Access Lincoln County Released Inmate Records

Lincoln County released inmate records are maintained by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office in Ivanhoe, a small western Minnesota county bordering South Dakota where the Sheriff's Office handles all local law enforcement and jail detention services. Contact the Sheriff's Office by phone for current inmate information, or use the statewide Minnesota tools below to track individuals through the state prison and supervision system.

Lincoln County Sheriff's Office

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is at 319 N. Rebecca St., Ivanhoe, MN 56142. The main phone is (507) 694-1664 and the fax is (507) 694-1665. For emergencies, always call 911. The department website is at co.lincoln.mn.us/sheriff. The Sheriff's Office operates the county jail and handles all detention and booking for Lincoln County. For current inmate roster information, the most direct approach is calling the jail line during business hours.

Lincoln County is a rural western Minnesota county. It sits near the South Dakota border in an area of small towns and farm communities. The Sheriff's Office covers a wide geographic area and handles the full range of county law enforcement duties in addition to running the jail. Because the county is small by population, the jail does not see extremely high booking volumes, but the office handles the same types of cases found across rural Minnesota. People arrested for misdemeanors, DUIs, domestic incidents, drug charges, and other offenses all go through the Lincoln County Jail for processing before any court proceedings.

Lincoln County works cooperatively with surrounding counties for some services. For extended detention needs beyond what the local facility can handle, the county may work with neighboring facilities. Murray County to the south, for instance, partners with Lyon County for extended detention, which is a common arrangement in rural Minnesota where small county jails have limited capacity. Lincoln County may have similar arrangements. If you call the Sheriff's Office and are told a specific person is not at the Lincoln County Jail, ask whether they were transferred and where they went.

Calling the Sheriff's Office directly remains the most reliable way to get current inmate information for Lincoln County. Staff can share basic booking data that is public under Minnesota law, including name, charges, arrest date, and current custody status. If the office is closed, VINE (see below) provides a way to track custody status automatically without waiting for the office to reopen.

Minnesota DOC Offender Locator

When someone from Lincoln County is convicted of an offense and sentenced to a Minnesota state prison rather than the county jail, their record appears in the MN DOC Public Viewer. This is a separate system from the county jail roster and covers the full state prison population.

The viewer is at coms.doc.state.mn.us/PublicViewer. Search by name or offender ID. It shows current facility, supervision status, and expected release date for people in the state system. If someone you are trying to find was arrested in Lincoln County but is no longer at the county jail, and you do not know where they went, the DOC viewer is a good next step. The system is free and no login is required.

The DOC viewer is updated regularly. It is the official state source for tracking people serving sentences at Minnesota state facilities.

VINE Custody Notifications

VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) is a free, automated service that monitors inmate custody status and sends you an alert when something changes. It covers Lincoln County's jail and all Minnesota state facilities. You do not need to be a crime victim to use it.

Access VINE at vinelink.com or call 877-664-8463. The phone line runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To register for alerts, you need the person's name or offender ID number. VINE will contact you by phone, text, or email when custody status changes. This is particularly helpful for Lincoln County, where the Sheriff's Office may not always be reachable after business hours. VINE works across both county jails and state facilities, so if a person is transferred from the Lincoln County Jail to a state prison, you will be alerted about the move as well as any eventual release.

VINE is consistent across all of Minnesota. One registration tracks a person wherever they move in the state correctional system.

Predatory Offender Registry

After release from custody, certain offenders in Minnesota must register their address with the state under the Predatory Offender Registry. People on this list live in the community and are required to report address changes and check in as the law requires. The registry is searchable by the public.

Search at coms.doc.state.mn.us/PublicRegistrantSearch by name or by location to find registrants in Lincoln County or near a specific address. The registration requirement is set by Minnesota Statute 243.166. Risk level classifications are determined under Minnesota Statute 244.052. Level 3 offenders face the most restrictions and are subject to active community notification. Level 1 and Level 2 registrants are in the database but receive less public disclosure. Contact the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at (507) 694-1664 with questions about specific registrants in the area.

Court Records

Lincoln County court cases are part of Minnesota's public court system. The Minnesota Court Records Online portal at publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us lets you search criminal and civil cases filed in Lincoln County District Court. You can look up by name or case number and see charges, court dates, verdicts, and sentencing. This connects the jail booking record with the actual court process for a more complete picture of what happened in any given case.

Some searches in MCRO are free; copies of case documents may carry fees. Juvenile records are protected under Minnesota law. For formal certified background check requests needed by employers or others, the Minnesota BCA at dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca handles those through a separate application process.

Public Access to Jail Records Under Minnesota Law

The data Lincoln County can share about its jail population is controlled by state statute. Minnesota Statute 13.82 defines law enforcement data that must be made public, which includes arrest details, booking dates, and charges. Minnesota Statute 13.85 covers corrections and detention data. These two statutes work together to set the floor for what is public and what the county must keep private.

For Lincoln County, this means the Sheriff's Office can share name, charges, booking date, and current status when you ask. Details of active investigations, confidential informant information, and juvenile records are protected. If you want records beyond the routine information the office shares, a formal data request under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act is the proper channel. The county has legal obligations to respond and must cite the specific law if it denies any portion of a request.

Cities in Lincoln County

Ivanhoe is the county seat of Lincoln County. This is a rural western Minnesota county, and no cities here reach the 100,000 population threshold for a dedicated city page on this site.

Nearby Counties

These counties are near Lincoln County. Each has its own released inmate records.