About The Detention Center
Matt Blackwelder is the Chief Corrections Officer of the Codington County Regional Detention Center, which is a 96 bed facility providing inmate care for Codington County as well as the contract counties of Clark, Hamlin, Deuel, Grant and Kingsbury Counties. The Detention Center is a co-located facility providing juvenile care as well as holding all sentenced and pretrial adult inmates. The Codington County Regional Detention Center provides work release functions as ordered by the court and the work release rules set by the Detention Center. The Detention Center also serves as a 24/7 sobriety checkpoint, carrying out all court ordered sobriety checks 24 hours a day.
It is the mission of the Codington County Regional Detention Center to provide a safe, humane and secure place for the detention of all persons committed to the custody of Codington County and all contract jurisdictions.
The Sheriff’s Office must protect the community and securely hold persons that the Court has determined pose a threat or have a debt to pay to society. Our mission is not to punish, but to provide an environment to carry out the orders of the Court in a cost-effective manner.
The Sheriff recognizes that our staff is our biggest asset and strives to promote education and foster careers within the Detention Center.
It is the goal of the Codington County Regional Detention Center staff to return inmates to the community in better condition, physically and emotionally, understanding that rehabilitation is a personal decision that can only be made by the individual inmate.
The Sheriff provides service to the community through inmate labor by promoting effective work-release programs and maintaining employment of sentenced inmates within the guidelines set forth by this office.