The Steele County Inmate Population
The Steele County inmate population is centered on the Steele County Detention Center in Owatonna. The Sheriff’s Office operates the jail for local arrests, pretrial detainees, sentenced jail time, work release, warrants, probation and parole holds, and some people held for other agencies. Official research found no state prison, federal Bureau of Prisons institution, or ICE detention facility inside Steele County, so those systems are lookup channels rather than local facilities.
The county roster, inspection reports, and population forecast do not count exactly the same thing. The roster is a daily public custody list. The Minnesota Department of Corrections inspection controls approved jail capacity. The 2021 population forecast measured average daily population over past years. Read together, those sources show a local jail that has held both Steele-responsible detainees and a changing share of other-jurisdiction detainees.
Custody path: Arrest or warrant commitment > booking at the Detention Center > first appearance or release review > county jail, court release, state DOC transfer, or another agency hold.
Steele County Inmate Population Statistics
Several figures matter for the Steele County inmate population. The county’s building facts page still lists a rated capacity of 154 beds. The more current 2026 Minnesota DOC inspection archive uses 134 approved secure coed beds and 120.6 operational capacity. The daily roster inspected on June 18, 2026 showed 13 total records, while the official warrant list showed 231 records. Those are snapshots, not long-term averages.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| County population | 37,559 | Steele County facts page, updated 2022 |
| County area | 432 square miles | Steele County facts page |
| County building-page rated capacity | 154 beds | Detention Center facts |
| DOC-approved secure coed capacity | 134 beds | 2026 Minnesota DOC inspection report |
| DOC operational capacity | 120.6 beds | 2026 Minnesota DOC inspection report |
| Current roster count | 13 total records | Sheriff roster PDF, printed June 18, 2026 |
Steele County Inmate Population Trends
The 2021 jail population analysis found that average daily population at the Steele County jail fell each year from 2014 through 2020. The forecast tied that change to bookings and average length of stay. It also found that bookings fell between 2015 and 2019, other-jurisdiction bookings dropped more sharply than Steele bookings, and reported violent and property offenses in the county declined during that period.
| Year | Average Daily Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 118.0 | Other-jurisdiction inmates were the clear majority. |
| 2015 | 117.9 | Nearly flat from the prior year. |
| 2016 | 107.6 | Forecast reported an 8.8 percent decline. |
| 2017 | 100.1 | Bookings peaked in this year. |
| 2018 | 93.4 | Average daily population kept falling. |
| 2019 | 78.2 | Other-jurisdiction share was 44 percent. |
| 2020 | 48.5 | Pandemic-era effects were noted in the forecast. |
That table should not be mixed with a one-day roster count. A daily roster answers who is in custody now. Average daily population shows the typical daily jail load across a year. Both help explain the Steele County inmate population, but they answer different questions.
Who Is in Steele County Custody
The public roster and forecast show that the Steele County inmate population is not limited to new Owatonna arrests. The roster sample included Owatonna Police bookings, Steele County Sheriff bookings, Minnesota DOC work-release holds, probation and parole violations, warrants, new offenses, under-sentence entries, and people held for another agency. The forecast also found a long decline in sentenced population, a smaller decline in pretrial population, and a large increase in supervision-violation population from 2014 to 2019.
- Pretrial detainees are people held after arrest while charges, bail, or release conditions are pending.
- Sentenced detainees serve local jail time or approved work-release placements.
- Supervision holds involve probation, parole, or DOC-related custody issues.
- Other-agency holds may involve another county, state organization, or federal authority.
The same population forecast said sentenced detainees were only 6 percent of the 2019 jail population, less than half the 2014 share. It also reported that pretrial population rose when comparing August 2019 through February 2020 with August 2020 through February 2021. That nuance matters because a lower total jail count can still include a larger pretrial share.
Steele County Jail Capacity
Capacity should be read from two sources. The county building facts page describes the original facility and lists 154 rated beds. The 2026 DOC inspection is more current for operating approval and lists 134 approved secure coed beds with 90 percent operating capacity, or 120.6 operational beds. The certificate term ran from May 1, 2026 through April 30, 2028.
No official jail-conditions lawsuit, consent decree, jail closure, or new construction project was found in the research. The strongest local conditions material is the DOC inspection and the population forecast. The forecast’s long-term average daily population decline, paired with a 2026 approved capacity above the inspected daily roster count, does not prove the jail is always under capacity. It does show why annual trends and current rosters must be kept separate.
Steele County Inmate Data Laws
Minnesota law controls how Steele County inmate population data is collected, released, withheld, and requested. Jail and sheriff data are not all public in the same way. Some booking data is public, some investigative data can be withheld, and some records require a formal data request instead of a simple roster lookup.
Key statutes:
Minn. Stat. 13.03 gives the public access to public government data and sets inspection and copy rules.
Minn. Stat. 13.82 governs law-enforcement data, including arrest and booking information.
Minn. Stat. 241.021 authorizes DOC inspection and minimum standards for correctional facilities.
Minn. R. ch. 2911 sets local adult detention facility standards, including capacity and jail operations.
For a person in custody, start with the roster and jail phone line. For copies, use the Sheriff’s Records Department or county data practices process. For formal charges after an arrest, use Minnesota Court Records Online and Steele County District Court.
