Otter Tail County Release Meaning
Release from the Otter Tail County Jail means that one county booking episode ended. It does not always mean that the person walked free. The jail holds sentenced and unsentenced county prisoners, but it also holds people for other counties, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Immigration, and the U.S. Marshals. Staff may carry out a judge's release order, accept bond, end a local sentence, or transfer the person to another authority. The agency and legal basis determine which record should be checked next.
The live roster serves a different purpose. It describes people held at the jail when the report is produced. Once custody there ends, the name can drop off. The maintained booking, release, or transfer entry is the better source for the actual date, time, legal basis, and destination. A court order can explain why a change was allowed, yet the Sheriff record is still needed to establish when jail staff completed it.
- Time served
- A term that ends after the court-credited jail time has been completed.
- Discharge
- The end of a sentence or correctional authority, which is distinct from merely leaving a facility.
- Detainer
- A request or hold from another authority that can prevent community release.
- Supervised release
- Time in the community while the person remains under Minnesota DOC or community-corrections authority.
Otter Tail County Release Routes
The end of a jail stay should be labeled by its true route. Bond and a judicial release can put a person back in the community, provided no other hold applies. A completed county sentence can do the same. A transfer, however, ends the Otter Tail booking while custody continues elsewhere. The current PDF does not preserve these outcomes after the entry is removed.
| Custody-ending route | What it means | Best next check |
|---|---|---|
| Judge orders release | The court authorizes release, subject to other holds and jail processing. | Sheriff release entry and court register |
| Bond release | Authorized bond terms were met; it does not alone resolve other cases or holds. | Booking/release record |
| Time served | A local jail term ends after credit and sentence calculations. | Release entry and sentencing record |
| Transfer to MN DOC | County custody ends and state correctional custody begins. | Minnesota DOC Locator |
| Other county transfer | A receiving county continues custody. | Named receiving agency |
| Immigration or USMS handoff | Federal or immigration custody may continue. | ICE, USMS, or later BOP source |
Probation and supervised release describe control in the community, not the physical act of leaving jail. Probation is imposed by a court. Supervised release generally follows part of a Minnesota prison sentence. The relevant record should name the agency, agent, or court conditions when those forms of oversight apply.
Note: A projected date on a roster is a planning field, while an actual release entry records an event that has already occurred.
Otter Tail County Release Record Fields
A focused request asks for fields that resolve custody, rather than a broad file dump. Minnesota law identifies several release and transfer facts as public arrest data. Still, the Sheriff need not create a new report or arrange data in a form that the office does not maintain. Some private or protected material can also be redacted. Ask for the public portions of existing records and for the legal basis of any withholding.
| Requested field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Full name and MNI number | Links the event to the county identity record and reduces same-name errors. |
| Booking number and intake date | Ties the release to one specific jail episode. |
| Actual date and time custody ended | Shows when the county jail event was completed. |
| Release or disposition type | States the legal or administrative basis for ending county custody. |
| Destination or receiving agency | Distinguishes community release from transfer. |
| Hold or detainer outcome | Explains whether another authority affected departure. |
| Booking photograph, if public | Connects the identity image to the same booking episode. |
The live jail PDF has Photo, MNI number, Name, Sex, Age, Booking number, Intake Date, Charges, Bond Amount, and Projected Release Date. It does not have an actual release time, release reason, receiving agency, detainer outcome, archive, or stated retention period. Those omissions are why the PDF cannot serve as an Otter Tail County release record.
Request Otter Tail County Release Records
Sheriff Records handles the durable county record. The official Sheriff's Office Records Request Form accepts a specific description and a choice of delivery. A request may be emailed to sheriffsrecords@ottertailcounty.gov, faxed to 218-998-8557, mailed, or submitted through an allowed in-person route. The records office is at 417 South Court Street, Fergus Falls, MN 56537, and its phone is 218-998-8555.
- Identify the person with a full name, date of birth, MNI number, or booking number when known.
- Ask for the existing booking and release or transfer record for the specific custody episode.
- List the actual custody-end date and time, legal basis, destination, receiving agency, and hold outcome.
- Select inspection, copies, or both, then choose an available delivery method.
- Ask for the public portions and a citation to the law used for anything withheld.
Inspection of public data is free. Copies may carry an allowed cost, but the research found no fixed Sheriff turnaround and no booking-photo-specific fee. The county says it responds promptly within a reasonable time. Contact details are not required merely to inspect public data, though staff may need them for delivery or clarification. A narrow request for an existing booking sheet and custody-end entry is more useful than asking staff to create a custom list of all released people.
Minnesota Law on Otter Tail Releases
Minnesota Statutes section 13.82, subdivision 2 makes key arrest data public. Those fields include whether and where a person is held, the date, time, and legal basis of a custody transfer, the receiving agency or person, and the date, time, and legal basis of release. That wording gives a requester a clear way to distinguish a handoff from a true community release.
Chapter 13 does not make every correctional detail public. Section 13.85 protects some medical, psychological, personal, investigative, and security data. Public parts can be separated or supplied in a reasonable form. Section 13.03 provides inspection and copy rules. Juvenile information follows separate limits, and qualifying adult records may be sealed through Minnesota expungement law.
No county source gives a public retention period for released bookings. Expungement is a sealing remedy, not a claim that physical custody never happened. If a record no longer appears, a requester should respect the access limit and use the court or agency process instead of reconstructing sealed facts from old copies.
Note: Ask for public portions of the record and the legal citation for any Otter Tail County release field that is withheld.
When Can Otter Tail Release Someone?
The first court appearance is a key local decision point. The Otter Tail County Jail FAQ says an arrest is reviewed by a judge within 48 hours and that first appearances occur at 11 a.m. on normal business days, subject to scheduling. The judge may release the person, set bail or bond, or continue custody.
That court schedule does not reveal the time a person will leave. The county publishes no routine release hour, exit door, weekend process, waiting place, transport option, or standard administrative delay. Bond amounts on the roster are case-specific. They show one possible path, not proof that payment occurred, all holds cleared, or jail processing ended. The release record supplies the completed event.
Otter Tail Jail Release Turnover
County figures provide context without creating a release count. The 2024 Sheriff report recorded 1,094 bookings, an average daily jail population of 33, an average stay of nine days, and 11,841 inmate days. Bookings count custody episodes, not unique people or confirmed releases. One person can have more than one booking, and some departures are transfers.
These measures show substantial movement through a 111-bed county jail. They cannot answer who left on a certain day. Otter Tail County publishes no official 24-hour or 72-hour release feed, so a named person's status still requires the custody and records checks.
Note: Annual bookings and inmate days describe jail workload, not a list or total of unique Otter Tail County released inmates.
Find Otter Tail County Released Inmates
The best search path begins with custody type. County-only jail cases stay with the Sheriff and district court. A state-prison case moves to the Minnesota DOC Locator. A federal or immigration transfer needs the receiving federal system. Starting with the wrong source can turn a valid no-result into a false conclusion.
- Check the official Otter Tail current roster and save the MNI, booking number, intake date, charge state, bond terms, and projected date.
- If the name is absent, call the jail at 218-998-8556 and ask whether the person remains there or moved to another authority.
- Request the Sheriff's maintained release or transfer entry for firm county confirmation.
- Use the Minnesota DOC Locator only for a state-prison commitment or continuing DOC supervision.
- Match the court case, then continue to VINE, BOP, ICE, or USMS only when that custody route applies.
The county's Jail In Custody List page says its PDF updates every two hours and cautions that information may be incomplete or inaccurate. The screenshot below shows the official landing page and its current-custody purpose.
The landing page is a starting point for identity and booking clues. Historical release proof comes from the maintained record, not from the current-only view.
Minnesota DOC Otter Tail Release Search
The Minnesota DOC Locator covers adults committed to the Commissioner who remain under DOC jurisdiction. That includes people in prison and people released from prison while still supervised. It does not cover a person whose only custody was at Otter Tail County Jail. A fully discharged person may also be absent from this current-jurisdiction system.
| Search or result field | How to use it |
|---|---|
| First and last name | Prefix search can find conviction names, DOC name history, and aliases. |
| MNDOC Offender ID | Enter all six digits; partial IDs return no result. |
| Birth date and aliases | Separate people with similar names. |
| Current Status | Distinguishes incarcerated, under supervision, and wanted-fugitive records. |
| Expiration Date | Shows a jurisdiction endpoint, not the date prison custody ended. |
| Agent and supervising agency | Identifies the current supervision contact when displayed. |
| Court file number | Links the correctional record to the court case. |
The official supervised-release result example shows how a released state prisoner can remain under supervision, with an agent, district, offense, court file, and expiration date.
