Dakota County

The Detention Center

Dakota County Jail

• Operated byDakota County Sheriff's Office
• LocationLaw Enforcement Center, Hastings, Minnesota (per county's own site)
• Capacity (county's own site)263 beds; direct-supervision facility with 24-hour staffing
• Approved capacity (DOC inspection report)270 beds, effective 4/4/2025
• Jail administrator named in DOC reportBenjamin Verby
• Public in-custody listInmate search tool — county's own site states 'Only people currently in custody displayed,' searchable by name, posting date range and court date
• PREA data publishedA 'PREA' PDF on the Sheriff's Office Transparency page gives annual investigation counts (46 in 2023, 26 in 2024, 35 in 2025) broken out by allegation type and outcome (substantiated/unsubstantiated/unfounded/ongoing) — this is investigation/incident data, not a third-party PREA audit
• Other transparency documents publishedSheriff's Office Policy Manual, Custody Manual, Complaints Received log, Arrest and Booking Demographics, and annual Use-of-Force ('Response to Resistance') reports for both general-duty and correctional deputies back to 2018
• What was triedThe county's Budget & Finance page (https://dakotacountymn.gov/government/budget-finance) was opened but names only general '2025 Budget' / '2026 Budget' links, with no jail/corrections line item confirmed; a specific bail/bond guidance page and a contracts-for-boarding-prisoners page were not located within the search budget.
• Also sourced toDakota County Jail — inmate search — https://dakotacountymn.gov/residents/public-safety-justice/jail/inmate-search
• Also sourced toMN DOC — Dakota County Jail Inspection Report, dated 06/24/2025 (issued 07/02/2025) — https://mn.gov/doc/assets/Dakota%202025_tcm1089-696976.pdf

Source: Dakota County Jail page · checked 2026-09-18

• ✓The jail is named
• ✓Who is in custody
• ✓Beds and daily population
• ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
• ✗Deaths in custody — not published
• ✓PREA audits
• ✗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 Dakota 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
• Beds263 beds per the county's own jail page; the MN DOC inspection report separately records an approved capacity of 270 beds effective 4/4/2025 — both figures are given as found, the discrepancy was not resolved

The Sheriff

Sheriff Joe Leko

• 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)

Source: Dakota 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 →
• Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →