The search sits on Michigan's crime victim alert network. Here is the path:

1. Open the official custody search.
2. If it asks for a state, choose Michigan.
3. Use the surname field and the first-name field.
4. Read the custody line on the result page.
5. Jot down what you see before you phone about the charge or bond.

The jail line is 231-258-8686.

No result does not mean the person is home safe. Here are the usual causes:

• Booking is slow. New bookings may take time to show up.
• Another agency has them. A city or state officer's station may keep the person for a spell before the jail takes over.
• Bond was posted. A person may leave on an interim bond at the jail, or after the judge sets terms at arraignment.
• Held elsewhere. A neighboring county may have them.
• A different spelling. Test other versions of the name, such as an alias or an old married name.

Ask the jail desk, 231-258-8686, and read out the full name and birthday.

The Sheriff's website calls the home jail a lock down facility and says inmates are housed in Wexford County. So two places matter:

• Kalkaska County Sheriff's Office, 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-8686. Phone here first. The county jail page has more.
• Wexford County Jail in Cadillac, MI. The address its Sheriff gives for money orders is 1015 Lincoln St., Cadillac, MI 49601. See the Wexford jail page. The Sheriff's Office can tell you the jail's phone number.

The Sheriff's site does not say where a new arrest waits before a move, so ask the desk. If the arrest happened next door, that county's jail may hold the person. The Michigan jail list helps you find it.

The custody search is made to show where a person stands in custody. To get a mugshot, ask whichever agency made the arrest. Under OAG 1979-1980 No 5593, an Attorney General opinion, photos that police take of suspects are public records. The agency can decline if release is a clearly unwarranted privacy invasion. File the request under MCL 15.231 and its later sections, the state's Freedom of Information law.

Phone 231-258-8686 to learn how the Sheriff takes a records request.

• ICE keeps its own photos, which you request through the ICE records page.
• Federal arrest photos are generally not handed out. Only the U.S. Marshals Service may release one, for instance if a fugitive is on the run.

VINE is the free alert system for Michigan. It watches county jails and state prisons. It sends word when an inmate is freed, transferred or on the run, and it tracks court events as well.

• Sign up on vinelink.com or dial 800-770-7657 at any hour.
• You can pick calls, texts or email.
• Keep checking the search too, since an alert may come late.

The Sheriff's site adds that the jail tries to warn crime victims before an inmate is freed. A victim can raise this with the jail.

Michigan law wants an arrested person before a judge or magistrate with no needless wait (MCL 764.13), often by video from the jail. Local cases are handled by the 87B District Court, 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-9031. It keeps hours Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Some misdemeanor arrests allow bond at the jail itself. If no magistrate is around, an interim bond may be posted with the Sheriff's deputy in charge of the jail (MCL 780.581). Domestic violence arrests wait until a judge or magistrate acts.
• At arraignment the court can send the person home on a written promise to appear. It can add rules such as no contact. It asks for money bail only when nothing milder will work.
• Money bail can be paid as 10 percent down at the clerk's window, or through a bond agent the court has approved.
• Since May 2026 the whole deposit returns when no conviction follows, less fines and costs owed.

The Sheriff's site says jail bonds from anyone other than a bond agent must be paid in cash. The court can explain other routes. Skipping a hearing forfeits the bond. Our bail page has more detail. For the statutes, see the state bail laws page.

Ask the jail desk at 231-258-8686 for the charge and the next hearing.

Once the court has a file, MiCOURT Case Search may show it. When a name will not load, phone the District Court clerk, 231-258-9031. Felonies later go to Circuit Court, where the clerk answers at 231-258-3349.

The judge asks at arraignment if the person wants counsel, and decides whether the court will name one. Paying a bond does not block a request for a court-appointed lawyer (MCR 6.005(B)).

• The District Court, 231-258-9031, can tell you how appointments are made here.
• The Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, 517-657-3066, writes the state standards for appointed counsel.
• A private lawyer may be hired at any point.

A lawyer can explain how to reach your loved one in custody.

The Sheriff's site sends families to Wexford County for visits. The rules below come from the Wexford Sheriff's page, dated July 2021, so confirm them by phone.

• Onsite visits run Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
• Schedule a day ahead by phone, or online at customer.cidnet.net, the site the jail names.
• Remote visits are scheduled online two days ahead.
• Approved visitors share one 30-minute visit a week. Visits are non-contact, at a kiosk.
• Check in during the first 10 minutes.
• Bring photo ID if you are 12 or older. Visitors who are minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
• No phones, cameras, bags, food or drinks are allowed in.

The visiting guide adds tips. Phone 231-258-8686 to learn who holds the person today.

The Wexford County Jail accepts a money order made out to the inmate. Address it to Wexford County Jail, Attn: Inmate Accounts, 1015 Lincoln St., Cadillac, MI 49601. Do not mail cash.

The jail's page names no deposit company. Ask the Sheriff's Office, 231-258-8686, if other deposit methods exist. The money guide and the commissary guide show how deposits and store orders usually work.

The jail chooses the phone service, so ask at 231-258-8686. Learn how they can ring you, the rate per minute or call, and if the jail allows texts or tablets. Ask if the line is recorded.

Leave case details for the lawyer's ears. Two guides cover the options: jail phones and inmate email and texts. Video visits are in the visiting answer above.

The Sheriff's site sends families to Wexford County for mail. Its rules, dated July 2021, say:

• Mail from family must be a postcard, 4.25 by 6.0 inches at most.
• Legal mail from a lawyer or the court is accepted.
• Publications sent by the publisher may be allowed if they meet jail policy.

No street format or inmate number is listed there. Ask the jail desk, 231-258-8686, for the correct street address and which number to add. The mail guide has the common rules. Before you give books or board games, check with the jail first.

No county page tells how property is given back. Ask the Sheriff's Office, 231-258-8686, where the items are and what ID to bring. Learn whether the person must sign for them first. The office is at 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646.

Phone the jail at 231-258-8686 without delay. Give the medicine, the dose and the doctor. Your loved one can also tell jail staff about the problem.

If it is an emergency, dial 911. A mental health crisis counts, so say so.

The Sheriff's Office serves warrants in this county. Phone 231-258-8686 and ask for Records. Court records may also list one, so try MiCOURT Case Search by name. If the search finds nothing, the clerk's office can look. Clearing a warrant starts with advice from a lawyer, who can help plan a surrender. After that, contact the court that issued it. The local District Court sits at 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-9031.

Each court sets its own hearing dates:

• 87B District Court, 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-9031. It takes arraignments, bond, misdemeanors and the first felony hearings.
• 46th Circuit Court, reached through the County Clerk, 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-3349. It hears felonies after bindover.

For a felony, the first look at the evidence is a probable cause conference, roughly one to two weeks after arraignment. A preliminary exam follows about a week later (MCL 766.4). The court page walks through the stages.

This county lies in the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division. The closest courthouse is the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, 110 Michigan Street NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, 616-456-2381.

1. A federal judge decides at the detention hearing whether the person is held or freed until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals Service has charge of people held before trial. Its Grand Rapids office is at 110 Michigan Street NW, Suite 744, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, 616-456-2438.
3. After sentencing, search by name in the BOP inmate locator.

If ICE wants a person kept a bit longer, it sends the jail a detainer, which is filled out on Form I-247A. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail may hold a person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.

1. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator with the A-number, or a full name and country of birth.
2. Contact the ERO Detroit Field Office, 985 Michigan Avenue, Suite 207, Detroit, MI 48226, 313-771-6601. It serves Michigan and Ohio.
3. See an immigration lawyer fast.

Jackson is the intake site for men, at the Reception and Guidance Center there. Women go through the reception center at Ypsilanti. Local deputies do the transport. The first stop lasts roughly 30 to 45 days. No visits are held then, though letters and deposits may be sent.

• Look up the person in MDOC's Offender Tracking Information System.
• The state prisons guide lists each prison's rules.

Since 2021, Michigan has treated every person under 18 as a juvenile. The matter is heard in the Family Division of the 46th Circuit Court, 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-3349. Youths may not be kept where adult inmates see or hear them. Under MCL 712A.4 a judge can waive a youth who is 14 or more into the adult system, and certain serious offenses by teens aged 14 through 17 go to Circuit Court from the start, under MCL 600.606.

Phone the clerk for the youth's location and the date of the hearing.

The county had an estimated 18,693 residents in July 2025. These agencies respond:

• Sheriff's Office, 605 N. Birch Street, Kalkaska, MI 49646, 231-258-8686.
• Central Dispatch, non-emergency line 231-258-3350. For emergencies, dial 911.
• Michigan State Police, 72 Houghton Lake Post, 9011 W. Lake City Rd., Houghton Lake, MI 48629, 989-422-5101.

Not sure who arrested them? Ask the Sheriff's desk.