The Detention Center
Wadena County Detention Facility
- Operated byWadena County Sheriff's Office
- Address415 S Jefferson Street, Wadena, MN 56482
- Capacity"Licensed to house 27 inmates" per the county's own jail page, matching the MN DOC's 2025 inspection report's approved capacity of 27 beds (86% operational capacity, about 23 beds)
- Staff"9 full-time and 6 part-time Corrections Officers, as well as a Jail Administrator" (named by the MN DOC's 2025 inspection report as Tim Stroeing; not named on the county's own page), plus a Public Health Nurse visiting three times weekly — the county's own site does not describe detention as a separate department, so jail_administrator is recorded null per the sheriff-is-jailer default
- ProgramsWork release, sentence-to-serve, minimum/medium/maximum security housing; AA and religious volunteer programs; member of VINE (Victim Information & Notification Everyday)
- VisitationOne 20-minute visit per session, per the county's own jail page
- What was tried for budget/PREA/inspections/contracts/bail/feesThe county's own Jail page (https://www.co.wadena.mn.us/183/Jail) did not itself publish budget, PREA, inspection, contract, bail/bond, or fee information. A Sheriff's Office directory page and a 2013 data-classification PDF were returned by search but not opened within this session's fetch budget; the Sheriff's Office History page (https://www.co.wadena.mn.us/200/Sheriffs-Office-History) was refused by WebFetch (robots.txt fetch timeout)
- Also sourced toMN DOC Adult Facilities Inspection Report — Wadena County Jail, Oct. 2025 — https://mn.gov/doc/assets/Wadena%20County%202025_tcm1089-710280.pdf
Source: Wadena County Detention/Jail · checked 2026-09-18
Transparency rating
3/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗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
- Beds27 (licensed) — county site and MN DOC 2025 inspection report agree
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Mike Carr
- Runs the jailYes — the elected sheriff has charge and custody of the county jail under Minn. Stat. 387.11 and is responsible for its operation and condition under Minn. Stat. 641.14 (MN state layer)
- How the office is filledElected countywide to a four-year term under Minn. Stat. 382.01 (MN state layer)
- SourceNamed as sheriff in the MN DOC's 2025 inspection report of the Wadena County Jail; the county's own Sheriff's Office and Sheriff's Office History pages were closed to WebFetch within this session (see jail.facts)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: MN DOC Adult Facilities Inspection Report — Wadena County Jail, Oct. 2025 · 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 Wadena 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
- Wadena County's own Jail page names the facility and its licensed capacity, and a separate In-Custody List page (https://www.co.wadena.mn.us/204/In-Custody-List) is linked from the county's own site as a public roster — the page itself was returned by the domain-scoped search but not independently opened within this session's fetch budget, so 'roster' is scored 'yes' on the strength of the county's own linked page title rather than a fully verified read of its content.
- Budget, PREA, inspection results, contract terms, bail/bond guidance and fee schedules were not found on the county's own Jail page; other Sheriff's Office sub-pages were closed to WebFetch (robots.txt timeout) or not opened within budget.
- Wadena County's own Departments page (https://www.co.wadena.mn.us/27/Departments) confirms a "County Commissioners" department: "The Board of Commissioners have the responsibility of overseeing the management of the County's finances and resources." No direct URL to the board's own page was visible in the fetched content.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Wadena 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