Lookup Winona County Detention Center Inmates

Winona County Detention Center Overview

The Winona County Detention Center, also called Winona County Jail or WCDC, is a secure coed county jail run by the Winona County Sheriff's Office. It is the primary local custody facility for Winona County arrests, jail sentences, court holds, and other agency holds that are accepted into the county jail. No separate state prison, federal prison, ICE detention center, or regional jail was found inside Winona County in the official source set.

WCDC sits on the downtown county government campus near the Sheriff's Office and the courthouse. The facility is not the same as a Minnesota Department of Corrections prison. A person may begin in Winona County Detention Center after an arrest, while awaiting court, during a short county sentence, or while held on a warrant, treatment-court matter, supervision violation, boarder status, Minnesota DOC hold, or federal U.S. Marshals hold. Once a defendant is sentenced to the Commissioner of Corrections, the public lookup path shifts to the state DOC locator rather than the county roster.

County jail

A local facility for pretrial custody, short sentences, warrants, holds, and court-ordered local detention.

Hold

A custody block from another court or agency that may prevent release even when a bond amount appears.

Work release

A court-approved Huber option that can allow eligible inmates to leave for work or programming under jail rules.

Winona County Jail Capacity

Winona County publishes one building count, while Minnesota DOC inspection reports publish the licensed jail capacity numbers. The county jail page describes the new WCDC as having 53 cells and 80 beds. The 2025 Minnesota DOC inspection report lists the jail as a secure coed facility under Minnesota Rules chapter 2911, with designed capacity of 86, approved capacity of 74, and operational capacity of 95 percent, or 70.3 beds. Those numbers should not be treated as interchangeable. The public county page describes the building; the DOC report describes the approved operating limits.

The official Winona County Sheriff's Office inmate roster PDF inspected during research was printed June 18, 2026 and showed 17 total records. That count is a point-in-time roster count, not an average daily population. Current average daily population, current annual bookings, and current demographic breakdowns were not found in the official county or DOC public pages, so they should not be inferred from one roster report.

Search Winona County Jail Inmates

Current WCDC custody is checked through the sheriff's roster PDF, not through an interactive web form. The report is a static PDF with a printed date and repeated fields for name, age, arrest time, bond amount, next court date, and charge or hold text. Because the roster is current-inmate oriented and does not state how long released people remain listed, a missing name can mean release, transfer, spelling variation, delayed entry, or custody in another system.

1. Open the official Winona County inmate roster PDF from the sheriff or jail source.
2. Check the printed date at the top so the roster search is tied to the current report.
3. Use the PDF viewer search tool, often Ctrl+F, to search by last name or a partial last name.
4. Read the roster fields for arrest time, bond amount, next court date, warrant language, boarder status, and agency holds.
5. If the person is not listed, call WCDC or use the proper state, federal, immigration, court, or public-records fallback.

For formal charges after a jail arrest, use Minnesota Court Records Online. The jail roster may show arrest or warrant language, while the court case shows filed charges, hearing entries, amended charges, disposition, and sentence when public. The local custody walkthrough on the Winona County jail inmate records page explains the PDF roster fields in more detail.

Winona County Detention Center Contact

The main jail information number is the direct path for current facility questions, including whether the roster is enough to confirm custody, what documents are needed for visits, and what current procedures apply for commissary or property. The staff directory lists Steve Buswell as Jail Administrator and Kelsie Horst as Jail Program Coordinator and Training Officer. The Sheriff's Office directory also lists lobby hours for the public counter at the adjacent sheriff campus.

Winona County Jail Visitation

The official WCDC visiting and mailing page lists public visiting windows on Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Visitors must bring photo identification. Each detainee may have two 20-minute visits per visiting day, but the same visitor may not use both slots. Children must be supervised, visitors must dress appropriately, electronic devices are not allowed in visiting rooms, and staff may end a visit for safety or security reasons.

Attorney visit hours were not found in the official pages reviewed. Attorney calls are treated differently from ordinary personal calls because the county phone page states regular inmate calls are monitored and recorded unless they are attorney calls. Counsel, family members, and approved visitors should confirm any special visit needs with WCDC before traveling to the jail.

