Official Pennington County Inmate Search
The official current custody roster is the Pennington County Inmate Search. It is a free public roster, it does not require a paid login, and the inspected page uses ProPhoenix platform components. The roster is meant for people currently housed through the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, which is led by Sheriff Seth Vettleson. It is not a full criminal history search, and it is not the Minnesota prison locator. Use it first when the question is whether a person is in the Pennington County Jail / Pennington County Correctional Facility right now.
The roster page displays a search form above a public results grid. On June 18, 2026, the visible roster grid showed 38 rows, so that number should be treated as a point-in-time count rather than a fixed jail population figure. The visible columns included Booking#, Name, Height, Weight, and DOB shown by month and year. The detail data behind each row can include more fields, such as SPN, age, sex, race, court date, cell location, charge detail, hold information, custody date, booking status, image link, and bail or fine fields. Recently booked people may take time to appear, and released people may drop off the current in-custody view.
The official roster screenshot in the manifest comes from the Pennington County Inmate Search interface.
The screen capture is useful because it shows the actual roster controls, the current-custody grid, and the fields a user sees before opening a detail record.
Use the Pennington County Jail Roster
The county roster works best when the user starts broad, then narrows. A last name alone may be enough if the name is uncommon. If the result list is too wide, add a first name, gender, or birth year. The site does not publish wildcard rules, so partial-name searching should be tried only as a practical fallback. The clear button resets the form when a search becomes too narrow or a spelling is uncertain.
- Open the official roster at incustodysearch.penningtonsheriff.org.
- Enter a last name, first name, or both. If spelling is uncertain, try the last name first.
- Use Gender only when it helps narrow the results. The dropdown options are Unknown, Male, and Female.
- Enter DOB as a four-digit year if that birth year is known.
- Click Search. Use Clear to remove all search entries and start again.
- Review the Search Results grid for booking number, name, height, weight, and DOB month/year.
- Open the row detail when available. The interface indicates that a double click can show case details.
When the person cannot be found, do not assume there is no custody event. The person may still be in intake, may have been released, may be held in another county, may be in state prison after sentencing, or may be in federal or immigration custody. For a local recent arrest, the jail phone is the most direct fallback.
Pennington County Roster Search Fields
The search form is short, which makes the county roster easy to use but also limits how precise a search can be. There is no booking-number search box on the public form captured in the research. The most reliable approach is to begin with a name, then use the birth year or gender only when needed. The form's buttons are plain Search and Clear controls.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Options / Format Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Name | Text | Unspecified | Free-text last name field. |
| First Name | Text | Unspecified | Free-text first name field. |
| Gender | Dropdown | Optional / unspecified | Unknown is the default; Male and Female are available. |
| DOB (yyyy) | Text | Optional / unspecified | Year only, with four-character yyyy format. |
| Search | Button | n/a | Runs the query against the roster grid. |
| Clear | Button | n/a | Resets the search fields. |
Note: The roster is for current county custody, not for every arrest, citation, warrant, or past jail stay in Pennington County.
Pennington County Inmate Profile Fields
A roster entry is a custody record, not a court judgment. It can show booking identifiers, jail housing, demographic fields, charge rows, bond or fine labels, and hold information, but the formal case record lives in Minnesota Court Records Online after a case is filed. If the same person has court dates or charge changes, the jail detail and the court file should be read together. For booking photos, the current row itself did not show a thumbnail during research, but the detail area included a "Click to View Image" link. More detail on booking images belongs on the Pennington County jail mugshots page.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Booking Number | Visible Booking# for the jail stay, with inspected examples using a ten-digit year-prefixed format. |
| Name | Visible name in last, first format, with underlying first, middle, last, title, suffix, and full-name fields. |
| DOB / Age | DOB appears as month/year in the visible result, while full DOB and age can exist in source/detail data. |
| Height / Weight | Visible physical descriptors, with height shown numerically in examples. |
| SPN | System or person number used by the jail software. |
| Sex / Race | Source-visible demographic codes tied to the custody record. |
| Cell Location | Housing assignment, with inspected examples such as upper and lower unit locations. |
| Court Date | Detail field for the next court event when populated. |
| Charges | Detail grid can include case number, charge, description, severity, bail amount, type, court date, and court branch information. |
| Holds | Detail grid can show hold reason and agency when another case or authority affects release. |
| Image Link | Detail area includes a booking-image link rather than a visible thumbnail in the search result row. |
| Bail / Fine | Detail label for money amounts tied to release, charge, or court conditions when populated. |
| Custody Date / Status | Detail labels for jail custody timing and booking status. |
Pennington County Records Fallbacks
The online roster is only one access channel. The jail phone line is the better route for a very recent arrest, a name that is not yet visible, questions about housing, or a status check before a visit or money deposit. For copies of releasable reports or booking records not available in the public grid, use the sheriff's Records Division. The official Records Division page says photo identification will be requested for report copies, the office recommends calling before coming in, and records under active investigation cannot be released.
