail |
| Mailing format not published | Ask for required name, ID, and address format | |
| Phone calls | Provider and rates not published | Ask the jail or review CidSpace guidance |
| Attorney visits | Schedule not published | Attorneys should call the jail directly |
Meade County Jail Mail and Money
The researched official pages did not publish a commissary vendor, deposit kiosk, online deposit link, money-order rule, fee schedule, tablet policy, phone provider, or mail format. The detention officer job description supports that inmate accounts exist internally because staff prepare jail and inmate reports and accounts, issue supplies, meals, medication, and hygiene items, and maintain daily facility security.
That is enough to say the jail handles inmate needs, but not enough to name a vendor or fee. Ask staff whether deposits are accepted in person, online, through a phone system, through CidSpace, or by another approved method. Confirm the person's custody status before sending funds, because release, transfer to KDOC, a federal hold, or an outside detainer can change where money should go.
| Service | Published Detail | What to Confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Commissary deposits | No vendor or fee table found | Accepted methods, limits, and refund rules |
| No public format found | Name, ID number if required, and mailing address line | |
| Medication | Jail staff issue medication under duty description | Medical drop-off and approval rules |
| Hygiene and meals | Jail staff issue supplies, hygiene items, and meals | What families may or may not send |
Booking at Meade County Jail
Booking begins after an arresting agency takes a person into custody and transports them to the jail. That agency may be the Meade County Sheriff's Office, another local agency, the Kansas Highway Patrol, or Clark County officials whose arrestees are housed in Meade. The jail then processes the person in, creates records, secures property, and begins custody documentation.
Detention officers are responsible for confinement, supervision, and well-being until release from Meade County custody. Research from the job description supports a realistic booking and custody process: inmate intake and release, jail reports and accounts, court transports, medical and dental transports, medical monitoring, hygiene supplies, meals, medication, cleaning, and facility security. The county does not publish an exact online update time, so do not expect a new arrest to appear in VINE or any record system within a fixed number of minutes.
Arrest to booking to first appearance is a custody flow: arrest, jail intake, custody-status update, first appearance or bond review, court transport, then release, continued jail custody, or transfer.
Meade County Jail Records
Meade County's public pages do not expose a full jail profile with booking number, mugshot, charge table, bond amount, housing, or release date. The records path is therefore more hands-on. Use VINE for custody status, the jail phone line for immediate local status, sheriff records for booking documents, and the district court for formal case filings after the county attorney files charges.
Kansas open-records law allows public access while also letting custodians apply statutory exemptions. The county forms page lists an open-records request form, and the sheriff staff page identifies a records role. When requesting jail records, describe the exact record sought and avoid broad requests that mix investigative files, court filings, and jail intake records.
The Meade County sheriff staff page is useful because it identifies sheriff, jail administration, records, jail, and communications roles.
Those staff roles support a direct records fallback when online custody tools do not provide enough detail.