The list is a plain PDF, so it opens on a phone with no app. Work through it like this:

1. Tap the Sheriff's in-custody report.
2. Note the "Printed on" date and time. That tells you how old the copy is.
3. Open your browser's find tool and enter the surname.
4. Read the matching line from left to right. You'll see age, city and state, the booking date and hour, and every charge.
5. Look at "Itasca Jail?" next. A Yes means the bed is in Grand Rapids, and "Housed at" names the spot.
6. Write down the booking date and the charges so the call goes faster.

Bail figures and court dates come from jail staff. Ring 218-547-2441 for both.

An empty search often has a simple cause:

• Too new. Each copy is frozen at its print time, so a fresh booking waits for the next one.
• Ticketed instead. With a misdemeanor, deputies tend to issue a ticket naming a court day and skip the jail trip (Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.01).
• Released after court. A judge may have freed the person at the first hearing.
• Another agency's jail. A person stopped across the county line may be sitting in that county's jail instead.
• A typo. Try other spellings, a surname from before marriage, or a nickname.
• Still a minor. Teens go through juvenile channels, which keep their own records.

The jail desk at 218-547-2441 can look the person up by name. Arrest reports are handled by Sheriff's Records, which takes calls weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 218-547-7306.

Adults from here are kept in two places, and a work program runs out of the Walker building:

• Cass County Jail in Walker (Sheriff's Office address: 301 Minnesota Avenue W, Walker, MN 56484), 218-547-2441. The Sheriff's main lockup takes both men and women. Some are waiting for their case to end; others are doing a sentence of a year or less.
• Itasca County Jail, 108 NE Fifth Street, Grand Rapids, MN 55744, over in Itasca County. Forty rented beds there take the overflow. Phone the Walker number for anyone placed in Grand Rapids.
• Huber work release. With court and Sheriff approval, a person serving time can keep going to a regular job. It costs $140 a week, paid up front, capped at 50 work hours and six straight days.

Some inmates who qualify also work inside the jail or on the Sentence to Service crew. Arrests close to a border with Beltrami or Aitkin County may lead to these jails instead:

• Beltrami County Adult Corrections Center, 626 Minnesota Avenue NW, Bemidji, MN 56601, 218-333-4189
• Aitkin County Jail, 218 1st St NW, Aitkin, MN 56431, 218-927-7456

No. This PDF is text, and it carries no mugshots or booking photos. State law calls a booking photo public data, but an agency can delay its release when it could harm an ongoing probe (Minn. Stat. 13.82, subd. 26). Details such as the charge and whether someone is still in custody are open to the public too (Minn. Stat. 13.82, subd. 2).

• Request a photo from whichever agency booked the person. For deputies' arrests, that's Sheriff's Records at 218-547-7306.
• If immigration agents took the picture, ask through the ICE FOIA request page.
• Pictures from federal bookings rarely come out. The U.S. Marshals Service sometimes makes an exception, like when it hunts a fugitive.

Yes. Minnesota VINE is a service of the state Department of Public Safety. When a county inmate walks out or gets transferred, VINE sends word. Register through VINELink or call 877-664-8463. No alert arrives until you sign up.

Once a person is sent to state prison, VINE no longer covers them. Prison updates come from Minnesota Haven, the Corrections Department's own notice system. In the meantime, reopen the in-custody report daily or ring the jail at 218-547-2441.

Release gets decided at the first appearance in District Court; the jail can tell you if the person appears in the courtroom or on a screen. If police arrested someone with no warrant and kept them, the hearing must come within 36 hours. The arrest day isn't counted, and neither are Sundays or legal holidays (Minn. R. Crim. P. 4.02, subd. 5). What the judge does next:

• First, the judge considers letting the person leave on a promise, or on a bond needing no money down. Rules are added only when needed to keep people safe or bring the person back (Rule 6.02).
• A bail figure with no strings attached must be set too. So paperwork from the hearing may list a lower dollar figure tied to rules, beside a higher one free of them.
• Stalking, domestic assault and protection-order violations are arrests a deputy can't settle with just a ticket. The person is booked and brought before a judge under Minn. Stat. 629.72.
• Cash bail goes to court administration. By law it belongs to the defendant, even when a parent or cousin put it up. Fines or restitution may be subtracted first (Minn. Stat. 629.53).
• Licensed bail bond agents can post bonds here. Their fee starts at $100 and is kept by the agent no matter how the case ends (Minn. Stat. 60M.02).

