The Detention Center
Not scored. The county's own website was not reachable in the session that produced this record, so its disclosures were never examined. This is a gap in the research, not a finding about the county.
- Operated byNot found
- No MN DOC inspection report found for Stevens CountyTargeted searches of mn.gov for a Stevens County jail inspection report returned no matching report PDF, unlike every other county in this group — consistent with the county running no jail of its own, but this was not independently confirmed
- Where prisoners are heldNOT established from sources reviewed within this county's search budget. No news release, statute, or county page confirming a housing contract or facility was found.
- What was triedhttps://mn.gov/doc/about/office-inspector-general/inspection-enforcement-licensing/adult-facilities/adult-facilities-inspection-reports/adultreports.jsp (page content truncates before the S/T section and does not include Stevens); WebSearch of mn.gov for a Stevens County report (none found); co.stevens.mn.us and www.co.stevens.mn.us (DNS/robots.txt failures on every path tried); the county's newer domain stevenscountymn.gov and www.stevenscountymn.gov/868/Sheriff (403 client errors and a provenance timeout on every path tried)
Source: Not found — see 'What was tried' · 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 Not found
- Runs the jailWould be the elected sheriff under Minn. Stat. 387.11 and 641.14 if the county operates one — not confirmed this session
- 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: Not found — see notes · 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.
- 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
- Stevens County's own site could not genuinely be opened this session under either of its known domains (co.stevens.mn.us / www.co.stevens.mn.us and stevenscountymn.gov / www.stevenscountymn.gov), across multiple paths, protocols and a WebSearch-established provenance URL — errors included DNS failure, robots.txt fetch failure, a 403 client error, and a provenance-approval timeout. Per instructions, audit.checks is left empty rather than scored 'no' for a site never actually examined.
- No MN DOC inspection report for a Stevens County facility was located despite targeted mn.gov searches, which is itself consistent with the county running no jail — but where Stevens County's prisoners are actually held was not established from any source reviewed.
- Stevens County Board of Commissioners — not confirmed; the county's site could not be opened this session.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Stevens 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