Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center

Enter the name on Eau Claire County Inmate Search. Adults arrested in the county are booked into the Eau Claire County Jail, 710 Second Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54703, and the search shows custody status and any bail.

Central Control at the jail never closes. Call 715-839-4707 for questions the search leaves out.

Go to the Clerk of Courts in the Government Center, 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 2220. It opens Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and its number is 715-839-4816.

Have the person's full name ready, plus the case number if one has been assigned. The clerk completes the paperwork that lets the jail release the person.

Go to the jail itself at 710 Second Avenue. Money paid at the jail kiosk is credited to the defendant's own account, so tell staff what you intend before you put cash in. Central Control, 715-839-4707, can walk you through it.

Cards used for a bond after hours, on weekends or on holidays are handled on the next business day. Plan around that delay if you want the clerk to process the card.

Only cash and credit cards. The cards accepted are Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, and a 5 percent service fee is added.

You can pay by card online at allpaid.com with pay location code a005Lp, or call 888-604-7888 and give the same code. Afterward, phone the Clerk of Courts at 715-839-4816, or the payment waits until the next business day.

Wisconsin does not license or allow them. Under Wis. Stat. 969.12, a surety is a natural person who lives in Wisconsin, and the statute forbids paying any surety for the role.

So the money you hand over is the court's own cash bail. Do not pay anyone who calls offering to arrange release for a fee.

The person who posted the bond is the one who gets a refund, unless the court orders something different. The county issues refunds after the case is resolved and every assessment, including restitution, has been applied.

Refunds usually take six to eight weeks. Checks are printed twice a month and mailed, so the poster must send any address change in writing. Court costs, fines, restitution and court-appointed attorney fees can all be taken from the bond.

The county warns bond posters to think about personal exposure for the defendant's financial obligations. If the person is convicted, money left in the bond is applied to those debts before any refund.

That follows Wis. Stat. 969.03(4), which sends leftover deposit money to restitution first and the judgment second. Think about that before you put up money for someone who is likely to be convicted.

A judge can order pretrial monitoring as a form of release that involves no money. The person must report in person to the Pretrial Services office within 48 hours.

Since 2020 the county has used the Public Safety Assessment, a scoring tool that rates the chance of a new offense and of missing court. Higher-risk cases are supervised at the Community Transition Center.

Eau Claire County Pretrial Services is in the Government Center, 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 2330, Eau Claire, WI 54703. It is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., except holidays.

Check the written release order for the exact reporting deadline, and call the Clerk of Courts at 715-839-4816 if you need a copy of it.

The law gives a judge a reasonable time to see an arrested person. Court decisions treat 48 hours as the limit for a probable cause finding after a warrantless arrest, and hearings can run by video.

The Warrant Division at 715-839-4704 handles warrants from 721 Oxford Avenue, weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Clerk of Courts holds the hearing calendar.

A misdemeanor bail can never exceed the top fine for that offense, and a felony has no chart. A judge can set money bail only after a finding that it is needed to assure appearance, or after weighing the total circumstances of a violent-crime charge.

Wis. Stat. 969.035 permits denial in narrow cases. The prosecutor must request it, the hearing starts within 10 days, and the proof standard is clear and convincing. Denial lasts up to 60 days after that hearing.

Yes. A probation hold during a violation investigation is not an arrest, so the 48-hour judicial review does not apply to it.

A person arrested in a different county must be brought before a judge there to set release conditions, or sent back to Eau Claire County. Ask Central Control which hold applies.

Officers must arrest when there are reasonable grounds and one of the statutory tests is met, such as visible injury or a finding that the person is the predominant aggressor. Release is barred until bail is posted or a judge has seen the case.

A 72-hour no-contact period then follows, covering the alleged victim's home and any contact through other people. A knowing violation carries up to $10,000 in fines and nine months in jail.

Huber lets sentenced inmates leave for work, school, treatment or family care at set hours. The jail's Huber Center answers at 715-839-1662, and the application form is on the Sheriff's jail pages.

The court grants Huber, and the sheriff decides where the person stays. A person waiting for trial who cannot pay bail is not eligible, and wages go into a trust account that pays travel, board and family support.

The court can order the bail forfeited, issue a warrant and raise the amount. Knowingly breaking a bond term is also the crime of bail jumping (Wis. Stat. 946.49): a Class A misdemeanor when the open case is a misdemeanor, a Class H felony when it is a felony.

Every released person must report a new address to the clerk within 48 hours. Missing that step can lead to missed notices.

The Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center is in Eau Claire, at 721 Oxford Avenue, and it is one of Wisconsin's 12 county-run secure youth facilities. The Clerk of Courts at 715-839-4816 can give the hearing date for a young person.

The Sheriff's Office, 715-839-4709, can say which agency took the youth into custody.

The State Public Defender's Eau Claire office is at 21 South Barstow Street, Floor 3, Eau Claire, WI 54701, phone 715-502-1490. It also covers Buffalo and Pepin Counties.

Raise the request for a lawyer at the first appearance. If the person is still held 72 hours after it, the judge can be asked to review the bail and conditions.

A jail account deposit buys phone time and commissary goods and is not bail. For anything beyond that, call Central Control at 715-839-4707 or the jail sergeants at 715-839-6248.

Visiting, mail and phone rules are on the Sheriff's jail pages, so check them before you travel.

Which court hears your case. A local ordinance ticket, or a first-offense OWI (treated in Wisconsin as a civil forfeiture, not a crime, unless a child under 16 was riding in the vehicle), is heard by the Augusta–Bridge Creek municipal court only when it was written in Augusta or the town of Bridge Creek; everywhere else in the county, including the city of Eau Claire and Altoona, those citations are filed in the circuit court, so check the court named on the ticket. Misdemeanors and criminal traffic offenses such as a second OWI or operating after revocation go to the Eau Claire County Circuit Court, where criminal and traffic calendars are spread across the six branches. A felony begins and ends in the same circuit court, from the initial appearance through the preliminary hearing, arraignment, plea or trial, and sentencing.

Where pretrial inmates are held. Everyone arrested in Eau Claire County by city police, the Sheriff, the State Patrol or university officers is taken to the jail at 710 Second Avenue, which connects to the courthouse, so in-custody defendants are brought to court without leaving the complex. Huber work release is available to some sentenced inmates. For custody status, charges or the cash amount set, call the jail at (715) 839-4702 or the Sheriff's Office at (715) 839-4709.

• Eau Claire County Circuit Court (six branches), Eau Claire County Courthouse, 721 Oxford Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54703; Clerk of Circuit Court (715) 839-4816
• Eau Claire County District Attorney, 721 Oxford Avenue, Room 2310, Eau Claire, WI 54703, (715) 839-4828
• Eau Claire County Sheriff's Office, 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 1400, Eau Claire, WI 54703, (715) 839-4709
• Eau Claire County Jail, 710 Second Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54703, (715) 839-4702
• Wisconsin State Public Defender, Eau Claire office (covers Eau Claire, Buffalo and Pepin counties), 21 South Barstow Street, Floor 3, Eau Claire, WI 54701, (715) 502-1490
• Eau Claire County Department of Human Services (youth justice intake), 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 1001, Eau Claire, WI 54703, (715) 839-7118; main line (715) 839-2300

Unlike many Wisconsin counties of its size, Eau Claire County has almost no municipal court system. State court statistics for 2024 list a single municipal court in the county, the joint court for Augusta and Bridge Creek. The city of Eau Claire, the largest city in the region, files its ordinance and traffic citations in circuit court instead. A municipal court can only impose forfeitures for local ordinance violations; it cannot send anyone to jail as a sentence, although a judge may order jail as a last resort when a forfeiture is not paid. In certain situations a defendant may be able to have a municipal citation transferred to the circuit court, so read the ticket and ask the municipal clerk before the return date.

Circuit court

• Eau Claire County Circuit Court, Eau Claire County Courthouse, 721 Oxford Avenue, Eau Claire, WI 54703. Six branches with six elected judges, plus a court commissioner who handles many first appearances. Clerk of Circuit Court (criminal, traffic and forfeiture filings) (715) 839-4816; juvenile clerk, Room 2201, (715) 839-4823.

Municipal court

• Augusta–Bridge Creek Joint Municipal Court (city of Augusta and town of Bridge Creek), P.O. Box 475, Augusta, WI 54722, (715) 286-2555
• Tickets from Eau Claire, Altoona, Fall Creek, Fairchild and the other towns and villages are generally handled by the circuit court unless the municipality has created its own court; the court listed on the citation controls.

Prosecutor, defense and police

• Eau Claire County District Attorney, 721 Oxford Avenue, Room 2310, (715) 839-4828; victim/witness unit (715) 839-4795
• State Public Defender, Eau Claire office, 21 South Barstow Street, Floor 3, (715) 502-1490
• Eau Claire County Sheriff's Office (operates the Eau Claire County Jail), 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 1400, (715) 839-4709
• Eau Claire Police Department, 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 1400, Eau Claire, WI 54701, (715) 839-4975
• Altoona Police Department, 1904 Spooner Avenue, Altoona, WI 54720, (715) 839-6090
• Augusta Police Department, 145 West Lincoln Street, Augusta, WI 54722, (715) 286-2252
• Fall Creek Police Department, 530 East Lincoln Avenue, Fall Creek, WI 54742, (715) 877-3231
• Fairchild Police Department, 331 Oak Street, Fairchild, WI 54741, (715) 334-6571
• Juvenile intake: Eau Claire County Department of Human Services, 721 Oxford Avenue, Suite 1001, (715) 839-7118

Officers can release a person on a citation for many lower-level offenses. When they decide to book instead, the person goes to the Eau Claire County Jail for fingerprints, photographs, property inventory, a medical screening and a warrant check. Visits there are video-only and must be scheduled a day ahead; money can be added for an inmate at a 24-hour kiosk in the jail lobby.

How release decisions are made

Since 2020 the county has run a pretrial program that uses the Public Safety Assessment, a scoring tool, to give the judge or court commissioner information before release conditions are set. People who are not let go at booking usually see the court commissioner within about 48 hours, often by video link from the jail. The commissioner may grant a signature bond, which is a written promise to return that carries a dollar amount only if the person misses court, or set cash with conditions such as no contact with a named person, no alcohol, or pretrial monitoring. Wisconsin does not allow commercial bail bondsmen, so a cash amount is paid in full, by the defendant or someone on their behalf, at the jail or the Clerk of Circuit Court; it is returned at the end of the case, less anything the court applies to fines or costs. Under a 2023 change to the state constitution, a judge setting cash for someone charged with a violent crime may consider the danger of serious harm to the public.

Domestic abuse arrests

When officers believe domestic abuse occurred, Wisconsin law often requires an arrest. The person released afterward must avoid the alleged victim's residence and avoid contacting that person for 72 hours, unless the victim signs a waiver.

Anyone who cannot pay for a lawyer can ask jail staff for a State Public Defender application right away; the Eau Claire office is described in the next section.

The Wisconsin State Public Defender's Eau Claire trial office, on the third floor at 21 South Barstow Street ((715) 502-1490), handles appointments for Eau Claire County and also for Buffalo and Pepin counties. Staff attorneys carry many cases, and the agency assigns others to private Eau Claire lawyers who accept SPD appointments.

• Applying: an intake worker interviews people held at the Eau Claire County Jail; people who are out of custody call or visit the office, ideally before the first court date.
• Eligibility: the SPD uses a state financial standard that compares income, assets and household expenses. Many working people fall outside it.
• If you do not qualify: a circuit judge has discretion to appoint a lawyer at county expense when a defendant is over the SPD limit but still unable to hire counsel. Ask about this at the initial appearance.

Cash bail posted by the defendant can be counted as an asset, so tell the intake worker who supplied the money.

Eau Claire County has invested heavily in alternatives to jail, coordinated through its Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Defense lawyers, including State Public Defender staff, routinely ask the District Attorney whether a client qualifies.

• Post-charge diversion and deferred prosecution: for eligible adults, generally first-time defendants with no prior criminal record. The person signs an agreement, completes conditions such as treatment, restitution or community service, and the charge is dismissed or reduced at the end. Agreements typically run from a few months up to three years.
• Hybrid OWI / Drug Court: a combined court, formed in 2023 by merging the former drug court, AIM court and mental health court, for people facing felony or repeat misdemeanor charges who have a substance use disorder and score moderate to high risk.
• Veterans Treatment Court: running since 2011 for current or former service members 18 and older with substance use or mental health needs.
• Family Dependency Treatment Court: added in 2025 for child welfare cases in which substance use played a part.
• Deflection program: begun in 2024 and led by the Sheriff's Office, it steers some people toward recovery services before charges are filed.

Treatment court participants are generally at least 18, live in the area, and are assessed as medium or high risk. Participation is voluntary, involves frequent court check-ins and testing, and can mean short sanctions in the Eau Claire County Jail for violations. Questions can go to the treatment court supervisor at (715) 839-7626. Release conditions and any bond usually stay in place while a referral is screened.

With students from UW–Eau Claire and Chippewa Valley Technical College, a busy downtown bar district and the retail corridor along Golf Road and Hastings Way, Eau Claire's misdemeanor docket is dominated by shoplifting, intoxicated disturbances, domestic disorderly conduct and repeat OWI stops.

The first weeks of a case

Many people charged with a misdemeanor never spend a night in the Eau Claire County Jail; they receive a summons or are released on a signature bond soon after booking. The District Attorney's office files a criminal complaint, and at the initial appearance the court explains the charge, the possible penalties and the right to a lawyer. A defendant can apply to the State Public Defender's Eau Claire office at (715) 502-1490 if they cannot afford counsel. The case then moves to a pretrial conference, where most plea offers and diversion referrals happen.

Penalties for the example charges

• Theft (property worth up to $2,500): a Class A misdemeanor carrying as much as 9 months in the Eau Claire County Jail and a $10,000 fine.
• Battery: Class A as well. If the case carries a domestic abuse designation, a surcharge is added and federal law may bar the person from owning firearms.
• Disorderly conduct: Class B, with up to 90 days and a fine of up to $1,000.
• OWI, second offense within 10 years: a criminal misdemeanor with a mandatory jail term of 5 days to 6 months, a fine, a revocation of 12 to 18 months and an ignition interlock order. A first OWI is a non-criminal forfeiture of $150 to $300 plus costs, with a 6- to 9-month revocation, an alcohol or drug assessment, and an interlock if the test was 0.15 or higher or the driver refused; in this county it is usually filed in circuit court.
• Class C misdemeanors carry a maximum of 30 days and $500.

How misdemeanors end

Outcomes range from dismissal or a deferred prosecution agreement to a fine, probation, or a jail sentence, often with Huber privileges that allow work or school. When a misdemeanor goes to trial in Eau Claire, a six-person jury decides it. A defendant who files a speedy trial demand is generally entitled to a trial within about 60 days, but most Eau Claire misdemeanors resolve in two to six months.

Methamphetamine and fentanyl distribution cases, often built by multi-agency drug investigators working alongside Eau Claire police and the Sheriff, account for a large share of felony filings here, along with residential burglaries, vehicle thefts and serious batteries.

The felony track in Eau Claire County

1. Complaint and first appearance. The District Attorney files a criminal complaint. A defendant held at the Eau Claire County Jail sees the court commissioner, who confirms probable cause, appoints or confirms counsel and sets release conditions or cash bail, using the pretrial assessment when one has been done.
2. Preliminary hearing. For someone who stays in custody because they cannot meet the amount set, the hearing generally must begin within 10 days of the first appearance; for others the limit is 20 days. The only question is whether there is probable cause to believe the defendant committed a felony. Waivers are common.
3. Information and arraignment. Once a case is bound over, the DA files an information and the defendant pleads before one of the six circuit judges.
4. Negotiation or trial. Most felonies end with a plea agreement. At trial, all twelve jurors in the Eau Claire courtroom must agree. Filing a speedy trial demand generally puts a felony on a 90-day trial clock.
5. Sentencing. The judge may order a presentence investigation by the Department of Corrections and can choose probation (sometimes with local jail time as a condition) or prison.

Maximums for the example charges

• Burglary of a building or dwelling: Class F, up to 12 years 6 months in prison and a $25,000 fine.
• Theft over $2,500: Class I for $2,500.01 to $5,000 (3 years 6 months); Class H for more than $5,000 up to $10,000 (6 years); Class G above $10,000 (10 years).
• Possession with intent to deliver: the class turns on the substance and the weight; fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine cases range from Class F to Class C, the last of which allows 40 years.
• Substantial battery: Class I. Causing great bodily harm can lead to aggravated battery charges at Class H, or Class E (15 years) when that harm was intended.

Wisconsin's truth-in-sentencing law splits a prison term into initial confinement and extended supervision, and there is no parole for offenses committed after 1999. Eligible people may be allowed into the Challenge Incarceration Program or the Substance Abuse Program, which can shorten confinement. Sentences of one year or less are served locally; anything longer means a state prison term with the Department of Corrections. Expect six months to a year from charge to resolution, and ask the State Public Defender lawyer whether the Hybrid OWI / Drug Court is an option.

Homicides are infrequent in Eau Claire County but draw intense attention when they occur, and sexual assault and armed robbery cases appear on the felony calendar each year. A defendant in one of these cases is usually held at the Eau Claire County Jail on substantial cash bail with no-contact orders, and the 2023 constitutional amendment allows the court to weigh the risk of serious harm when setting it.

What the law provides

• First-degree intentional homicide: Class A. Life imprisonment is mandatory; at sentencing the Eau Claire County judge either sets a date when the person may petition for extended supervision or orders that release will never be available.
• Second-degree intentional homicide; first-degree reckless homicide: Class B, each up to 60 years.
• First-degree sexual assault: a Class B felony carrying as many as 60 years for anyone convicted in Eau Claire County. Some offenses against young children carry mandatory minimum terms of initial confinement.
• Armed robbery: Class C, which allows up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Unarmed robbery is a Class E felony.

Wisconsin has not had the death penalty since 1853.

Pace and rights

Forensic testing at the state crime laboratory, expert reports and possible competency evaluations slow these cases, and a year or two between charge and verdict is not unusual. The State Public Defender assigns experienced attorneys to homicide and serious sexual assault cases. Crime victims have rights under Marsy's Law, adopted in 2020, including notice of proceedings and the chance to speak at sentencing; the District Attorney's victim/witness unit can be reached at (715) 839-4795.

Wisconsin prosecutes 17-year-olds as adults. Delinquency cases involving children aged 10 through 16 go to the Eau Claire County Circuit Court sitting as juvenile court, with its own clerk in Room 2201 of the courthouse.

Intake and the custody hearing

Police refer the case to youth justice intake at the Eau Claire County Department of Human Services ((715) 839-7118). Intake staff can close the referral, set up a deferred prosecution agreement, or recommend that the District Attorney file a petition alleging delinquency. When intake decides a child must be held, the court should hold a custody hearing within 24 hours of that decision, excluding weekends and legal holidays.

