Freeborn County Jail Roster: How to Find Someone in Albert Lea

The official Freeborn County jail roster is on the county website, under the Adult Detention Center section, and it is the first place to check. If a name is not on it, or you need to know more than the roster shows, call the detention center in Albert Lea at 507-377-4683. This guide covers where to look, what the roster tells you, what to do when a name is missing, and how release and bail work once you have found your person.

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TL;DR

Start with the official Freeborn County Jail Roster page. It is reached through the county’s Adult Detention Center section.
If the roster does not settle it, call the detention center at 507-377-4683 or intake at 507-377-4681. The jail is at 411 Broadway S, Albert Lea, MN 56007.
The roster is not a live feed. Treat the date shown on the page as its freshness marker and confirm by phone.
Release can come from posting bail, finishing a sentence, or a court order, and timing depends on the first appearance.
If bail is set and you cannot pay it in full, a bail bond agent can arrange a surety bond. We work with families across Minnesota at all hours.

Where to find the Freeborn County jail roster
What the roster shows
If the name is not on the roster
Phone numbers that confirm custody
If the person may be in ICE custody
Check the court record too
How release works in Freeborn County
Posting bail: the options in plain terms
Charges we handle
Visits, money and mail while someone is held
Our perspective
Get help with a Freeborn County bond
Other county rosters
A short checklist for the first hour
FAQ
Sources

Where to find the Freeborn County jail roster

The county posts its roster on the Jail Roster page of the Freeborn County website. The county’s own navigation places it inside the Adult Detention Center section, so if you land on the detention center page first, the roster is one click away.

People search this in many ways: “Freeborn County jail,” “Albert Lea jail,” “Albert Lea county jail,” “Freeborn County MN jail.” They all point to the same place. The facility is the Freeborn County Adult Detention Center, run by the county Sheriff’s Office, and it sits in Albert Lea, the county seat. The county describes it as a 138-bed direct-supervision facility.

A few practical notes on searching:

Use the county’s own page rather than a third-party site that copies booking data. Copies can lag behind, keep old entries, or miss a release.
Search by last name first. Spelling variations, hyphenated names and nicknames are common causes of a “no result.”
Try the legal name as it would appear on an ID, not the name the person goes by.
Note the date the page shows. The county page displayed a July 2026 date when we reviewed it and states no fixed refresh interval, so do not assume it updates minute by minute.

What the roster shows

In-custody lists from Minnesota county jails follow a similar pattern, and the Freeborn County materials describe the same basic fields. An example in the county’s own arrest and release document shows:

Field	What it tells you
Name	Who is in custody. Check the spelling against the person’s ID.
Charge(s)	What the person was booked on. These are arrest charges, not convictions.
Intake date and time	When booking took place.
Total inmates	A headcount for the facility. It does not include ICE detainees.
“Current as of” timestamp	How recent the list is.

Two things are worth remembering when you read a charge line. First, a booking charge is what the arresting officer wrote down. The prosecutor may charge something different, and a court decides guilt. Second, the roster does not tell you the bail amount, the next court date, or the conditions of release. Those come from the court and from the jail staff.

If you are used to reading lists like this, our guide to the Becker County in-custody list walks through the same kind of fields and what they mean for a family.

If the name is not on the roster

A missing name does not mean the person is free. Common reasons:

Booking is not finished. The county says an arrested person is typically brought to the Detention Center, where the arresting officer completes paperwork or interviews before booking proceeds. Someone can be in the building before they appear on a list.
The page is behind. Without a stated refresh interval, the roster can trail reality.
The name is spelled differently. Try variants, middle names and former names.
The person was taken to a different jail. Arrests in neighboring counties or by state agencies can lead to a different facility.
The person was released already. An officer can release someone before the first appearance with a future court date.
The person is an ICE detainee. The headcount excludes them, and the county roster page points to the ICE locator for that.

In every one of these cases the quickest answer is a phone call.

Phone numbers that confirm custody

The Adult Detention Center page lists the address as 411 Broadway S, Albert Lea, MN 56007, with two numbers for families:

Detention center: 507-377-4683
Intake: 507-377-4681

The Sheriff’s staff directory lists Master Control at 507-377-4683, Intake at 507-377-4681, and the Transport Coordinator at 507-379-2974. The Sheriff’s office line, listed on the Sheriff’s page, is 507-377-5205.

Before you call, have this ready:

The person’s full legal name and date of birth
Where and roughly when the arrest happened
Who arrested them, if you know (city police, Sheriff’s deputies, State Patrol)

Ask three questions: Is this person in custody? What are the charges on the booking record? Has bail been set, or is a first appearance pending? Write down the answers, the time and the name of the person you spoke with. Staff can confirm custody but will not give legal advice.

If the person may be in ICE custody

Some detainees at the facility are held for federal immigration authorities. ICE’s Freeborn County Jail Services page says people seeking information about an ICE detainee housed there may call 612-409-7799 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Have the person’s first and last name, any aliases, date of birth and country of birth ready.

The same page says detainees cannot receive incoming calls. For an urgent message, use 507-377-5093 and leave the detainee’s full name, alien registration number and your contact information. It also says attorney visits are available seven days a week, 8:00 to 11:30 a.m., 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., and that attorneys are asked to call ahead to schedule.

An immigration hold is separate from a criminal bail bond. If someone is held on both, talk to an immigration attorney about the federal side before making any financial decision.

Check the court record too

The jail roster tells you who is in custody. The court record tells you what happens next. The Minnesota judicial branch’s Hearing Search in Minnesota Court Records Online lets you select Freeborn County and look up hearings. It is a separate official source, so it is useful when the roster is silent or out of date. You can find the next appearance, which matters because bail is usually discussed there.

The Adult Detention Center page also links to information on new-arrest court times, arrest release, mail, money, visitation and phones. Check those links before you drive to Albert Lea.

How release works in Freeborn County

The county’s arrest and release document says release can follow posting bail, serving a sentence, or a release by the court. In practice that means:

Release by the arresting officer. Before the first appearance, an officer may release someone with a future court date.
After the first appearance. The county says normal release after the first appearance falls between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.
End of a sentence. People finishing a sentence are released the morning of their last day.

So a family that finds a loved one on the roster in the morning should not expect a release that afternoon unless bail is posted and processed. The first appearance is the moment a judge or court sets or reviews conditions, and the amount set determines what you need to do next.

Posting bail: the options in plain terms

When bail is set, there are generally three ways to meet it:

Pay the full amount in cash to the court or jail. The money is typically returned at the end of the case if the person makes every court date, though the court can apply it to fines or fees in some situations. Ask the jail what forms of payment they accept.
Use a surety bond through a licensed bail bond agent. You pay the agent a fee, called the premium, and the agent posts the bond. The premium is a fee for the service and is not refunded.
Ask the court to review bail or conditions. An attorney can request this at a hearing.

Most families who call us choose the second route because the full amount is out of reach on short notice. Our surety bond premium starts from $100, one-off. The exact figure depends on the bond amount, the charge and the arrangement, and we explain it before anything is signed.

What a cosigner is agreeing to

A cosigner, sometimes called an indemnitor, is the person who stands behind the defendant’s promise to appear in court. Before you sign, you should understand that you are responsible if the defendant misses court. A good agent explains this plainly, up front, along with the payment structure and what the paperwork requires from you. That is how we work: no surprises at the signing table.

Charges we handle

The charge on the roster often decides how a bond is structured and what the court asks for. We arrange bonds for:

We also help with warrants and failure-to-appear situations, and we offer payment plans. Domestic assault cases can carry court-ordered no-contact conditions, so the court may set specific terms about where the person can stay after release. Ask the jail or the court about those conditions before you plan the ride home.

Visits, money and mail while someone is held

If bail is not posted right away, or not set yet, your loved one may be in custody for days. The county’s canteen user guide says video visitation is done on a computer using Google Chrome: you log in, select the inmate and choose the video-visit option. Mobile devices are not supported for this process. Use a laptop or desktop and test your browser ahead of time.

For rules on mail, deposits and phone accounts, use the links on the Adult Detention Center page, since the facility sets them and can change them.

Our perspective

Families usually find us at the worst hour of their week. They have searched the roster, found a name, and then realized the page does not say what they most need to know: how much, how fast, and what happens next.

After more than 40 years of working with Minnesota jails and courts, we have learned that most of the stress comes from not knowing. So we start by explaining the whole process before anyone signs: the bond options, how payment works, and exactly what a cosigner is responsible for.

We answer around the clock and across the state, because arrests do not follow office hours. We help locate the inmate, work with the jail on the paperwork, and stay in touch until the person is out. That hands-on support is what we think a family should expect from a bail bond agent.

If you have found your person on the Freeborn County roster, call us. We will tell you what we can do and what it will cost before you commit to anything.

Blog

Get help with a Freeborn County bond

If your loved one is in the Albert Lea jail and bail has been set, we can start the arrangement by phone, any hour. We walk you through the bond options, the premium and payment plans, and the cosigner’s role, then handle the paperwork with the jail. See our Minnesota bail bond services to get started.

Have the defendant’s full name, date of birth, the booking charges and the bail amount ready, if you know them. If you do not, we will help you find them.

Other county rosters

If your person may have been moved or arrested elsewhere, check the neighboring facility. We publish guides for other Minnesota counties, such as the Stearns County inmate search, the Sherburne County inmate search and the Isanti County inmate search. Each shows how that county’s list works and how to reach its jail.

A short checklist for the first hour

Search the official roster by last name.
Call 507-377-4683 or 507-377-4681 to confirm custody and charges.
Check the court hearing search for the next appearance.
Find out whether bail is set and what forms of payment are accepted.
If you need a bond, call a licensed Minnesota bail bond agent and ask for the premium, payment terms and cosigner duties in plain language.
If immigration custody is possible, use the ICE contact steps above and speak with an immigration attorney.
If the charge is serious, contact a criminal defense attorney. The Sheriff’s staff cannot advise you on the case.

FAQ

Is the Freeborn County jail roster updated in real time?

The county page does not state a refresh interval, and it shows a date that tells you how current it is. Treat it as a good starting point, not a guarantee. For anything urgent, call the detention center at 507-377-4683.

Why is my family member not on the roster?

They may still be in booking, may be spelled differently, may be in another county’s jail, or may already have been released. An ICE detainee also falls outside the roster’s headcount. A call to intake at 507-377-4681 usually settles it quickly.

Can I post bail the same day someone is booked?

Often yes, once booking is complete and bail has been set. If bail is not yet set, the first appearance is when the court addresses it. The county says normal release after the first appearance is between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Does the roster show the bail amount?

The fields described in the county’s materials are name, charges, intake date and time, and a headcount. Bail is not listed among them. Ask the jail or check the court hearing search, and bring that figure when you call a bail bond agent.

What does a cosigner have to do?

A cosigner signs the bond agreement and takes responsibility if the defendant does not appear in court. We explain the obligations and the payment structure before you sign, so you know exactly what you are agreeing to.