Pennington County Jail / Correctional Facility
102 1st Street West
Thief River Falls, MN 56701
Jail: 218-416-7097
Operator: Pennington County Sheriff's Office
Pennington County Records Division
Law Enforcement Center
102 1st Street West, PO Box 484
Thief River Falls, MN 56701
Sheriff main: 218-681-6161
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
The Records Division is the local public-records route for incident reports, accident reports, media releases, and agency records that can be released under Minnesota law. The county research did not locate a downloadable county records request form, so phone or in-person contact is the practical starting point. Mail and fax are listed by the sheriff's office, but a call ahead helps confirm what proof of identity, authorization, or payment is needed before the request is made.
Pennington County Jail Visits
Visitation information comes from the official sheriff Corrections page. Visitors must submit an initial approval request, either through a kiosk or online. The kiosks are in the main lobby of the Law Enforcement Building. Remote visits are handled through inmatecanteen.com. The sheriff's page limits visits to 20 minutes and no more than two visits per day per visitor unless otherwise approved. People on disciplinary status cannot have non-professional visits, though attorney, clergy, and other professional visits continue.
| Visit Item | Pennington County Detail | Practical Use |
|---|---|---|
| Initial approval | Visitor request required before non-professional visits. | Start approval before planning a visit. |
| Kiosk access | Kiosks are in the main Law Enforcement Building lobby. | Useful for local visitors without online setup. |
| Remote visits | Remote visitation is through inmatecanteen.com. | Confirm account rules and any current vendor fees. |
| Visit length | Visits are limited to 20 minutes. | Plan calls or visits around the short session length. |
| Daily limit | No more than two visits a day per visitor unless approved. | Do not assume extra sessions are allowed. |
| Temporary blocks | Old temporary blocks included Monday-Wednesday windows from morning through evening. | Confirm current blocks with the jail before arrival. |
Note: Call 218-416-7097 before visiting because temporary visitation schedules and disciplinary limits can change without appearing in the roster.
Pennington County Inmate Phone
Newly admitted inmates receive one free calling card so they can call family or friends after intake. Calling cards can also be purchased through canteen by the inmate or by family and friends through inmatecanteen.com. The inmate voicemail line is 218-416-1120. Correction officers do not take routine messages for inmates, except in emergencies, so voicemail, canteen calling-card support, and direct jail contact each serve a different role.
Money and canteen support should be checked before a deposit is sent. The sheriff's official material links Inmate Canteen, but it does not publish a full deposit-fee table for every transaction type. The 2025 county corrections fee schedule is separate from routine canteen deposits and includes items such as booking, Huber, medical, fingerprinting, and boarding fees. Those fees matter most for inmates in committed, work-release, or service-related statuses. They are not the same as court bond.
Note: Confirm current custody with the jail before sending money, buying calling cards, or scheduling a remote visit.
County Jail, DOC, Federal Search
A Pennington County inmate record can move across systems. The county roster covers local jail custody, including pretrial detainees, sentenced local inmates, Huber or work-release eligible inmates, and some boarded inmates from other counties. After a felony sentence to state prison, the county roster is no longer the main locator. The person should be searched through the Minnesota Department of Corrections public viewer, which covers adults committed to the Commissioner of Corrections and still under MNDOC jurisdiction.
Federal custody has its own tools. The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to the present. The ICE Online Detainee Locator System is the immigration detainee locator and requires its own search information. Minnesota custody notification is separate again. VINELink Minnesota and HAVEN-style notification tools can help users monitor release or status changes when available, but they do not replace the jail roster, MCRO, or a direct call to the jail.
| Custody Type | Best Search Channel | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Pennington County jail custody | Official Pennington County Inmate Search | Current local jail roster for people housed through the county jail. |
| Recent local arrest not visible online | Jail phone, 218-416-7097 | Intake or custody questions before a roster record appears. |
| Booking or incident records | Records Division at the Law Enforcement Center | Releasable reports, with photo ID requested and active-investigation limits. |
| Sentenced state prison | MNDOC public viewer | Adults committed to state corrections jurisdiction after sentencing. |
| Court charges after arrest | Minnesota Court Records Online | Filed criminal cases, hearings, charge status, and public court documents. |
| Federal prison | BOP inmate locator | Federal inmate custody from 1982 to present. |
| Immigration detention | ICE ODLS | Federal immigration detainee search, not a county roster. |
Pennington County Roster Terms
Roster terms are short because jail software is built for custody operations. A booking is the intake record created after arrest or court commitment. SPN means the system or person number used by the jail software. A cell location is the housing assignment inside the facility. A hold or detainer means another case, warrant, agency, or authority may prevent release even when one charge has a bail amount.
- Pretrial
- Custody before a case is resolved by plea, dismissal, trial, or sentence.
- Sentenced
- Custody after a conviction or sentence. State-prison sentences move into MNDOC systems.
- Bond
- Money, security, or release conditions set by the court to allow release before future hearings.
- Huber / work release
- A jail status that can allow approved employment or education release while still in custody.
- MCRO
- Minnesota Court Records Online, the statewide court case search for public district court records.
The county research did not locate an official Pennington County Sheriff inmate app. The sheriff homepage mentions CodeRED and Facebook, and a City of Thief River Falls civic app exists, but no official sheriff roster app was found. Use the official roster and the access channels above rather than assuming app-only inmate records exist.
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