The Detention Center
Aitkin County Jail
- Operated byAitkin County Sheriff's Office
- Address218 1st St NW, Aitkin, MN
- Jail Administrator (title under the sheriff, per county site and DOC report)Karla White
- Licensed capacity (DOC inspection report)89 beds, secure coed
- What was triedCounty board/commissioners page (https://www.co.aitkin.mn.us/board/) opened but returned no readable commissioner-name content within budget
- Also sourced toMN DOC inspection report (Aitkin County, 12/11/2025) — https://mn.gov/doc/assets/Aitkin%20County%202025_tcm1089-718039.pdf
Source: Aitkin County Jail page · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds89 beds (secure, coed) per MN DOC inspection report; not independently published by the county
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Dan Guida
- Runs the jailYes — elected sheriff has charge and custody of the county jail under Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14 (MN state layer)
- How the office is filledElected countywide to a four-year term under Minn. Stat. 382.01 (MN state layer)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Aitkin County Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-18
The Judges
Minnesota district judges are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms, but most first reach the bench by gubernatorial appointment to a mid-term vacancy. Bail at first appearance is set by the court under Minn. R. Crim. P. 6.02.
Minnesota District Court (judicial district covering Aitkin County)
- Not found
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-18
The County Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe detention budget, the building itself, and the agreements that let other agencies rent its beds.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. The sheriff is separately elected and answers to voters, not to the board.
- The boardBoard of County Commissioners →
Notes on the record
- Aitkin County's own site does not publish jail capacity, budget, death, PREA, inspection, contract, bond, or fee information within the pages opened; the inmate roster and jail's existence are named on the county's own site, which is the basis for the two 'yes' checks.
- The county fee-schedule and strategic-plan PDFs found (https://www.co.aitkin.mn.us/departments/admin/pdf/fee-schedule.pdf, https://www.co.aitkin.mn.us/departments/econ/pdf/aitkin-county-strategic-plan-2025-2028.pdf) were not opened; they were not evidently jail-specific.
- Aitkin County Board of Commissioners
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Aitkin County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff who runs this jail is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for it.
Names verified 2026-09-18 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered