The Detention Center
None confirmed — no MN DOC Adult Facilities Inspection Report and no jail/detention facility was found published anywhere on Pope County's own site
- Operated byNot established
- No DOC-licensed facility foundA search of MN DOC inspection reports for Pope County did not surface any jail report (unlike Pennington, Pine, Pipestone and Ramsey); the only Pope-related MN DOC document found was an unrelated county "Comprehensive Plan" (land-use) document
- Site checked directlyPope County's own site (popecountymn.gov) was opened successfully across its homepage, Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Resources, County Officials, and Department Directory pages. None mention a jail, detention facility, or where arrestees are held; the Sheriff's Office page instead describes transporting "committed patients and prisoners," and Community Corrections' page covers only probation/pretrial services
- Where its prisoners are heldNot established from sources opened within this session's budget — no source confirming a specific boarding county or regional-jail arrangement for Pope County was located
- Also sourced toPope County — Sheriff Resources — https://www.popecountymn.gov/sheriff-resources/
- Also sourced toPope County — Community Corrections — https://www.popecountymn.gov/community-corrections/
- Also sourced toMN DOC Adult Facilities Inspection Reports index — https://mn.gov/doc/about/office-inspector-general/inspection-enforcement-licensing/adult-facilities/adult-facilities-inspection-reports/adultreports.jsp
Source: Pope County — Sheriff's Office · checked 2026-09-18
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Nathan Brecht
- Runs a jailNo county-operated jail was found for Pope County — see jail.facts. Where a county does operate one, the elected sheriff has charge and custody of it under Minn. Stat. 387.11 (MN state layer)
- How the office is filledElected countywide to a four-year term under Minn. Stat. 382.01 (MN state layer)
- Duties as publishedThe Sheriff's Office page states it is "Responsible for the transportation of committed patients and prisoners" — consistent with holding prisoners elsewhere rather than in a Pope County-operated jail
- ContactPhone (320) 634-5411
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Pope 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 (judicial district covering Pope County)
- 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
- Pope County's own site was genuinely and fully examined (homepage, Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Resources, County Officials, Department Directory, Community Corrections) and none of the ten items are published — consistent with Pope County having no jail of its own to disclose in the first place, not a case of the site being unreachable.
- Absence of a Pope County jail is treated here as a finding, not a gap, per the brief; however, the specific facility or county that holds Pope County's arrestees was NOT established from sources opened within this session's budget.
- Minnesota counties are governed by an elected Board of County Commissioners; Pope County's site has a dedicated Commissioners section.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Pope 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