The Detention Center
Stearns County Jail
- Operated byStearns County Sheriff's Office
- Named on county's own site'The Stearns County Jail, a medium/maximum security jail, is licensed by the State of Minnesota to house inmates for up to one year after final disposition.'
- Licensed capacity151 beds (approved capacity), per 04/30/2024 DOC report
- Jail administrator named in DOC reportMark Maslonkowski
- NoteStearns County's site migrated from co.stearns.mn.us to stearnscountymn.gov; both were tried, only the new domain loaded.
Source: Stearns County — Stearns County Jail · 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
- Beds151 (approved capacity, per 04/30/2024 DOC report)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Steve Soyka
- Runs the jailYes — elected sheriff is jailer under Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term (Minn. Stat. 382.01)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: MN DOC — Stearns County Jail Inspection Report, 04/30/2024 · 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.
District Court — Seventh Judicial District — Chief Judge (as of a May 2024 chief-judge election announcement)
- Michael Fritz (Chief Judge)
- Shan Wang (Assistant Chief Judge)
- 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 →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- The Inmate Funds page (https://stearnscountymn.gov/567/Inmate-Funds) exists but does not itself list phone/video/commissary rates, only that inmates use a canteen account.
- The county's Budget & Finance page (https://www.stearnscountymn.gov/budget-finance) links to yearly county budgets but none of the linked titles specifically break out a corrections/jail line, so 'budget' is recorded 'no.'
- Stearns County Board of Commissioners.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Stearns 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