Redwood County Inmate Population Overview
The Redwood County inmate population is centered on Redwood County Sheriff's Office jail operations in Redwood Falls under Sheriff Jason Jacobson. The sheriff's 2025 annual activity report says the office serves about 16,059 people across 882 square miles, runs a 24/7 dispatch center, handles court security and transports, and operates the local jail. That means the population count is not just a list of names. It reflects arrests, warrants, self-report sentences, probation violations, bond decisions, court hearings, and transfers.
The local jail count is split from the overall Redwood County inmate population. The 2024 Minnesota DOC inspection lists Redwood County Jail as a Rule 2911 secure coed jail with 21 approved beds and an operational capacity of 16.80 at the 80 percent operating level. The sheriff's 2025 annual report says most overflow is housed at Renville County Jail in Olivia, so a person may be a Redwood County inmate for case and booking purposes while sleeping in the neighboring jail.
Redwood County Inmate Population Statistics
The most useful Redwood County inmate population figures come from the sheriff's annual activity reports and the DOC jail inspection. The 2025 report separates people housed in Redwood County Jail from the broader count that includes Renville County overflow. That distinction matters for families, attorneys, and people trying to read the public roster. A low local average can still sit beside a higher overall custody count because the county boards people out when its small jail reaches practical limits.
| Measure | Figure | Source and year |
|---|---|---|
| County population served | About 16,059 people | Redwood County Sheriff's Office 2025 Annual Activity Report |
| County area served | 882 square miles | Redwood County Sheriff's Office 2025 Annual Activity Report |
| Approved jail capacity | 21 secure coed beds | MNDOC 2024 Redwood County Jail inspection |
| Operational capacity | 16.80 | MNDOC 2024 Redwood County Jail inspection |
| 2025 jail bookings | 619 | Redwood County Sheriff's Office 2025 Annual Activity Report |
| 2025 ADP in Redwood jail | 14.1 | Redwood County Sheriff's Office 2025 Annual Activity Report |
| 2025 overall ADP with overflow | 25.6 | Redwood County Sheriff's Office 2025 Annual Activity Report |
| Calculated daily jail rate | About 159 per 100,000 residents | Calculated from 2025 overall ADP and population served |
The rate row is a calculated research figure, not an official county-published rate. It is useful only as a plain scale marker for the Redwood County inmate population. The official county figures are the bookings, average daily population, confined days, staffing, and facility-capacity numbers reported by the sheriff and DOC.
Redwood County Inmate Population Trends
Redwood County jail use has fallen from the high point shown in the research series. Bookings were 822 in 2019 and 619 in 2025. Local average daily population also dropped below the 16.80 operational-capacity mark in 2024 and 2025 after exceeding that mark in 2022 and 2023. The overall Redwood County inmate population stayed higher than the local jail count because Renville County Jail took overflow.
| Year | Bookings | Redwood jail ADP | Overall ADP with overflow | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 619 | 14.1 | 25.6 | Local ADP under operational capacity; overflow still material. |
| 2024 | 656 | 14.7 | 23.5 | Local ADP under DOC operating target. |
| 2023 | 670 | 20.82 | 27.8 | Local ADP above 16.80 operational capacity. |
| 2022 | 625 | 19.29 | 26.53 | Local ADP above operating capacity. |
| 2021 | 718 | 14.26 | 27.29 | Overall count far above local jail count. |
| 2020 | 670 | 13.49 | Not available | Overall ADP not listed in the report table. |
| 2019 | 822 | 16.47 | 30.3 | Highest bookings and overall ADP in the listed series. |
Who Makes Up Redwood County Jail Custody
Current roster entries show adult men and women, court-pending cases, sentenced jail inmates, probation-violation holds, failure-to-appear matters, warrants, DWI and drug cases, fleeing, property crimes, and release-condition notes. The annual reports also publish male and women booking counts, but they do not publish race, ethnicity, age-band, average length-of-stay, or a full pretrial-versus-sentenced breakdown. That gap should not be filled with guesses.
| Year | Male count | Women count | Source note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 338 | 133 | Redwood annual report jail section |
| 2024 | 490 | 175 | Redwood annual report jail section |
| 2023 | 493 | 185 | Redwood annual report jail section |
| 2022 | 465 | 158 | Redwood annual report jail section |
The public roster gives age and sex for current detainees, but that is a live custody list, not a demographic dataset. Read the roster for a specific person, then use the annual reports for population scale.
Redwood County Jail Capacity Pressure
Capacity is the main local issue behind the Redwood County inmate population. Redwood County Jail has 21 approved secure coed beds and an 80 percent operational capacity of 16.80. The 2025 annual report says DOC requires the county to keep average daily population just below 17. When the total number of people tied to Redwood County custody rises above what the local jail should hold, the county uses overflow housing, with most overflow at Renville County Jail.
The 2024 DOC inspection did not find a closure order or major litigation record in the research material. It did note one mandatory noncompliance item for well-being check pace and quality, plus concerns involving locks and keys, medication refrigeration logs, and sharps inventory. The jail stayed on biennial inspection status with authority to operate through January 31, 2027.
Laws Governing Redwood County Inmates
Minnesota law explains why some Redwood County inmate population data is public and why some data is limited. The county roster is a law-enforcement custody record, while court charges appear through the court system and sentenced state prisoners move into DOC records. These laws also explain why active investigations, juvenile material, and some records may be withheld or restricted.
Key public-record rules:
Minnesota Statutes section 13.03 makes government data public unless a law classifies it otherwise.
Minnesota Statutes section 13.82 covers law-enforcement data, including arrest data and booking photographs.
Minnesota Statutes section 241.021 gives DOC authority over correctional facility licensing and inspection.
Minnesota Rules Chapter 2911 sets minimum standards for local adult detention facilities.
Search the Redwood County Jail Roster
The official current custody route is the Redwood County Jail live custody list, which is linked from the sheriff's in-custody page. It is a live roster report, not a form-based search portal. The inspected roster displayed a run time, a photo column, MNI, name, sex, age, booking number, intake date, charges, and bail or bond fields. Use browser find for a last name because the roster itself has no search box.
- Open the official live custody list and check the run time near the top.
- Use browser find for the last name, since the roster is a report.
- Read across the whole entry, including charge status, statute, hearing comments, and bond notes.
- If the person is missing, call Redwood County Jail at 507-637-1313 or the sheriff's office at 507-637-4036.
- Check Renville County, MNDOC, BOP, ICE, or MCRO when the custody stage has moved out of the county roster.
The county in-custody page is the county web route into the same roster. If that page fails, the direct roster host may still work.
Redwood County Inmate Search Fields
The Redwood County inmate search starts with a list, not with input fields. That makes the roster simple but easy to misread. The list can show several charges and several bail comments under one person, and hearing notes can sit in the bail/bond area rather than in a separate court-date column.
| Field label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search field | None | n/a | Use browser find because the roster is a live report. |
| Photo | Image column | n/a | Booking-photo thumbnail appears for listed inmates. |
| MNI | Roster text | n/a | Master name index number. |
| Name | Roster text | n/a | Shown in last, first, middle order. |
| Booking # | Roster text | n/a | Numeric booking number. |
| Charges | Roster text | n/a | Level, status, statute, and plain-language charge text. |
| Bail\Bond | Roster text | n/a | Amounts, conditions, received amounts, and court comments. |
The official roster screenshot captured for this build shows how dense the entries are.
The image is useful because it shows the actual Redwood roster format, including the photo column and bail/bond text.
What Redwood County Inmate Records Show
A current Redwood County inmate record is a custody snapshot. It can confirm that a person is listed in jail custody and can show booking identifiers, charges, and release-related comments. It does not replace a criminal complaint, a certified court record, a full arrest report, or a statewide criminal history record.
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Photo | Current roster thumbnail for a listed booking. |
| MNI | Master name index number used in law-enforcement records. |
| Booking number | Numeric identifier for the jail booking event. |
| Intake date | Date and time the person entered jail custody. |
| Charges | Offense level, status, statute number, and charge description. |
| Bail or bond | Release amounts, conditions, payments received, and hearing comments. |
| Limits | No full date of birth, address, housing unit, or full complaint on the public list. |
County Jail Versus State Prison
Redwood County inmate lookup depends on custody status. Pretrial detainees, short county sentences, warrants, probation violations, work-release sentences, and people awaiting court usually start with the county roster. People sentenced to the Commissioner of Corrections move to the MNDOC public locator, and DOC warns that new sentenced people may take several business days to appear.
| System | Who it covers | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| County jail | Pretrial, warrants, short sentences, local holds, work release | Redwood County live custody list |
| Overflow jail | People tied to Redwood County but boarded in Olivia | Renville County live custody list plus phone confirmation |
| State prison | Adults committed to the Commissioner of Corrections | MNDOC public viewer |
| Federal custody | Federal sentenced prisoners or federal holds | BOP locator or U.S. Marshals route |
| Immigration custody | ICE detainees | ICE Online Detainee Locator System |
Redwood County Detention Facilities
The Redwood County inmate population map has two facilities for practical search purposes. Redwood County Jail is the primary county jail. Renville County Jail is outside Redwood County, but it matters because the sheriff's annual report says most overflow is housed there.
- Redwood County Jail holds local pretrial detainees, sentenced county inmates, warrants, probation violations, work-release sentences, and people awaiting court or transfer.
- Renville County Jail houses Renville inmates and can house Redwood County overflow or boarded inmates.
No state prison, federal BOP institution, ICE detention center, or separate city jail was found in official Redwood County sources. Police agencies arrest people, but county jail custody is handled through the sheriff and the jail system.
Past Redwood County Inmate Records
The current roster should not be treated as an archive. The research did not find a public historical booking database or released-inmate list for Redwood County. For older booking records, arrest data, or booking photos no longer visible online, use a Minnesota Data Practices Act request to the sheriff's office or the agency that holds the record. For prosecutor-held data, the Redwood County Attorney's Office page lists a data request form.
Court records after arrest are separate. Use Minnesota Court Records Online for district court cases and contact Redwood County District Court for certified records. For conviction-only statewide history, use the Minnesota Public Criminal History Search. That BCA portal does not show arrest data, juvenile data, federal data, out-of-state history, or older convictions beyond the public period.
Redwood County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Redwood County inmate population?
The 2025 sheriff annual report lists 14.1 average daily population housed in Redwood County Jail and 25.6 overall average daily population when Renville County overflow is included. The DOC inspection lists 21 approved beds and 16.80 operational capacity.
Where does a Redwood County inmate search start?
Start with the official Redwood County live custody list. It is free and does not require a login. If the person is not listed, call the jail, ask about Renville overflow, and then check DOC, BOP, ICE, or MCRO as the custody stage requires.
Does Redwood County publish mugshots?
Current roster entries include a photo column with booking-photo thumbnails. The county sources did not show a public historical mugshot archive, so older photos should be requested through the records process.
What does overflow mean?
Overflow means a person tied to Redwood County custody may be physically housed in another jail because of capacity. The 2025 annual report says most Redwood overflow is housed at Renville County Jail in Olivia.