It takes about a minute on a phone:

1. Tap the link for the official inmate lookup.
2. Type a surname. A first name narrows the results.
3. Match the age or birth date to the right person.
4. Read the custody status listed there.
5. Register for notices if you'd like word of a release or move.

SAVIN's help line, 844-299-4608, is staffed weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central. No luck at all? Detention staff at 605-426-6002 can check by name.

Often there's an ordinary reason:

• Booked minutes ago. New entries need time to appear.
• Released. Bond got paid, or the judge freed them on a promise.
• Boarded elsewhere. When local beds run short, a prisoner may be sent to another county's jail.
• Spelled another way. Search a nickname's full form, a middle name or a maiden name.
• Under 18. Juvenile cases are left out of SAVIN.
• In federal hands. Deputy marshals or ICE agents may hold them.

The jail's 24-hour line, 605-426-6002, can say where the person is.

Start with the county's own jail, then check the others in this list:

• The Detention Center, 221 2nd Street, Ipswich, SD 57451, 605-426-6002. This 40-bed jail holds adults arrested in the county. It also takes in people sent by McPherson, Miner and Corson counties.
• Overflow: the Day County Detention Center, 710 W 2nd St, Webster, SD 57274, 605-345-3222, has also housed prisoners from this county.
• Next door: the Brown County Jail, 22 Court St., Suite 1, Aberdeen, SD 57401, 605-626-7101, and the Faulk County Jail, 924 Lafoon Avenue, Faulkton, SD 57438, 605-598-6229, are worth a call after an arrest near the county line.
• Youth: a child the court orders detained may be sent to Huron, to the Beadle County Juvenile Detention Center, 455 4th St SW, Suite 100, Huron, SD 57350, 605-353-8424.

From the Sheriff's Office. The official lookup is built to report custody and send alerts and has no mugshots, so for a booking photo, call 605-426-6002 and ask if a copy is available and what the request takes.

• ICE photos must be sought through the agency's records request form.
• Federal mugshots are normally kept from the public, except that deputy marshals sometimes publish a photo of a fugitive they're chasing.

Yes, once you sign up. SAVIN, South Dakota's free notification service, runs 24 hours a day. Register at savin.sd.gov/portal to hear when custody changes, such as a release or transfer. Nothing is sent until you enroll.

• For help registering, call 844-299-4608 on weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central.
• Youth cases fall outside SAVIN. Victims of a juvenile should contact the State's Attorney, 509 Bloemedaal Dr, Ipswich, SD 57451, 605-426-6319.

A magistrate must see the person "without unnecessary delay" (SDCL 23A-4-1), often by video. For many charges the clerk sets bond off the statewide schedule. Bond on the gravest charges, and in domestic cases, is left to a judge.

• Judges must try a no-money release first and add cash or conditions only as needed (SDCL 23A-43-2, 23A-43-3).
• Alcohol and drug cases often add twice-a-day testing through the 24/7 Sobriety Program (SDCL 1-11-20).
• In this Fifth Circuit county, posted cash counts as the defendant's money, so the court can take fines and costs from it first.
• Domestic abuse cases come with a strict rule. Before that first hearing, reaching out to the alleged victim's household is banned, even by a relative's phone call (SDCL 25-10-43). Please don't relay messages.

Dollar ranges, where to pay and how bondsmen work are on our bail and release page.

Jail staff at 605-426-6002 can tell you the booking offense. Prosecutors file the formal charge afterward, and it may differ.

• Once a case is filed, UJS eCourts lists its docket entries.
• PARS gives a case summary for $20 per search.
• The Clerk of Courts, 210 2nd Ave., Ipswich, SD 57451, 605-426-6671, can explain what has been filed.
• The State's Attorney, 509 Bloemedaal Dr, Ipswich, SD 57451, 605-426-6319, decides the final charges.

The first judge they see will mention the right to counsel. Those who can't afford one should ask for an appointed lawyer at that hearing; the county pays (SDCL 23A-40-6). Repayment may be ordered later, so hang on to any papers about it (SDCL 23A-40-10).

A private attorney is another option. The Clerk of Courts at 605-426-6671 can name the assigned lawyer. A hired lawyer can set up a meeting by calling the jail at 605-426-6002.

Visits are booked online through the jail's messaging and visit provider. You can schedule from your own cell phone at any time of day. The visit kiosk runs two blocks a week:

• Wednesday, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
• Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

To get the provider's name, set up an account or ask about ID rules, call the jail at 605-426-6002. More pointers are in our visitation guide.

Ways to deposit, and caps on amounts, can shift. Before sending anything, ask the jail at 605-426-6002 which methods are open now. Keep the full name and Inmate Number on hand.

Account money usually covers commissary items. Our inmate deposit guide walks through usual options, and our commissary list shows typical items. Ask before mailing any money at all.

The jail's provider handles messages. Families open an account on the provider's site, and the jail lists these prices:

• Message: $0.25 each
• Picture message or document: $0.35 each

A paper can be photographed and attached to a message. For calls, rates and tablets, ask the jail at 605-426-6002. Our jail calling guide and e-message guide add detail.

Since January 1, 2026, personal letters are scanned at a center in Texas rather than delivered to the jail. Address them like this:

• Personal letters: Inmate Name, Inmate Number, Edmunds County Jail, PO Box 591, Longview, TX 75606
• Legal mail, medical mail, books, magazines and newspapers: Edmunds County Jail, 221 2nd Street, PO Box 303, Ipswich, SD 57451. This goes to the jail itself.

Rules for personal mail:

• Show the inmate's name, Inmate Number and your return address.
• Pages may be letter size at most, five sheets, with writing on the front only.
• Include just one photo. Two or more get the entire envelope returned.
• Publications sent to the Texas box are returned.
• Mail is destroyed after scanning, so never send originals you want back.

Call 605-426-6002 for the Inmate Number. Our mail guide has more tips.

Keys, wallets and phones taken during booking sit in storage till they're released. To get them, call 605-426-6002 and set a time. Bring a photo ID to 221 2nd Street, Ipswich, SD 57451.

Fetching for a relative? Find out if that person has to sign a release. Ask too how leftover account money gets returned.

The Sheriff is in charge of the county jail and the people in it (SDCL 24-11-13). Call 605-426-6002 right away if your loved one needs care. List every medication with its dose, plus the doctor who prescribed it.

Deputies here also handle mental health holds. If you fear a crisis, say so clearly. For a life-threatening emergency, call 911.

Sheriff's deputies serve warrants throughout the county, and their phone, 605-426-6002, is answered 24 hours a day. If you already know the case, the court payment site, UJS ePayments, notes any active warrant. Two state pages help too: the DOC Most Wanted page, listing prison escapees, and the South Dakota Sex Offender Registry. The Clerk of Courts, 210 2nd Ave., Ipswich, SD 57451, 605-426-6671, can look one up for you as well. Clearing one means phoning a lawyer first, and then walking in with that lawyer at the Detention Center, 221 2nd Street, Ipswich, SD 57451.

Families can search Find a Court Date free, using a defendant's name or a case number. That site also builds a docket for this county covering the current business day plus nine more.

Prefer to ask a person? Call the Clerk of Courts at 605-426-6671, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Our criminal court guide explains each stage.

On a federal charge, the case goes to the Northern Division courthouse, 102 Fourth Avenue SE, Aberdeen, SD 57401.

1. Custody before trial is argued at the defendant's first federal hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Deputy marshals hold federal defendants until trial. The Aberdeen marshals' office, 102 Southeast 4th Avenue, Suite 409, Aberdeen, SD 57401, 605-226-1794, can say which jail.
3. After sentencing, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by name or register number.

Immigration holds follow these steps:

1. The jail is handed a Form I-247A request from ICE.
2. Staff may then hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)), giving ICE time to pick them up.
3. ICE's St. Paul Field Office covers this region from 1 Federal Drive, Suite 1601, Fort Snelling, MN 55111, 612-843-8600. In-state, ICE lists the Pennington County Jail, 307 Saint Joseph St, Rapid City, SD 57701, 605-394-6116.
4. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator; it needs the full name with the birth country, or the A-number.
5. SB 7 (SL 2025, ch 100) is a state law. It bars local rules that limit what jail staff may share about immigration status with federal agents.

Felony prison sentences are served under the South Dakota Department of Corrections.

• The DOC offender locator covers state-sentenced felons, so it won't list county inmates or people on probation.
• Each prison has an entry in our prison directory for South Dakota.
• DOC central office: 605-773-3478, 3200 East Highway 34, c/o 500 East Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.

Most minors are released to family. Detention is allowed only on grounds listed in SDCL 26-8C-3, and a detained youth may end up in Huron, inside the Beadle County Juvenile Detention Center, 455 4th St SW, Suite 100, Huron, SD 57350, 605-353-8424.

Circuit court hears these cases. For a child's location, parents should phone the Sheriff's Office, 605-426-6002.

Most arrests here are made by sheriff's deputies, but state troopers patrol the highways too:

• Sheriff's Office, 221 2nd Street, Ipswich, SD 57451, 605-426-6002, open 24 hours. It also runs county 911 dispatch. Deputies answer calls across the county, including Ipswich, Bowdle, Roscoe, Hosmer, Mina and the farm country between them. If a town officer may have made the arrest, deputies can still tell you where the person is held.
• South Dakota Highway Patrol, District One (Aberdeen), PO Box 1797, Aberdeen, SD 57402-1797, 605-626-2286.