St. Louis County Release Meaning
A release ends a particular St. Louis County jail booking. It does not by itself show why custody ended, how the case ended, or whether another agency took custody. The Sheriff's rolling report gives the strongest quick proof of the local event because it pairs the booking with an actual Released Date and time. A court order or the case register supplies the legal context. If a hold led to a handoff, the transfer record identifies the next agency.
Common paths include release on recognizance, conditional release, bail, dismissal, time served, a stayed sentence, or completion of a local sentence. Other departures are transfers. A person may be delivered to the Minnesota Department of Corrections after a prison commitment, moved to another jail for crowding, or turned over on another authority's hold. A former state prisoner can also be physically free while still under supervised release. Final discharge means DOC jurisdiction has ended, which is different from leaving prison.
- Time served
- A court credits time already spent in custody toward the sentence.
- Discharge
- The end of the agency's legal jurisdiction, not just the end of confinement.
- Remand
- A court order returning or holding a person in custody.
- Detainer
- A request or legal basis for another authority to assume or continue custody.
St. Louis County Release Paths
The same disappearance from the current roster can lead to very different records. Start with the source that can prove the physical event, then add the court or receiving-agency record. Do not infer an acquittal from release. Likewise, a listed charge is not proof of conviction.
| Path | What it means | Best next record |
|---|---|---|
| Bond or court release | The person leaves pretrial custody under the court's terms. | Sheriff Released Date plus MCRO order |
| Time served or sentence end | The local custody term is complete. | Release report plus sentencing record |
| Probation | A court orders community supervision, often without a state prison commitment. | MCRO and Arrowhead Regional Corrections |
| State prison transfer | Local booking ends while MN DOC custody begins. | Sheriff transfer data and MN DOC Public Viewer |
| Other-authority transfer | Another jail, USMS, or a named agency receives custody. | Receiving agency and legal basis of transfer |
| Prison release | Physical prison custody ends, often with supervision still active. | MN DOC status, sentence fields, and court case |
The county's Order Type field describes why a listed matter supported custody. Labels such as Hold, Remand, Probable Cause, and Sentence are not standardized release reasons. Read them as booking context only.
St. Louis County Release Records
The official 48 hour Release Roster is a regenerated report. It documents a recent end to a Sheriff booking but has no release-reason or destination field. Pairing its exact time with the legal basis in an existing agency or court record produces a much stronger result.
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name, jail number, DOB or age | Identifiers used to distinguish people with similar names |
| Booking Date | When that local custody episode began |
| Released Date | The date and time the Sheriff system ended the booking |
| Location | The site tied to the booking, including an outside jail in some cases |
| Bail and arresting agency | Booking context, not proof that bail caused release |
| Charge, offense level, order type | The listed legal matters and custody basis, not the final disposition |
Missing fields matter. The PDF has no photo, destination, supervising office, final case result, or normalized release reason. The Sheriff roster landing page also warns that intake records can lag and that transfers occur. A current roster is evidence of a live booking. It is not a historical release search.
Request St. Louis County Release Data
After the web row rolls off, request the existing booking, release, or transfer data from Sheriff Central Records. Use the non-body-worn-camera data request form. Ask for records, not an investigation or a new report. A narrow request reduces name errors and search time.
- Give the full name, date of birth if known, and jail or booking number.
- State the approximate booking and release dates.
- Ask for adult arrest and booking data showing the date, time, and legal basis of release.
- If transfer is possible, ask for the time, receiving agency, and legal basis.
- Choose inspection or an electronic copy, and request a cost estimate before paid copies.
100 North Fifth Avenue West, Room 103
Duluth, MN 55802
218-726-2340
DSO.Records@StLouisCountyMN.gov
Inspection of public government data is free under Minn. Stat. §13.03. Copy charges may include allowed search, retrieval, staff, copy, certification, and transmission costs. For no more than 100 black-and-white letter or legal pages, the statutory cap is 25 cents per page. No flat Sheriff fee or fixed response deadline was found for a release record. Access must be appropriate and prompt, or as soon as reasonably possible when data are not ready.
The successful manifest image below comes from the official request channel. Review the St. Louis County public-data request page before filing.
The form route remains useful long after the short web report changes, provided the requested record still exists and is public.
St. Louis County Record Retention
Online visibility and legal retention are separate. The recent-release PDF shows an approximately 48-hour rolling window. That does not mean the underlying jail data are destroyed when a row disappears. County schedules govern retention, and Minnesota access law applies to records that still exist. Classified, sealed, juvenile, or investigative data may be withheld or redacted.
MCRO can preserve a longer case trail, but remote access also has limits. Felony indexes and registers are treated as permanent under the district-court schedule. Gross-misdemeanor records are generally kept at least 20 years after conviction, and nontraffic misdemeanor records generally at least 10 years after the last entry. These are minimum retention rules, not promises that every item will remain online.
Expungement seals records under Minn. Stat. ch. 609A. It does not rewrite the past custody event or automatically destroy every agency record. A sealed case will not appear like an ordinary public MCRO result. For a specific case, use the current statute and court order rather than inferring that a missing result means no booking occurred.
Minnesota Release Record Law
Minn. Stat. §13.82 makes key adult arrest data public at all times. The categories include whether and where the adult is held, plus the date, time, and legal basis of release. Transfer data are separate and include the receiving agency, date, time, and legal basis. Those terms help Central Records find the exact existing data that the PDF omits.
Sections 13.85 and 641.05 also shape corrections data and the jail roster. Public adult fields do not open juvenile, medical, security, victim, or other classified information. An arrest remains an accusation unless a court enters a conviction.
St. Louis County Bond Releases
The Sheriff publishes a local bail-bond explanation and points to Minnesota's approved agent list. Posting bond can produce pretrial release. It does not decide guilt or close the case. The 48-hour report can confirm the exit time, but it does not label bond as the cause.
Check MCRO for the order and ongoing case status. Bail shown on the roster is also not proof that money was posted. Use the court event and actual Released Date together before describing a bond release.
Find St. Louis County Releases
A released person usually drops off the live population list. The right first source depends on when and where custody ended. The official county report covers the newest Sheriff releases. Court and agency records continue the trail after its short window.
- Open the roster landing page and choose the 48 hour Release Roster, not only View Roster.
- Read the report timestamp. Match name, jail number, birth data, booking date, and arresting agency.
- Save the Released Date and time. Use MCRO to identify the legal basis and case outcome.
- If the booking is older, ask Sheriff Central Records for the existing release or transfer data.
- If state, federal, or immigration custody followed, switch to that authority's locator and court record.
For a same-day reader-applied view of the county's wider report, use Jail Releases: 24 Hours. The county does not publish a separate official 24-hour product.
St. Louis County Recent Releases
The county publishes one precise 48-hour release PDF rather than separate 24-hour and 72-hour feeds. It carries an hourly report timestamp. The landing page says roster information is updated hourly, so the report is current on that cadence, not guaranteed real-time.
The official roster page is shown in the manifest image below. It exposes both View Roster and View 48 hour Release Roster, a vital distinction for someone who has already left custody.
The image also reinforces why the site landing page should be read before relying on the PDF: it carries the county's update and transfer warnings.
The PDF is not an archive. Once the row moves outside its rolling window, Central Records and MCRO become the continuation paths. No official Sheriff inmate or release app was found. Reliance Connect is for jail communications and video calls, not release lookup.
Minnesota DOC Release Search
The MN DOC Public Viewer covers adults committed to the Commissioner who remain under DOC jurisdiction. That includes people still incarcerated and former prisoners now under supervision. It does not cover a typical county-jail-only release, and it is not a full archive after final discharge.
| Search or detail field | Use |
|---|---|
| MNDOC identification number | Best search key when known |
| Name and birth data | Broader search and identity comparison |
| Current Status | Distinguishes incarcerated, under supervision, or wanted-fugitive status |
| Facility or district | Shows confinement or supervision setting |
| Sentence and release fields | Provide state-case dates and status, not a county jail release time |
| Agent or office | Routes appropriate supervision questions when public |
The official search form appears in the manifest image. Open the Minnesota Public Viewer and search by MNDOC ID when possible.