Before driving to Walker with cash, phone 218-547-2441 to learn where bail is accepted. Fuller steps are on our bail page, while the Minnesota bail laws summary explains state rules.

The custody PDF shows short charge names. For the case file, use Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO), the free state court site.

1. Go to the MCRO case search.
2. Type the defendant's name, or a case number from paperwork.
3. Pick the case to read its charges, its filing history and any public documents.

Brand-new cases may lag a bit. Court administration, 300 Minnesota Avenue, Walker, MN 56484, can help at 218-888-5150. Felony complaints come from the County Attorney, 4th Floor, 303 Minnesota Avenue W, Walker, MN 56484, 218-547-7255.

Whenever jail time is on the table, whether the charge is a felony, gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor, the accused can request a public defender (Minn. Stat. 611.14). The judge looks at a money form and makes the call. Anyone on means-tested aid is presumed eligible (Minn. Stat. 611.17).

Lawyers for these cases come from the Ninth Judicial District public defender. Two of its offices are within driving range:

• Bemidji office, 619 Beltrami Avenue Northwest, Suite 240, Bemidji, MN 56601, 218-755-4333
• Brainerd office, 11610 Andrew Street, Brainerd, MN 56401, 218-828-6134

The request can be made at the first hearing. Families who prefer can hire their own defense attorney.

The Walker jail splits visiting by men's and women's units:

• Men: Wednesday 6 to 9 p.m., Thursday 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday 1 to 3 p.m.
• Women: Wednesday 1 to 4 p.m., Thursday 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday 3 to 5 p.m.

You get 15 minutes or more, with extra time when the schedule is light. Those hours cover Walker only. For a person bunked in Grand Rapids, ask how visiting is handled there. Our visiting guide explains ID and dress rules. Confirm at 218-547-2441 before the trip.

Deposits can be dropped off at Jail Central Control in the Walker jail. The account pays for store items like snacks and soap. It is separate from bail and will not free anybody.

Ring 218-547-2441 to learn about other deposit choices, which payment types work, and how to fund someone bunked in Grand Rapids. Deposit basics sit in our money guide. For jail store items like stamps and snacks, open the commissary guide. Cash sent by mail can vanish, so never do it.

The jail runs an inmate message line at 218-610-0770. Leave a short note with your name and how to reach you.

For calls out of the jail, rates, tablets and video chats, the jail desk at 218-547-2441 knows the current setup. Facts about the arrest are best saved for a defense lawyer. JailExchange explains calls in its phone guide and messaging apps in its email and texting guide.

The jail's format puts the person's name right after the jail name: Cass County Jail, Inmate Name, P.O. Box 1119, Walker, MN 56484. Only the name is asked for, not an ID number.

Add your return address. Books, notes, letters, newspapers, magazines and other belongings can't simply be dropped off for someone without approval from Jail Administration. Phone 218-547-2441 before sending photos or reading material. Our mail guide lists typical jail rules. Keep cash out of envelopes.

Staff can say what is in storage and how release works. Phone 218-547-2441 before you go. Ask whether the inmate must sign items over to you, which ID to show, and what times work. If the person sits in Grand Rapids, ask where their things are. For Walker, ask where in the building to pick them up.

Call 218-547-2441 as soon as you can and ask that jail medical staff get your message. Give each drug name and dose, and the doctor who prescribes it, with a phone number. Your person can also raise it with staff from inside.

Worried your person might hurt themselves? Lead with that, so staff can act fast. A life-threatening emergency calls for 911.

Around Walker, Pine River and the lake towns, the Sheriff's Office fields warrant questions at 218-547-1424. Its warrant list (PDF) refreshes every day at 7 a.m. At the state level, the DOC Wanted Fugitives page posts people who skipped out on supervised release. Filed cases are in the free MCRO case search, but MCRO does not track warrants. Before you clear a warrant, speak with a lawyer. Together you can call the clerk's office of whichever court signed it, or plan a surrender at the Walker jail. Court administration for the District Court sits at 300 Minnesota Avenue, Walker, MN 56484, 218-888-5150.

Walker's District Court, part of Minnesota's Ninth Judicial District, hears every criminal case from this county. The courthouse stands at 300 Minnesota Avenue, Walker, MN 56484. Court administration picks up at 218-888-5150 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.

• Search hearings by name with the free MCRO hearing search.
• Felony and gross misdemeanor cases have an omnibus hearing to argue about the evidence. Rule 11.01 sets 42 days from the first appearance as the usual outer limit for starting it.
• Once the defense demands a speedy trial, it should start inside 60 days unless the court finds good cause (Rule 11.09).

Every stage, from first appearance through sentencing, gets plain-language coverage on our court page.

Minnesota's federal trial court covers the whole state as one district. Of its four courthouses, Duluth is nearest, at 515 West First Street, Duluth, MN 55802. The clerk's office number is 612-664-5000.

1. Jail or freedom until trial? A federal judge rules on that at a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Before trial, the U.S. Marshals Service keeps federal prisoners in county jails under contract. The Sherburne County Jail, 13880 Business Center Drive NW, Suite 100, Elk River, MN 55330, 763-765-3500, houses many.
3. Ask the Marshals' Minnesota office where the person is held: 300 South 4th Street, Suite 402, Minneapolis, MN 55415, 612-664-5900.
4. After sentencing, check the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

When immigration officials get involved, things usually go in this order:

1. ICE sends Walker staff a detainer on Form I-247A, a request to keep holding the person for agents.
2. Under federal rules, a jail may hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. The state Attorney General put out an opinion on detainers dated February 6, 2025. As that opinion reads it, once someone is due for release, Minnesota law gives a jail no power to go on holding them on the detainer alone.
4. If ICE does take custody, try the ICE Online Detainee Locator. No A-number? Use the complete name, then pick the birth country.
5. Agents in this area answer to the ICE St. Paul Field Office, 1 Federal Drive, Suite 1601, Fort Snelling, MN 55111, 612-843-8600.

A felony prison sentence makes the person a Minnesota Department of Corrections case. They wait in the county jail until a transport is set. Deputies then drive them to state intake, and staff there decide on a prison.

• Try the DOC Offender Locator with first and last name. New arrivals may be missing for a few business days.
• For prison mail and visiting rules, see our Minnesota state prisons page.
• In most cases the last third is served outside prison on supervised release, with the DOC keeping watch.

Anyone 17 or younger is a child in Minnesota law, so the District Court's juvenile side hears the case (Minn. Stat. 260B.007). Officers normally send a youth home with a parent. The exceptions are a youth who is dangerous or seems unlikely to come back to court (Minn. Stat. 260B.176).

• Under a rural exception, the Walker jail can keep a youth for 24 hours at most, leaving out weekends and holidays.
• Longer stays use a secure youth center, such as the Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center, 1231 Fifth Street NW, Bemidji, MN 56619, 218-751-3196.
• Past the 36-hour mark in secure detention, any longer hold must rest on a petition plus a judge's order. Weekends and holidays don't tick that clock.
• For 14- to 17-year-olds accused of grave crimes, adult court (certification) or an extended jurisdiction juvenile case is possible.

Court administration at 218-888-5150 can share juvenile hearing dates with parents.

The county's population stood near 31,430 (Minnesota State Demographic Center estimate for April 1, 2025). Any of the following may have made the arrest:

• Cass County Sheriff's Office, 301 Minnesota Avenue W, Walker, MN 56484, 218-547-1424, toll-free 800-450-2677. Deputies cover the whole county, lakes and back roads included, and dispatch takes non-emergency calls on the main number.
• Town and tribal officers. Part of the Leech Lake Reservation is inside the county, so city or tribal officers may be the ones who made the arrest. The Sheriff's dispatch can tell you which agency is handling it.
• Minnesota State Patrol, headquarters at 445 Minnesota Street, Suite 130, Saint Paul, MN 55101, 651-201-7100. Troopers working these highways report to a district office; the State Patrol contact page lets you choose Cass from its county list.

Use 911 only for emergencies.