Search Steele County Inmates
The official county roster is the Steele County Sheriff’s Office Inmate Roster PDF. It is free and does not require a login, but it is not an interactive database. There is no county search box, profile click, mugshot gallery, filter, export button, or pagination. Use the browser or PDF viewer find tool to search the person’s last name.
- Open the Detention Center page and choose Current Jail Roster, or open the roster PDF directly.
- Use the PDF find command for the last name. Try spelling variants if no result appears.
- Check the booked date to confirm the custody event is current.
- Read the agency, hold reason, and charges columns together.
- If the person is not listed, call 507-446-7000 and then check MCRO, MNDOC, BOP, ICE, or VINELink as the facts require.
The county roster is the first stop for local jail custody. It is not the right tool for a person transferred to a Minnesota prison after sentencing, a federal inmate in BOP custody, or an immigration detainee in ICE custody.
Steele County Roster Fields
The roster’s fields are narrow but useful. They show enough to confirm current custody and the public booking reason, while leaving out many identifiers that other counties publish. The inspected roster did not show mugshots, booking numbers, date of birth, bond, housing unit, court date, or release date.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inmate | PDF column | N/A | Name appears in last, first, middle or suffix format. |
| Booked | PDF column | N/A | Booking date appears in MM/DD/YY format. |
| Agency | PDF column | N/A | Examples include Owatonna Police, Steele County Sheriff, and MN DOC. |
| Hold Reasons | PDF column | N/A | Shows warrant arrest, new offense, probation or parole violation, work release, under sentence, or other-agency hold. |
| Charges | PDF column | N/A | Lists statute and plain charge text, sometimes with pending or sentence detail. |
Past Steele County Inmate Records
The current roster is a custody snapshot. If a person has been released, transferred, or removed from the daily PDF, the next search depends on what kind of record is needed. Formal criminal case activity belongs in Minnesota Court Records Online. Public conviction history is searched through the Minnesota BCA/DPS criminal history system. Sheriff reports, arrest data, or booking records may require the Sheriff’s Records Department or county data practices forms.
Steele County’s records page says the Sheriff’s Records Department maintains and distributes reports and citations. Copy charges are local and must be paid in advance with cash or check. The county data practices page cites Minnesota’s Government Data Practices Act and routes completed county data request forms to county offices. For jail records, use the sheriff route first, then the broader county process if needed.
Steele County Jail vs Prison
Readers often search the wrong system after a Steele County arrest. County jail custody and state prison custody are separate. The Detention Center handles local booking, pretrial custody, local sentences, work release, and some holds. The Minnesota Department of Corrections locator covers adults committed to the Commissioner of Corrections and still under DOC jurisdiction.
| System | Who It Covers | Where to Look |
|---|---|---|
| Steele County jail | Current local jail detainees, local sentences, work release, warrants, and other-agency holds | Steele County roster PDF and Detention Center phone |
| Minnesota DOC | Adults in prison or released under DOC supervision | MNDOC Locator by name or six-digit offender ID |
| Federal custody | Federal inmates from 1982 to present | BOP Inmate Locator or U.S. Marshals District of Minnesota |
| Immigration custody | ICE detainees | ICE Online Detainee Locator System |
Newly sentenced people may take several business days to appear in the MNDOC locator. During that gap, court records and jail phone confirmation may be more useful than repeated name searches.
Steele County Detention Facilities
Official facility research found one local detention facility in Steele County. City agencies, including Owatonna Police, route jail custody to the county facility rather than publishing a separate municipal jail roster. State, federal, and ICE systems may matter after a transfer or detainer, but they are not separate Steele County facility pages.
- Steele County Detention Center - the county jail for local arrests, pretrial custody, sentenced jail time, work release, warrants, and other-agency holds.
The official Detention Center page lists the jail address, jail administrator, phone, mission, public counter hours, and 24-hour facility operation. The public lobby at the sheriff campus has a phone that can connect people to staff after normal office hours.
Steele County Jail Context
The present detention center opened in October 2003 and is the fourth jail in county history. Earlier jails were located near West Main Street before the current Alexander Street SW public-safety campus opened. The county building facts page lists 58,575 total structural square feet, 50,469 secure jail-area square feet, 52 cameras, 367 doors, 125 parking spaces, and 110,000 concrete-filled blocks in interior jail walls.
The facility’s public pages also show how the inmate population is managed after booking. All regular visits are video visits. Programs include Alcoholics Anonymous, Adult Basic Education, anger management, chaplaincy, chemical dependency, job skills, parenting, library, recreation, inmate worker, work release, and domestic abuse programming. Those details make the Steele County inmate population more than a count. They show the local custody system that sits behind the roster.
Steele County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Steele County inmate population?
The daily roster inspected on June 18, 2026 showed 13 total records. For annual context, the 2021 population forecast reported an average daily population of 78.2 in 2019 and 48.5 in 2020. A daily roster count and annual ADP are different measures.
Does Steele County have more than one jail?
No official separate city jail, state prison, federal prison, or ICE detention facility was found inside Steele County. The Steele County Detention Center is the local jail facility.
How do I search for someone in custody?
Open the county roster PDF and search the name with the browser or PDF find tool. If the person is not listed, call the Detention Center and check MCRO, MNDOC, BOP, ICE, or VINELink based on the custody path.
Do roster charges equal court charges?
No. Roster charges are booking or hold information. Court charges are found through MCRO and Steele County District Court after the prosecutor files the case.