Mail and Phone at WCDC

Mail for a person in custody should use the inmate's name, the facility name, and the WCDC street address. The official page names Reliance Telephone as the phone provider and gives a customer service number for setting up an account or buying a phone card. Staff do not transfer personal calls to inmates, and they do not pass personal messages.

Commissary details should be handled with care for Winona County. The official pages reviewed did not name a current deposit vendor or publish a fee schedule. Older WCDC program material mentions canteen and phone cards, but it does not serve as a current deposit procedure. Do not use another county's commissary vendor for WCDC.

Winona County Jail Programs

The current WCDC jail programs page lists faith-based, recovery, education, employment, and peer-support programming. Program availability can change with staffing, volunteers, security needs, and individual classification, but the official list is more specific than a generic jail-services summary. The page also notes donation needs, including gently used or new books, Spanish-language books, and coloring supplies.

• Gender-specific Bible study, IHM Bible Study, and ReFresh.
• AA, NA, CMA, and MN Adult and Teen Challenge outpatient or outreach groups.
• Decision Points, financial literacy, and employment classes.
• GED and Adult Basic Education.
• Peer support and the "Dealing with it" men's group.

The Winona County work release page describes the Huber pathway for eligible inmates. Work release requires a court order, good standing with the jail, and compliance with jail policy. The official page says requirements include a drug screen and connection to GPS monitoring at the inmate's expense. Questions go to the Program Coordinator at 507-457-6592, and Minnesota Monitoring is listed as the approved GPS vendor contact path.

Booking at Winona County Detention Center

Booking at WCDC creates the administrative jail record after arrest or court order. The official court-ordered booking page says people who have a criminal charge but were not booked at arrest must come to WCDC to be booked, fingerprinted, and photographed. There is no fee for that service, but it must be scheduled in advance. The person should bring court or legal documents related to the file, including mail from the arresting agency or sheriff's office, because staff may be unable to process the booking without proper documents.

The local booking path also matters for roster timing. The roster does not publish a refresh schedule. Newly booked inmates may need time for identification entry, fingerprinting, photograph, warrant or charge confirmation, medical screening, classification, and court scheduling before all public fields appear. Court-ordered booking windows in the official research are Tuesday 10 a.m.-noon, Saturday noon-2 p.m., and Sunday 4 p.m.-6 p.m. through the county scheduling path.

Inspection records show the state rules behind intake. Minnesota Rules chapter 2911 covers admission, inmate orientation, medical screening, property handling, well-being checks, medication control, daily security inspections, and training. The local adult detention facility standards apply to WCDC as a licensed county jail, and Minnesota Statutes section 241.021 gives the Commissioner of Corrections inspection and licensing authority.

WCDC History and Inspections

Winona County's jail history is a major part of the facility context. A 2022 DOC inspection of the old jail at 201 W. Third Street described poor sight lines, poor lighting, aged infrastructure, lack of storage, lack of recreation and program space, no intercom, no laundry, no kitchen, an undersized booking room, an undersized security garage, an undersized visitation area, and a need for more cameras. The county later reported that the former jail had been shut down in 2018 because it was outdated and failed to meet basic needs of inmates and law enforcement.

The county's official new-jail release said the new $28 million jail opened in December 2023 after a funding process that included a quarter-cent local sales tax request. The new WCDC was described as including rehabilitation and transitional program spaces, a medical unit, kitchen, laundry, and enhanced security. Related county pages also preserve the planning trail, including a National Institute of Corrections assessment, jail assessment and planning materials, and new jail construction documents.

Post-opening inspection results show a correction arc. The 2024 DOC inspection found multiple rule-compliance issues in areas such as orientation, emergency procedure documentation, health inspection documentation, well-being checks, daily inspections, lock testing, medical screening details, medication logs, and staff medication authorization. By the 2025 inspection, WCDC reached 127 of 128 mandatory rules and 110 of 111 essential rules in compliance, with remaining medication refrigeration and one training-record issue. The report said the jail would move to biennial inspections.