Where Chautauqua County Jail Releases Go
The Chautauqua County Sheriff operates the county jail function in Sedan. A booking can end in several ways. A person may post an appearance bond, complete a county-jail sentence, receive credit for time served, leave under a court order, or be released after a case event. The person may instead be transferred to the Kansas Department of Corrections, another county jail, federal authorities, or another agency. The word “released” in the local record therefore does not always mean that the person entered the community.
The most useful record answers four separate questions: who was booked, when county custody began, when it ended, and how it ended. Ask for the booking number, admission and release date and time, release type or reason, charges and case number, and the custody destination or receiving agency. Chautauqua County has not published a field dictionary, so these are components to request, not claims about the exact labels in its jail software.
Release is not the same as case closure. A bond release can occur while charges remain pending. A transfer ends the county booking while confinement continues elsewhere. A release timestamp proves only that the identified Chautauqua County booking ended.
| Recorded outcome | Where to follow up |
|---|---|
| Bond or community release | Use the sheriff record for the physical release and the Fourteenth Judicial District case for continuing court obligations. |
| Transfer to KDOC | Use the receiving-agency field, then search the official Kansas KASPER system. |
| Transfer to another county | Contact the named receiving jail; absence from Chautauqua data is not proof of freedom. |
| Federal or immigration handoff | Follow the named federal custodian through BOP, ICE, USMS, or the appropriate court record. |
How to Confirm a Chautauqua County Jail Release
No official Chautauqua County web roster, historical booking archive, recent-release feed, or photo gallery was found in the county's current public pages. A missing result on a commercial site cannot establish release. The local path begins with the sheriff, followed by a written record request when the answer must be documented.
- Identify the booking. Gather the person's full name, date of birth when available, booking date or approximate date range, and any case or booking number. These details help separate people with similar names.
- Call the sheriff or jail line. Contact (620) 725-3108 and ask whether the specific booking ended. Ask for the release date and time, release reason, and whether the person entered the community or went to another custodian. Staff may limit information provided by telephone.
- Request the existing record. If a durable answer is needed, submit a written Kansas Open Records Act request for the booking-and-release record, jail-management-system printout, transfer sheet, or other existing document. Do not ask the county to create a new explanation.
- Read the destination. If the record identifies KDOC, another jail, BOP, ICE, or USMS, continue with that agency. A transfer closes the county booking without ending confinement.
- Compare the court case. The Chautauqua County District Court docket can show bond, dismissal, plea, judgment, sentence, probation, revocation, or another legal event. Match the case number and dates rather than relying on a name alone.
The Chautauqua County released-inmate search guide explains the broader sequence for county, state, court, supervision, notification, and federal systems. For an event limited to the last day or three days, the 24-Hour Releases route and wider three-day route explain why a date-range request is necessary in this county.
Chautauqua County Jail Contact and Records
Chautauqua County Sheriff and Jail
Sheriff Richard A. Newby
218 N Montgomery St.
Sedan, KS 67361
Phone: (620) 725-3108
Fax: (620) 725-3256
The current county page supplies the 218 N Montgomery address. The Kansas Sheriffs' Association directory supplies the fax number but displays 215 N Chautauqua, an older or different address. Use the county's current address and call the main published number before an in-person visit or time-sensitive delivery.
The written-record custodian is Richard Newby at 218 N Montgomery St., Sedan, with email cqso@sbcglobal.net. Request hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday except official holidays. The county KORA PDF prints (620) 725-5810 for the custodian, while the current sheriff page and judicial directory print (620) 725-3108 for the sheriff and jail. Preserve that discrepancy and use the main number to confirm delivery details.
The Kansas Sheriffs' Association facility directory provides a second official-sector contact reference.
How to Get the Jail Release Record
Chautauqua County's published policy requires a written request containing the requester's name, mailing or email address, telephone number, and a detailed description of the records sought. Email, postal mail, courier delivery, and in-person delivery are accepted, but an in-person request must still be written. The county's form is optional.
A focused request can identify the person and booking date, then ask for the existing booking-and-release record and, if maintained, the booking number, admission and release timestamps, release type, destination or receiving agency, charges, case number, bond fields, and booking photograph. Request electronic delivery and a fee estimate before processing. Narrow language reduces search time and does not require staff to create a new report.
