The Detention Center
Jackson County Jail
- Operated byJackson County Sheriff's Office
- AddressJackson, MN 56143 (MN DOC inspection report)
- Approved capacity18 beds, Secure Coed (MN DOC inspection report)
- Population on inspection dayNot found in the 2025 DOC report
- What was triedThe county's 'Jail and Inmate' page and its Jail Roster sub-page (both under co.jackson.mn.us's index.asp routing) returned a 404 error and a robots.txt refusal respectively; a document titled a new Jackson County Law Enforcement Center & Government Center FAQ booklet is hosted on the county's own domain but could not be opened (robots.txt refusal), so its cost/year/expansion details could not be confirmed here.
Source: MN DOC Adult Facility Inspection Report — Jackson County, 2025 · 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
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds18 approved (MN DOC inspection report, 2025)
Since then
- A document on the county's own domain is titled a 'New Jackson County Law Enforcement Center (Jail) & Government Center' FAQ booklet, indicating a newer combined facility exists, but it could not be opened (robots.txt refusal) so no cost/year figures could be confirmed
The Sheriff
Sheriff Shawn R. Haken
- Runs the jailYes — the elected sheriff, statewide pattern under Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14
- How the office is filledElected; has served since 2016 — Jackson County Sheriff's Office page
- Source of nameConfirmed directly on the county's own site
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jackson 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.
Fifth Judicial District — District Court
- 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
- The county's own site was reachable for its Sheriff's Office page only. Its homepage (403), its Jail-and-Inmate page and Jail Roster page, its commissioners page, and its site map all failed with robots.txt refusals or a 404, so those checks are recorded 'no' as not found rather than left blank — the sheriff page itself was examined and named neither the jail nor any of the ten items.
- Board of County Commissioners — not confirmed; the commissioners page and site map on co.jackson.mn.us both returned robots.txt refusals.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Jackson 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