City & County Jails in Minnesota
Minnesota - Inmate Search - All County Jail Rosters
Clicking on any of the Minnesota Counties or Cities below will direct you to a list of all the City Jails, County Jails and Juvenile Detention Centers in that specific County.
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Minnesota county jails and state prisons
Minnesota has 87 counties. The sheriff runs the jail where the county has one. Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Anoka, and St. Louis run the large buildings. A northern county may have a two-bed holding facility or no jail at all. City police departments have lockups measured in hours, not county jails.
The Department of Corrections has inspected adult jails since 1976. The rules are in Minnesota Rules chapter 2911. A May 2026 department filing counted 85 jails, operated by 77 counties, located in 78 counties. The range runs from a two-bed holding facility to a metro jail of more than 500. Inspections are a state function, not a voluntary sheriffs’ checklist.
Jails in Minnesota hold people before trial and people serving a sentence of a year or less. A felony sentence goes to the Department of Corrections. On January 1, 2026, the adult prison population was 8,160: 7,574 men and 586 women. Faribault held 1,964. Lino Lakes held 1,246. Moose Lake, St. Cloud, and Rush City each held about 1,000. Shakopee is the women’s prison, with 572. Stillwater held 497. Oak Park Heights, the maximum-security prison, held 384. Willow River held 172. Togo held 79. A federal sentence goes to the Bureau of Prisons. FCI Sandstone and FCI Waseca are the federal prisons in the state.
How many county jails are there in Minnesota?
Eighty-five jails serve 87 counties. Ten counties do not operate one and contract with a neighbor. When a jail holds someone for another county, for the state, or for the U.S. Marshals, it bills a contract rate. Hennepin and Ramsey account for most of the beds. A full jail in the north means a transfer down the highway.
How many juvenile detention centers are there in Minnesota?
County detention and state commitment are different systems. Several counties run secure juvenile detention centers for youth waiting on a hearing. Hennepin and Ramsey run their own. Smaller counties share regional centers, including the West Central Juvenile Detention Center. A youth in one of those centers is usually waiting on court.
The Department of Corrections runs one juvenile facility, Minnesota Correctional Facility-Red Wing. It holds youth committed to the commissioner, and a small number of people certified as adults. The January 1, 2026 adult population report listed 40 people at Red Wing. Search the county of the arrest. The listing shows the local detention center, and Red Wing only if the youth has been committed.
What the first days in a Minnesota county jail are like
Booking is a queue: identity, prints, a medical screen, a search, property bagged, one call. The person has not been convicted. The pod still runs on counts. In January the holding cell is cold. Food is plain, the uniform does not fit, and sleep is broken. Withdrawal from alcohol, opioids, or methamphetamine can start before the first appearance.
Deputies who apply the rules the same way to everyone run a quieter floor. Uneven enforcement is how contraband moves. Hennepin and Ramsey can separate by risk. A two-bed northern jail cannot, and a full jail there means a transfer.
Most Minnesota jails sell tablet time, video visits, and deposits through a vendor. Those accounts can be shut off. Each county page on this site lists the jail phone, the vendor, and the way to send money for that sheriff’s office.