KORA response period: K.S.A. 45-218 requires a response within three business days when access is not immediate, including an explanation of delay and the earliest expected availability. It does not guarantee completed production within three days.
Advance payment is required. Published charges are $0.25 per paper page, $0.125 per electronic page, $0.65 per ten-page fax, actual mailing cost, $18 per hour for clerical time, $50 per hour for attorney time, and actual cost for other employee classifications. A returned check adds $30. The county estimates cost before gathering or processing records and may refund an overestimate or request more advance payment if the estimate is low.
K.S.A. 45-219 permits reasonable copying and access charges and advance payment. K.S.A. 45-221 identifies records that may or must be closed or redacted, including some investigative, juvenile, sealed, expunged, medical, security-sensitive, and otherwise protected information. A custodian's review does not mean every administrative booking fact is closed. If part of a record is withheld, ask for the statutory basis.
Pair the Jail Timestamp with the Court File
The sheriff records physical custody, while the Chautauqua County District Court clerk preserves the case docket and orders. The Sedan clerk is at 215 N Chautauqua, 3rd Floor, Sedan, KS 67361, phone (620) 725-5870. Hours are 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. A court entry may explain whether release followed bond, dismissal, a sentence, time served, probation, or another order.
Neither source replaces the other. A court order can precede the time jail staff complete release processing. Conversely, a sheriff record may show when custody ended without explaining the full case outcome. For the strongest account, match the jail booking number and dates with the court case number, then preserve the exact language used by each office.
Court Services at 215 N Chautauqua St. handles court probation and bond supervision and can be reached at (620) 725-5874. It is not the jail and is not automatically the right office for KDOC parole. Sedan Community Corrections, at (620) 330-0131, handles intensive supervision. The judgment or supervision type determines the correct contact.
What Is Known About the Local Jail
The Chautauqua County Jail is the only locally verified detention facility for this project. The Fourteenth Judicial District directory calls it “Chautauqua County Jail / Department of Corrections,” but that local wording must not be confused with the Kansas Department of Corrections. KDOC operates the state-prison, parole, and postrelease systems. A person held only on a county booking may never appear in KASPER.
Sedan Police Department is an arresting agency, but no separate Sedan municipal jail was verified. Cedar Vale also has a police department, yet no official evidence shows that it operates a detention facility. For an arrest by either department, the booking record should identify where custody was lodged and which agency later released or transferred the person.
No official source located in the research states this jail's capacity, average stay, annual bookings, release count, present staffing, or local sentence-credit rules. It also does not publish release-processing hours, weekend practice, exit location, family waiting point, property-return procedure, gate money, transportation service, or pay-to-stay charge. These may be reasonable questions for the jail, but they cannot be presented as established facts without a current source.
Sedan Jail History and Present-Day Limits
A secondary history reports that Sedan built a county jail in 1877 at a corner of the courthouse square. That detail supplies local context, but it does not establish the construction date, identity, or location of the present jail building. The current official sheriff contact is 218 N Montgomery Street, and that current source controls practical directions.
The Sedan history source shows the historical reference used for this distinction.
County commission minutes from 2013 also discuss jail administrator or chief-deputy pay grades and turnover among dispatch and corrections staff. Those minutes document an earlier administrative discussion, not current staffing or present operating conditions. Historical sources should remain clearly separated from current contact and release instructions.
Records That May Not Be Online
The absence of a county web roster does not mean that no internal booking or release record exists. Likewise, the lack of an online photograph does not prove the image was never created. A booking photograph may be requested with the identified booking record, but no official source establishes a special photo fee, guaranteed disclosure, or a fixed retention period. The custodian applies KORA exemptions and redaction rules to the record actually held.
KORA is an access law, not a single retention schedule. No verified source establishes how long Chautauqua County keeps release logs, booking images, or jail-management records. For an older record, ask whether it still exists and request the title or citation of the disposition schedule if it does not. Juvenile, sealed, expunged, or otherwise protected material may be unavailable, and stale third-party copies should not be used to reconstruct protected content.