Freeborn County, Minnesota — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Freeborn County Adult Detention Center (ADC)

Operated byFreeborn County Sheriff's Office
Approved capacity148 beds (MN DOC 2026 inspection)
Jail Administrator named in state inspectionMike Stasko — a role under the sheriff, not a separate county department
ICE detaineesThe county's own 'Jail Roster' page states: "Included in the inmate population are Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Detainees. To locate a detainee who is currently in ICE custody, or who has been released from ICE custody within the past 60 days," it directs users to the federal ICE online detainee locator rather than publishing a local roster or any contract rate
What was triedhttps://www.co.freeborn.mn.us/296/Adult-Detention-Center, https://www.co.freeborn.mn.us/124/Sheriff, https://www.co.freeborn.mn.us/DocumentCenter/View/2063/Detainee-Phones-PDF, and https://www.co.freeborn.mn.us/ were all refused by WebFetch (robots.txt fetch failed) on repeated attempts; only https://www.co.freeborn.mn.us/438/Jail-Roster loaded

Source: Freeborn County — Jail Roster · checked 2026-09-18

Transparency rating

0/10Closed

✗The jail is named — not published
✗Who is in custody — not published
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Freeborn 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
Beds148 (MN DOC 2026 inspection — state source)

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Ryan Shea

Runs the jailYes — elected sheriff has charge and custody of the county jail under Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14
How the office is filledElected countywide to a four-year term under Minn. Stat. 382.01
Named inMN DOC inspection report dated 02/18/2026

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: MN DOC — Freeborn County 2026 inspection report · 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 Freeborn County

Not found

Still needed

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

Freeborn County's own domain (co.freeborn.mn.us) refused WebFetch with a robots.txt error on nearly every page attempted; the single page that loaded (438/Jail-Roster, titled 'Jail Roster') in fact contains only ICE-detainee locator information, not a general public roster of everyone in county custody, so 'roster' is recorded 'no' rather than 'yes'. All other checks are recorded 'no' for lack of a page actually opened, not as a claim the county publishes nothing.
Search-result page titles (not opened, so not cited for any 'yes') suggested an 'Adult Detention Center' page and a 'Sheriff' staff-directory page exist on this domain; they could not be verified by WebFetch.
The confirmed presence of ICE detainees in the county's jail population, disclosed on the county's own Jail-Roster page, is a real finding worth flagging even though it does not by itself satisfy the 'contracts' check (no rate was published).
Governed by the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners; an 'Administration' page exists (https://www.co.freeborn.mn.us/568/Administration) but WebFetch could not open it (robots.txt fetch failed).

These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Freeborn 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