• Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center: 1455 Bravo Boulevard, Minden, LA 71055, 318-371-9199.
• Sheriff: 410 Main Street (P.O. Box 877, Minden, LA 71058), 318-377-1515.

Have the legal name on the person's ID and a birth date. Bayou Dorcheat staff can usually confirm a booking, read the charges and tell you if bond has been set. They won't discuss the evidence, though.

Webster Parish posts no mugshots online. The sheriff takes copy requests at 318-377-1515. Act 281 of 2024, in force from August 1, 2024, lets agencies issue booking photos pretrial, and a removal-for-fee site must delete a mugshot free within 7 days once a dismissal, acquittal, pardon or expungement is shown to it. Webster Parish families ask ICE for Webster arrest photos through FOIA. The U.S. Marshals hold federal booking photos. Minden news outlets sometimes report arrests with photos, but the Webster sheriff decides whether one is released.

Someone not found in Minden may be in a neighboring parish. Try Bossier at 318-326-4405, Claiborne at 318-927-4201, or Bienville at 318-263-7415. Sentenced people may be at the Webster work release center.

Only people on an inmate's approved visitor list may visit Bayou Dorcheat, and each must show ID. A first-time visitor fills out a form and is run for warrants before being cleared. Call 318-371-9199 for current days and times. Guides: visiting, mail, phone, money, messages.

Minden and Springhill each have a city court for lower-level cases, while felonies go to the 26th district court. The clerk at 318-371-0366 knows where a case was filed.

Under Article 230.1, the first appearance must come within 72 hours, not counting weekends and holidays. Minden's judge addresses bail and counsel, and if the hearing is late the person is released on recognizance.

Judges of the 26th district set the amounts. You can pay in cash, with a property bond, by signature, or through a bonding agent whose fee is limited to 12 percent. The clerk is at 410 Main Street, Minden, LA 71055, 318-371-0366. Our Webster bail guide explains each option.

Webster cases are heard by the 26th Judicial District Court at the Minden courthouse. The public defender's office is on Main Street at 318-377-9255. Our court guide explains each stage of the case.

Bring a list of medicines, doses and the pharmacy to booking. Webster's parish government is responsible for a jail doctor or medical contractor (R.S. 15:703), and that provider decides what is dispensed at the Bravo Boulevard center.

Once bond is accepted, release from Bayou Dorcheat usually takes a few hours for a warrant check and property return. Holds from another parish, probation and parole, or ICE delay it until that agency acts.

State-sentenced inmates often stay local: in August 2026 the DOC listed 72 percent of Webster-sentenced inmates in local jails under contract, as R.S. 15:824 allows. The DOC locator at 225-383-4580 gives the current facility; see our Louisiana state prisons list.

Call the sheriff at 318-377-1515, or Minden police (318-371-4226) or Springhill police (318-539-2511) for an in-town charge. Learn the court and whether a bond is preset, then plan to surrender at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Facility with bond ready and a lawyer along. Minden deputies don't post a list, and no Louisiana site searches warrants for families. For a hearing your relative missed, the clerk at 410 Main Street, 318-371-0366, can tell you what the judge usually requires for a reset.

Under-17s go to juvenile court in the 26th district. Since April 19, 2024, Louisiana once more charges 17-year-olds as adults, so Bayou Dorcheat books them.

Webster's federal cases are filed in Shreveport with the U.S. District Court clerk, 300 Fannin Street, Suite 1167, Shreveport, LA 71101, 318-676-4273. 18 U.S.C. 3142 controls detention. U.S. Marshals Suite 1202, 318-934-4300. Sentenced federal prisoners appear in the BOP inmate locator.

Fingerprints from Bravo Boulevard bookings are visible to ICE, which may lodge a hold. Posting bond keeps the hold alive. Extra custody stops at 48 hours, and the hold lapses if no one picks the person up. Act 314 of 2024 requires Louisiana jails to cooperate.

Families in Minden can search the ICE detainee locator by name. From Minden, call the St. Rose field office at 888-351-4024.

Bayou Dorcheat custody shows on LA VINE, which is free. Sign up with the name, and VINE alerts arrive by call, email or text when the sheriff lists a release or transfer.

Check any bond demand with Bayou Dorcheat at 318-371-9199. bail is paid at the Minden jail or to a licensed agent, not in gift cards; the clerk at 318-371-0366 can confirm an amount.

A person kept in jail after arrest must be charged by bill of information or indictment within 30 days on a misdemeanor and 60 days on a felony; for a crime that carries life, the limit is 120 days (C.Cr.P. art. 701). If the district attorney misses it, the defense can move for release, and the person walks free from Bravo Boulevard if the state can't justify the delay. Bail itself is set using the factors in art. 316: the charge, the evidence, prior record, ability to pay and danger to others.

At over 1,000 per 100,000 residents, Minden's state-custody rate is the highest of these mid-size parishes, and nearly three in four of those inmates stay in local jails. State figures for Minden-area cases, from the DOC data files: - In DOC custody on Aug. 31, 2026: 393, about 1,063 per 100,000 residents. - Housed in local jails: 282 (72 percent). - Leading offense types: violent 31 percent, drug 19 percent. - Serving life: 21. - On probation or parole: 624 (346 on probation). - New admissions: 176 in 2025, 270 in 2019.

• Webster Parish Sheriff's Office: 318-377-1515.
• Minden Police: 318-371-4226.
• Springhill Police: 318-539-2511.
• Cotton Valley: town hall 318-832-4283.
• Cullen: town hall 318-994-2263.
• Sarepta: town hall 318-847-4333.
• Sibley: town hall 318-377-0345.
• Doyline: village hall 318-745-2625.
• Dubberly: village hall 318-371-9528.
• Heflin: village hall 318-377-9799.
• Shongaloo: village hall 318-846-2232.
• Dixie Inn: the sheriff answers for this village.

Unincorporated Webster is served by deputies. Emergencies in Minden go to 911.