Cass County

The Detention Center

Cass County Jail

• Operated byCass County Sheriff's Office, Detention Center / Jail division
• Address301 Minnesota Avenue W, Walker, MN 56484 (mailing: PO Box 1119, Walker, MN 56484)
• Capacity60-bed facility, per the county's own Detention Center / Jail page, which states the jail 'is currently a 60-bed facility and is running above maximum capacity'
• Overflow arrangementThe county's own page describes 'contracted overflow capacity of 40 additional beds through Itasca County' — Cass County pays to house its own overflow at Itasca County's jail; this is the opposite of Cass holding other agencies' prisoners, so it was not counted as a 'contracts' disclosure
• Jail Administrator named on county siteChris Thompson, Lieutenant Jail Administrator
• What was tried for a public rosterThe county's Detention Center page states 'in-custody reports and warrants [are] available online (updated daily at 7am),' but no working link to a current Cass County roster could be confirmed within the search budget; a PDF found at a Cass County subdomain (cassweb.casscountymn.gov/sheriff/jail/Jail_Register_Website.pdf) turned out to be an Itasca County jail register, not a Cass County one, so it was not used to satisfy the roster check

Source: Cass County — Detention Center / Jail · checked 2026-09-18

• ✓The jail is named
• ✗Who is in custody — not published
• ✓Beds and daily population
• ✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Cass County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-18. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

• Year builtNot found
• Original costNot found
• Paid for byNot found
• Beds60 (per the county's own site); DOC inspection report separately records an approved capacity of 60 beds

The Sheriff

Sheriff Bryan Welk

• Runs the jailYes — the elected sheriff, per Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14
• TermElected in 2022, per the county's own Sheriff's Office page

Source: Cass 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.

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