Otter Tail Jail Release Destinations
Otter Tail County Jail is a county facility operated by the Sheriff’s Office. It houses sentenced and unsentenced county prisoners, but the population is broader than local cases. The county says it also holds people for other counties, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, Immigration, and the U.S. Marshals. That mix makes destination a central release-record field.
A judge may order community release, a person may meet bond terms, or a local sentence may end. In those situations, the booking/release record should show the event that ended jail custody. Another person may leave the building because a different county, MN DOC, Immigration, or USMS assumed custody. That event is a transfer. Physical departure from the Otter Tail County Jail does not by itself prove freedom from government custody.
| Jail event | Where to verify next |
|---|---|
| Judicial, bond, or time-served release | Sheriff release record, with MCRO for the legal order. |
| Transfer to another county | Named receiving county’s jail status and records office. |
| Commitment to MN DOC | Minnesota DOC Locator and DOC Records. |
| Immigration or USMS movement | ICE ODLS, BOP where appropriate, or U.S. Marshals records. |
The event type should come from the agency record. A current roster cannot supply that history after an entry disappears.
Confirm Otter Tail Jail Releases
The official county report is an In Custody list. It updates on a stated two-hour cycle and displays people currently shown at the jail. It is not a release archive. If the person is listed, note the report time, MNI number, booking number, intake date, charges, bond terms, and any Projected Release Date. Those fields identify the booking and help locate its later record.
- Check the official Otter Tail In Custody report and record its timestamp. Read a listed entry as current custody only.
- If the name is missing, call the jail at 218-998-8556. Ask whether the person remains there, was released, or went to another agency.
- For lasting proof, ask Sheriff Records for the existing booking/release or transfer record tied to the booking number and date.
- Request the actual date and time, legal basis, release type, receiving agency, and hold or detainer outcome.
- Continue in the named receiving system. Do not treat the county jail’s custody end as the end of all custody.
The full county search and release-record path is available on the Otter Tail County released inmates home page. It adds DOC, court, VINE, registry, federal, and historical records routes when the jail answer is incomplete.
Otter Tail Jail Release Records
Sheriff Records and the jail serve different needs. A telephone call is the quick source for present location. The maintained record is the better historical source for when and how a completed custody episode ended. Sheriff Records is at 417 South Court Street in Fergus Falls, separate from the jail’s South Mill Street address. The records telephone is 218-998-8555, fax is 218-998-8557, and email is sheriffsrecords@ottertailcounty.gov.
The Sheriff request form asks for requester contact information, a date, a specific description, signature, and preferred delivery. It lists pickup, mailed paper, thumb drive, email, and another method. A fee may apply, though no release-record-specific amount was found. County public-data policy allows inspection, copies, or both. Contact information can be optional unless staff need it for delivery or clarification.
A useful request names the person and supplies date of birth, MNI number, booking number, and approximate intake date when known. Ask for the actual custody-end date and time, release or disposition type, destination or receiving agency, and outcome of a hold or detainer. The county need not create a new report or rearrange data it does not maintain.
Otter Tail County Sheriff Records417 South Court Street
Fergus Falls, MN 56537
Phone: 218-998-8555
Fax: 218-998-8557
Email: sheriffsrecords@ottertailcounty.gov
Otter Tail Jail Contact Details
The official Otter Tail County Jail page identifies the facility at 416 South Mill Street, Fergus Falls, Minnesota 56537. Its direct telephone is 218-998-8556. Beth Carlson is named as Jail Administrator. These details are appropriate for a present-custody question, a facility procedure question, or confirming which office should receive a record request.
Otter Tail County Jail416 South Mill Street
Fergus Falls, MN 56537
Phone: 218-998-8556
Administrator: Beth Carlson
The official facility view below helps identify the correct county jail source before making contact.
The page confirms the jail’s county role, address, operating agency, and broad custody mix. Historical documents or unrelated facilities should not replace that current source.
Note: Use the jail number for present status and Sheriff Records for a copy or durable account of the completed event.
Otter Tail Jail Capacity
The present facility has 111 approved secure coed beds. Minnesota DOC’s November 2025 inspection granted operating authority from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2027 and placed the jail on biennial inspection status. This current authority matters because older material describes a very different temporary condition. The approved bed count is a facility figure, not a count of people released.
In March 2024, DOC temporarily reduced the jail from Class III to Class I, directed the rehousing of people then confined, barred contract holding and alternative sentences, and limited confinement under that status to 72 hours excluding holidays and weekends. That was a license condition. It was not a 72-hour recent-release list. Researching a spring 2024 custody event may require boarding-out and receiving-facility records because movement caused by the order should not be mislabeled release.
The 2025 inspection supersedes that temporary status for current operations. Present searches should use the current county facility page, live roster, and maintained Sheriff records.
Otter Tail Jail Transfer Records
Immigration and U.S. Marshals prisoners are part of the jail’s documented custody mix, along with other-county and MN DOC prisoners. A person can therefore disappear from the local roster during an agency handoff. The receiving agency field resolves the next step. Without it, an ICE or USMS movement can look like an ordinary community release when it was not.
Minnesota Statutes section 13.82 makes this distinction especially useful. Public arrest data includes the date, time, and legal basis of release. It separately includes the date, time, legal basis, and receiving agency for a transfer. Ask Sheriff Records for those exact existing fields. The legal basis explains why county custody ended, while the receiving agency indicates whether another government custody record should follow.
If Immigration is named, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator for current immigration custody. If USMS is named, the District of Minnesota contact or Marshals records route may be needed because there is no public historical locator equivalent to the county roster. A later federal prison commitment belongs in the BOP Locator. Minnesota DOC transfers belong in the MN DOC Locator. None of those tools should be used unless the jail event points to that custody type.
Otter Tail Jail History
Otter Tail County’s jail history spans several buildings. The county records an 1885 jail, followed by destruction of the courthouse and jail in the 1919 cyclone. A replacement opened in 1920. By June 1982, Minnesota DOC had warned that the older facility no longer met the standards for one-year holding. Construction on a new jail began in October 1985.
The initial plan called for 56 beds, then changed to 75. The present jail opened September 7, 1987. Its current approved count of 111 secure beds reflects later growth beyond the opening design. This history helps separate records tied to former buildings and operating periods, but it does not change the core release method: match the person to a booking, then obtain the event that ended that booking’s custody.
Historical operating conditions also shape interpretation. Boarding out or rehousing means movement to another facility, not automatic release. A record from the 2024 restricted period may require both the Otter Tail transfer record and the receiving jail’s record to trace the whole custody path.
Read Otter Tail Release Outcomes
Release terms are easy to blur. A judicial release follows a court act. Bond release means the court’s conditions and jail processing were met for that booking. Time served reflects completion of the custodial portion ordered in the case. Transfer means another agency took custody. Supervised release is a state-prison status in which the person has left prison but remains under correctional jurisdiction. Discharge concerns the legal endpoint documented by the responsible agency.
- Projected Release Date
- A forward-looking jail roster field, often shown for sentenced entries. It can change and is not proof of exit.
- Actual release
- The completed custody-ending event with a recorded date, time, and legal basis.
- Transfer
- A handoff to a named receiving agency, which continues the custody trail.
- Detainer
- A notice or hold tied to another authority that can affect the expected destination.
The cleanest proof combines the correct booking identifiers, the Sheriff’s release or transfer event, and the next agency or court record when needed. Each source should answer only the question it is designed to answer.