The Detention Center
Chisago County Jail
- Operated byChisago County Sheriff's Office, Corrections / Jail Division
- Address15230 Per Road, Center City, MN 55012
- Licensed capacity80 beds, secure coed (per 05/22/2025 DOC inspection report)
- Jail Administrator named on county siteJonathan Gray
- Assistant Jail Administrator named on county siteRichard Benson
- DesignDescribed on the county's own page as a 'remote podular design' facility
Source: Chisago County — Corrections / Jail Division · 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
- Beds80 (licensed capacity per DOC inspection report); not stated on the county's own pages reviewed
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Brandon Thyen
- Runs the jailYes — the elected sheriff, per Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14
- Chief DeputyJustin Wood, per the county's own Sheriff's Office page
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Chisago 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 (Tenth Judicial District, which covers Chisago County)
- Not found — no county-published or court-published judge roster for Chisago County was opened within the search budget
- 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
- 'roster' cites the county's own inmatelocator.chisagocountymn.gov tool, confirmed live and searchable, showing booking numbers, dates and release dates for people currently in custody.
- 'prea' scored 'no': the county's Corrections page states a zero-tolerance PREA policy, names a PREA Coordinator and a support-services line, but that is a policy statement, not a published PREA audit result, so it does not satisfy this check as written.
- 'fees' scored 'no': the page notes digital inmate visitation carries 'a small fee' through a third-party vendor, but does not publish an actual rate schedule for phone, video visit or commissary.
- Governed by the Chisago County Board of Commissioners. Not independently verified — a specific board page was not opened within the search budget.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Chisago 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