Where youths are detained

The Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center is located in Eau Claire at 721 Oxford Avenue, and it takes in detained youths from Eau Claire County as well as from other counties in western Wisconsin. Families can call intake to find out whether a child has been placed there.

Outcomes

• A deferred prosecution agreement or a consent decree, both of which put the case on hold while the youth meets set conditions.
• An adjudication of delinquency followed by supervision, counseling, community service or restitution.
• Placement out of the home, including a Type 2 placement supervised by the county, or a Type 1 commitment to Lincoln Hills School (boys) or Copper Lake School (girls), the state facilities in Irma.
• For the most serious cases, the Serious Juvenile Offender program, which can last as long as five years.

When the case goes to adult court

For some youths 14 or older, the DA may petition the juvenile court to waive jurisdiction so the case proceeds in adult court; the judge looks at the offense, the child's history and other factors. Adult court generally starts with original jurisdiction, with no waiver needed, when a child 10 or older is accused of attempted or completed first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide or felony murder, and in certain cases involving a juvenile already found delinquent who commits specified new offenses. The State Public Defender represents children without regard to family income, and juvenile records are generally kept confidential.

Eau Claire County belongs to the Western District of Wisconsin. Federal law names Eau Claire as a place where that court may sit, and the U.S. Courthouse at 500 South Barstow Street houses a U.S. Probation office and bankruptcy chambers, but the district's criminal cases are filed with the clerk in Madison and are generally heard there.

• U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, Clerk's Office, 120 North Henry Street, Room 320, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 264-5156
• U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Wisconsin, prosecutors' main office at 222 West Washington Avenue, Suite 700, Madison, WI 53703, (608) 264-5158
• Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin (Madison office), 22 East Mifflin Street, Suite 1000, Madison 53703, (608) 260-9900; when that office has a conflict, the court appoints a private Criminal Justice Act panel attorney

Which Eau Claire cases become federal

Drug-trafficking investigations that reach suppliers in the Twin Cities or Chicago, firearm possession by people barred from having guns, bank robberies, child pornography and online enticement, and large fraud schemes are the usual sources of federal charges from the Chippewa Valley. Tribal jurisdiction rarely affects Eau Claire County cases; because Wisconsin is a Public Law 280 state, state courts generally handle crimes on reservation and trust lands elsewhere in the state, with the exception of the Menominee Reservation in the northeast.

How a federal case moves

Following a federal arrest, an Eau Claire County defendant goes before a federal magistrate judge for an initial appearance, where counsel is appointed for those who qualify. The federal court does not set a cash bail amount the way the Eau Claire County Circuit Court does. The Bail Reform Act instead directs the magistrate judge either to release the person on conditions, with U.S. Pretrial Services supervising, or to order detention, generally after a hearing held within three court days of the government's motion. A case begun by complaint requires a grand jury indictment within 30 days, and the Speedy Trial Act's 70-day trial deadline is often extended for complex cases.

Guilty pleas end the large majority of federal prosecutions from the Chippewa Valley. If the case is tried, all 12 federal jurors must agree on the verdict. Before sentencing, the federal probation office prepares a presentence report; the judge works through the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and any mandatory minimum term. Federal prisoners have no parole, generally serve about 85 percent of their sentence in the Bureau of Prisons, and then begin supervised release. Appeals from Madison are taken to the Seventh Circuit, the federal appeals court in Chicago.

Finding a federal prisoner

Relatives trying to locate a federal prisoner from Eau Claire County can enter a name or register number in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. Someone awaiting federal trial in a county jail that contracts with the Marshals Service may also be listed on that jail's own roster of inmates. Federal charges against juveniles from Eau Claire County are rare. Federal defendants do not use the State Public Defender; they are represented by Federal Defender Services or a CJA panel lawyer.