The Otero County Detention Center is the local jail, found at 222 East Second Street, La Junta, CO 81050. Its main phone is 719-384-5941.

Check VINELink for Otero. Someone just booked may not be listed at once, so check again later. VINELink is a free service that can alert you by text, email or call if someone is released or moved.

There was no official warrant list from the sheriff during our review. For a warrant check, dial 719-384-5941 (the sheriff's office).

Scheduled hearings show up on the Colorado Judicial docket search. A lawyer may help arrange a surrender.

• Who decides: a judge picks the terms, often at a short hearing.
• Fast review: in most cases, a judge decides bond inside 48 hours after someone lands in the La Junta jail.
• Personal recognizance: in some cases a judge lets the one held go with just a signature to show up in La Junta.
• Full cash bond: someone pays the entire amount.
• Agent fees max out at 15% ($50 minimum); you don't get it back.
• Using land: property in Colorado may guarantee the bond if the owned part is worth one and a half times that amount.
• Judges may attach rules to release: curfews, drug tests or no-contact orders.
• Still held? Another case may block the release.
• No-shows: a skipped hearing may mean an arrest warrant and lost bond money.
• Ask first: phone 719-384-5941 and ask about the posted bond.

Detailed steps for paying bail are on the Otero bond guide.

The court usually first meets people held behind bars at a first appearance hearing, often by video from the La Junta jail. State cases go to the Otero Combined Court, 13 West Third Street, Room 207, La Junta, CO 81050. Call the clerk at 719-384-4951 for dates.

Free counsel may be appointed; a judge reviews finances and may assign a public defender. The defender office is at 719-384-5448.

Schedule a visit ahead and carry a photo ID. Call 719-384-5941 before your trip; hours change. Read about visitation and remote visits.

Only your family member can place calls. Calls and messages are paid — through a funded account. Check calling, email and tablet access.

The jail store sells snacks, soap and paper. Use the method the lockup takes. Details: deposits and commissary.

Address the letter with their name and inmate number. Avoid glitter, stickers or tape. Check the mail rules page first.

Juvenile court handles Otero youth under 18. Held teens can be sent from Otero to the Pueblo Youth Services Center. Deputies at the sheriff's office will inform parents which facility the teen went to.

If someone needs daily medicine, contact 719-384-5941 and medical staff knows immediately. The pharmacy name can help jail nurses check faster.

Any federal arrest out of Otero County does not end up in the state court system. Federal court is in Colorado Springs: 212 North Wahsatch Avenue, Suite 300, Colorado Springs, CO 80903. Clerk's office: 719-471-3387. Soon, the person has a first appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge.

There is no preset bail figure. So the court sets a short detention hearing to work out if the suspect can leave while the case is open and under what rules. During the case, lots of people in federal cases sit in a county lockup that houses individuals for the Marshals Service. To learn which jail, ring the Marshals at 719-633-2037. Once prison time comes down, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) steps in. Next, its BOP inmate locator lists where they're held.

1. At booking, fingerprint scans are checked in federal systems that ICE may see.

2. If ICE wants the one held, it forwards an ICE detainer via Form I-247A.

3. The detainer asks for extra time: up to 48 hours past release. The 48 hours run without a break, including weekends and holidays.

4. Colorado's statute, C.R.S. 24-76.6-102, states plainly that local jails cannot hold someone longer just because ICE asked. So Otero County frees the arrested person on time except when another legal reason exists.

5. ICE officers may show up right at release and take the one held. When they don't show up, your relative walks out.

Look up someone ICE holds with the ICE locator. Type in the A-number with their home country.

ICE displays the Aurora contract facility at 3130 North Oakland Street, Aurora, CO 80010; its number is 303-361-6612.

The Denver field office is at 12445 East Caley Avenue, Centennial, CO 80111. Call 720-873-2899.

When a judge sends someone to prison, they usually wait in the county jail until state corrections picks them up. CDOC's first step is intake, where staff sort out the security level plus medical and mental health needs.

Then comes a transfer to a facility matched to the rating. The DOC offender search shows the facility once classified; our state prison page has addresses.

No. Otero posts no inmate list online, so no Otero mugshots are posted. VINELink for Otero tells you custody status only. Reporters who want a jail photo that is not posted can request it from the Otero County sheriff's office by calling 719-384-5941.

A photo taken by ICE must be requested at ICE's online FOIA form; then ICE must approve it.

Federal jail photos are kept from members of the public and the press. Only one exception exists: the Marshals Service, keeper of federal booking photos, can make public an image of a person on the run, if that helps catch them or alert people, and also if there is an immediate public safety threat.

• Holding jail: Otero County Detention Center, 222 East Second Street, La Junta, CO 81050, 719-384-5941
• Notices of release: VINELink
• Bond timing: typically within two days of reaching jail
• Public defender: 719-384-5448
• State court: Otero Combined Court, 13 West Third Street, Room 207, La Junta, CO 81050, 719-384-4951
• Immigration custody: ICE's locator
• Federal cases: the federal courthouse in Colorado Springs — 719-471-3387

• La Junta Police: 719-384-2525
• Rocky Ford Police: 719-254-3344
• Otero County Sheriff's Office: 719-384-5941

Areas outside city limits get patrol from county deputies; 911 works everywhere.