St. Louis County Booking Records and Jail Roster

St. Louis County recent bookings are managed by the Sheriff's Office, with the main jail at 100 North 5th Ave. West in Duluth. The county is the largest in Minnesota by area and the largest county east of the Mississippi River, which means this is a major regional jail system for northeastern Minnesota. The booking roster updates hourly and the county operates three separate facilities: the main Duluth jail and two short-term lockups in Hibbing and Virginia on the Iron Range. This page covers how to search the roster, understand the LID number system used for mail, contact the facilities, and use state tools for additional records.

St. Louis County Jail Roster and Recent Bookings

The St. Louis County jail roster updates every hour and is published online at stlouiscountymn.gov. New bookings do not appear until the person has been assigned a booking number. If you heard about an arrest recently and the person is not showing up yet, give the system some time to assign a number and enter the record. Once they are in the system, the roster shows their name, booking number, charge information, and other public data required to be disclosed under Minnesota Statute 13.82.

The LID number is a unique identifier assigned to each person booked into the St. Louis County Jail. It differs from the booking number or case number and matters specifically for sending mail. Effective March 1, 2025, St. Louis County Jail changed its mail processing to a centralized system. To send mail to someone at any of the three facilities, use this format: First Name Last Name and LID#, St. Louis County Jail, Minnesota, P.O. Box 247, Phoenix, MD 21131. The LID number appears on the online roster. If you cannot find the listing, call the jail at 218-726-2345 to ask for the LID number directly. Staff can look it up quickly.

Under § 13.82, the roster includes the data elements the law defines as public: name, arrest date and time, charges, and the arresting agency. Anyone can access this information without providing a reason or filing a formal request. For victim notification, VINELink provides free automated alerts covering all three St. Louis County facilities when an inmate's custody status changes.

The St. Louis County jail roster page is the official source for recent bookings and current inmate data, updating every hour across all three county facilities.

The roster page links directly to the live search tool and explains each data field, including the LID number used for mail sent to inmates at the Duluth facility.

St. Louis County Jail Facilities

St. Louis County runs three separate detention facilities across its large geographic area. The main Duluth jail at 100 North 5th Ave. West has 197 beds and handles the largest share of bookings. It is the primary facility for the county and serves as the hub for the overall system. The jail phone is 218-726-2345. The Sheriff's main line is 218-726-2341. The jail administrator is Robyn Wojciechowski, reachable at wojor@stlouiscountymn.gov for administrative matters beyond the front desk.

The two Iron Range lockups are smaller short-term facilities. The Hibbing lockup holds up to 8 inmates. The Virginia lockup holds up to 12. Both are designed as 72-hour facilities. When someone is arrested in Hibbing or Virginia, they may be held locally for up to 72 hours before transfer to Duluth if they do not bond out. The combined capacity across all three locations is around 217 beds. If you are searching for someone arrested in the Iron Range and they do not appear on the main roster, they may still be at one of the lockups waiting for transfer. A call to 218-726-2345 can confirm which facility is holding them.

More detail on the jail division, including facility operations and inmate services, is on the jail division page. The about-jail page covers how the facility is run and what to expect during the intake process. Under Minnesota Statute 641.05, the county sheriff is responsible for managing all jail facilities in the county.

Note: Always verify which facility holds an inmate before visiting, since people may be at the Duluth jail or at one of the Iron Range lockups depending on where and when the arrest occurred.

The St. Louis County jail division page covers all three detention facilities including Duluth, Hibbing, and Virginia, with contact details and information on the LID number mail system.

The jail division page is the main resource for facility contacts, inmate mail rules, and information about the booking process at all three St. Louis County locations.

St. Louis County Sheriff's Office

The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office oversees all booking, custody, and detention operations for the county. The Sheriff's Office page on the county website has full information about all divisions and how to contact them. For custody questions, the main jail line handles inquiries about all three facilities.

Duluth Police and St. Louis County Bookings

Duluth has its own police department that handles arrests within the city. The Duluth Police Department is a separate agency from the Sheriff's Office, but when Duluth officers make an arrest, the booking still goes through the St. Louis County Jail. The county facility serves as the detention hub for all law enforcement agencies operating within St. Louis County, not just the Sheriff's Office. That means all Duluth arrests show up in the county booking roster. The city of Duluth's general website at duluthmn.gov has information on city services separate from the jail system.

For broader criminal history beyond the county jail roster, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension criminal history portal covers all Minnesota counties and costs $8 per search. It is run by the Department of Public Safety and requires a name and date of birth. For people sentenced and transferred to state prison from St. Louis County, the Minnesota DOC offender locator shows current placement and sentence details. Court records for St. Louis County cases are searchable through Minnesota Courts once formal charges are filed after booking.

Booking records in St. Louis County are kept under retention schedules set by Minnesota Statute 138.17. A booking fee is assessed at intake under Minnesota Statute 641.12. People seeking to seal a St. Louis County booking record can pursue expungement under Minnesota Statute 609A. Free guidance on the expungement process is available through LawHelpMN.

The City of Duluth website provides city services and links to the Duluth Police Department, whose arrests are processed through the St. Louis County Jail and appear in the county booking roster.

All Duluth Police arrests go through St. Louis County Jail booking, so the county roster is the single place to find all booking records from the Duluth area regardless of which agency made the arrest.

Cities in St. Louis County

St. Louis County covers two main population centers. Duluth is the county seat and largest city. Iron Range communities including Hibbing, Virginia, Eveleth, and others are served by the northern lockup facilities before transfer to the main Duluth jail.

Other communities in St. Louis County include Hibbing, Virginia, Eveleth, Mountain Iron, and Cook. Arrests in those areas may be held at the Hibbing or Virginia lockups before transfer to the main Duluth facility.

Nearby Counties

St. Louis County is large and borders several northeastern Minnesota counties. These counties have their own jail systems for arrests that occur within their boundaries.