The Viewer belongs to state jurisdiction. A result can show release to supervision, while the Sheriff PDF documents the separate local booking event.
St. Louis County Supervision Search
Arrowhead Regional Corrections is a five-county local system that operates NERCC and Court and Field supervision. A person can leave the Sheriff jail yet remain in a local placement or on probation. A county-jail-only probation case may never appear in MN DOC Public Viewer.
Use the sentencing case to tell probation from state supervised release. Probation is a court-ordered community sentence. Supervised release is the community part of a Minnesota prison sentence. ARC assignment can support community status, but the exact jail exit still comes from Sheriff release data.
St. Louis County Court Records
Minnesota Court Records Online, or MCRO, is the durable path to dispositions, sentences, warrants, release orders, and later events. A pending criminal matter without a conviction may not return through remote defendant-name search. If name search fails, try a case number or citation, use a courthouse terminal, or contact Court Administration.
St. Louis County has full-service court-administration locations in Duluth, Hibbing, and Virginia. Use the case location shown in MCRO. Local terminals can provide broader electronic access than remote search, and court counters can route older paper files. A certified court copy must come from Court Administration.
Released Date records the physical custody event.St. Louis County Release Alerts
Minnesota VINE at VINELink handles participating county-jail custody changes. It is a notification tool, not a certified historical record. Search a specific booking and register for a phone, email, text, or in-app alert when offered. Then cross-check any release message against the Sheriff record.
State-prison notification is different. Minnesota Haven serves people committed to MN DOC, while the Public Viewer shows current jurisdiction. A VINE alert can also coexist with a transfer, and record purge is a normal alert class. Read the event and agency rather than treating every alert as release to the community.
Federal St. Louis County Releases
Federal Prison Camp Duluth releases are not in the county PDF. Search the BOP Inmate Locator by register number when known. A past release date with no location can show that the person is no longer in BOP custody. It does not rule out other custody or court-ordered federal supervised release.
The manifest image comes from the official BOP locator and illustrates the separate federal search route.
BOP covers sentenced federal custody from 1982 forward. A U.S. Marshals pretrial detainee can instead move among contract jails, so use the District of Minnesota docket and the holding facility.
St. Louis County ICE Transfers
Minnesota public arrest data distinguish release from transfer. A transfer request should name the recipient and legal basis. No St. Louis County ICE detention agreement was established, and Hold for other Agency is not proof that ICE is involved.
If Sheriff data identify an ICE handoff, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator. It accepts an A-number with country of birth or exact biographical information. ICE reports coverage for current detainees and certain people released within a recent window, but data can lag. A not-found response does not prove freedom.
St. Louis County Release Property
The county does not publish a standard release hour, exit door, family waiting rule, or weekend schedule. Property follows a separate process. Call the St. Louis County Jail at 218-726-2345 to make sure Duluth property is ready, and bring picture identification for property release. A new PDF row does not mean property is ready.
Getting Home After County Release
An official state report says St. Louis County provides a free Sheriff telephone in the jail lobby after release. Program funds also support winter clothing for people who lack it and other reentry supplies. That local detail matters in Duluth weather. Duluth Transit Authority material has identified a Haines Road jail stop, but routes and detours change, so check current DTA trip planning.
St. Louis County Jail Network
One 197-bed full-service jail in Duluth and two small Range lockups serve a wide county. Hibbing has eight beds, and Virginia has twelve. The county traces its corrections history to 1871. The present Duluth jail opened in 1995 after state compliance concerns helped end use of the older downtown jail.
Other systems widen the map. NERCC is a local community-corrections facility, Arrowhead Juvenile Center has restricted juvenile data, FPC Duluth is federal, and MSOP Moose Lake is a civil commitment treatment site with its own notification route. Contract jails may appear in the live roster's Location field.
- St. Louis County Jail, Duluth
- St. Louis County Hibbing Lockup
- St. Louis County Virginia Lockup
- Northeast Regional Corrections Center (NERCC)
- Arrowhead Juvenile Center
- Minnesota Sex Offender Program, Moose Lake
- Contract/overflow county jails named in the live St. Louis County roster
- Federal Prison Camp Duluth
- ICE custody serving the county