The status must be read before the dates. “Under Supervision as of” confirms departure from state prison and continuing jurisdiction, while “Expiration Date” is not the actual walk-out date.
No Locator result is not proof of no past state custody. For a fully expired sentence, ask DOC Records for the actual release, expiration, or final-discharge record and reconcile it with the court file.
Otter Tail Release Orders in MCRO
Minnesota Court Records Online, known as MCRO, preserves court events after the live jail PDF changes. Search the defendant's full name and variants, narrow the result to the Otter Tail criminal file, and compare charges, dates, and identity facts. The register may include the disposition, sentencing order, custody credit, warrant, probation terms, amended order, and later discharge or satisfaction entry.
The official MCRO Case Search supports person, case-number, citation-number, attorney, and other search routes.
A court event explains legal authority. It does not prove the exact physical-release time, the clearance of another hold, or a transfer destination. Match the register to the Sheriff's custody-end entry.
Remote MCRO does not expose every public item. Some records require courthouse access, while sealed, expunged, juvenile, and nonpublic data remain restricted. A missing online case can reflect name, venue, access, or sealing issues and should not be treated as proof of release.
Note: Use the court file to explain the order, then use the custody record to confirm the completed Otter Tail release event.
Otter Tail Transfer or Release?
The Otter Tail jail's mixed custody population makes the receiving-agency field crucial. A county detainee can leave for another county, MN DOC, Immigration, or USMS. Each movement removes the person from the local roster. Only some end in the community.
Section 13.82 makes the distinction practical to research. Ask for the transfer date, time, legal basis, and receiving agency, or ask for the release date, time, and legal basis. If Immigration received the person, use the ICE locator. If USMS received the person, use the District of Minnesota contact or records route. A later federal prison placement may appear in BOP.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator searches by federal identifiers or name and displays a release date and location status.
“Released” or “Not in BOP Custody” ends the BOP question. It does not prove that no other custody or supervision follows.
Otter Tail Release Status Sources
Each system answers a narrow question. Use the comparison before treating a result as final. VINELink can add person-specific custody alerts, but its provider data can lag and its coverage should be checked in the live Minnesota interface. The public registrant search is narrower still and applies only to the population subject to public community notification.
| Source | What it can confirm | Main limit |
|---|---|---|
| Otter Tail roster | Current county jail listing and booking clues | No release archive or actual release event |
| Sheriff release record | County custody-end facts and transfer destination | Must be requested when no online record remains |
| Minnesota DOC Locator | State prison or ongoing state correctional status | Fully discharged people may disappear |
| MCRO | Court order, sentence, disposition, and case events | Not the exact physical-release log |
| VINELink | Available person-specific status and notifications | Coverage and reporting can vary |
| BOP, ICE, or USMS | The matching federal custody path | No one federal source covers all three |
Can a warrant prove an earlier release? No. The county warrant list can show a current legal-status clue, and a DOC fugitive record can sometimes display a Last Release Date. Neither a warrant alone nor a roster absence proves the date of an earlier county release.
Post-release agency details are covered on the Otter Tail County parole and probation page. The name of the current agent or agency should come from the DOC record or county office, especially because local supervision shifted to the Community Corrections Act model in 2025.
Otter Tail County Release Facility
Otter Tail County Jail, also called the Otter Tail County Detention Facility, is the sole locally identified detention facility. It is operated by the Sheriff's Office at 416 South Mill Street, Fergus Falls, MN 56537. The jail phone is 218-998-8556, and its approved secure capacity is 111.
The facility holds county sentenced and unsentenced prisoners as well as people for other counties, MN DOC, Immigration, and USMS. A community release should be confirmed through the Sheriff booking/release record. A transfer should be followed into the named receiving system. Full facility operations and release routing appear on the Otter Tail County Jail page.
- Facility: Otter Tail County Jail
- Address: 416 South Mill Street, Fergus Falls, MN 56537
- Phone: 218-998-8556
- County record route: Sheriff Records
- Other route: Follow the transfer destination named in the record