The Blue Earth County Jail is a jail facility in Blue Earth County, Minnesota. The jail holds pre-trial detainees and offenders who have been sentenced to serve their sentences in a jail facility.  The jail maintains a roster of all of its occupants, and, on this roster, you can learn an inmate’s status, including whether the inmates is a pre-trial detainee or a sentenced offender.

Blue Earth County is a medium-sized county in Minnesota.  The county seat of Blue Earth County is Mankato, which is where the Blue Earth County Jail is located.  Blue Earth County is not a very ethnically diverse area; it is almost 95% white.  The jails reflect some of this lack of diversity in the greater population, which impacts some of the jail management dynamics, making them different than other places in the country.

The Blue Earth County Jail is in the Blue Earth County Justice Center in Mankato.  The jail has its own separate entrance.  The public can go to the jail entrance for jail-specific functions, such as inmate visitation and dropping off money for inmate trust accounts.  The jail also serves two community service functions: fingerprinting and drug testing.  The Justice Center also houses other parts of Blue Earth County’s criminal justice system, including: the district court, the county attorney, probation, and the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office.

The jail offers two non-jail related services to Blue Earth County residents: fingerprinting and drug testing.  It handles court-ordered juvenile fingerprints, adult criminal fingerprints, and civilian applicant fingerprints.  It does not handle fingerprints for immigration, citizenship, or passports.  Fingerprints for civilian applicants are $10 per card; if you need to purchase a fingerprint card, it is an additional $10.  Fingerprints must be paid for in cash with exact change.  Fingerprint hours are: Tuesday 6:30pm to 9:00pm; Wednesday 1:00pm to 3:00pm; and Saturday 2:30pm to 3:00pm.

The jail also handles drug testing for the county.  Those who are assigned to drug testing will be assigned a color group.  Those who are required to take drug tests must call Blue Earth County’s drug testing hotline, 507-304-4747, after 6:00am each day, to find out if they are required to report to the jail for drug testing that day.  If your color group is assigned for drug testing, you will be required to report to drug testing that day.  Drug testing is in the jail lobby, which is located at 401 Carver Road in Mankato.  Drug testing times on Monday-Friday are from 11:30am to 12:30pm for males and at 11:00am and 12:30 pm for females.  Males have an hour-long testing range, while females need to arrive at either specific time for testing.  Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, both males and females have a testing time range.  Females can be tested from 10:40am to 11:00am and males from 10:00am to 10:40am.

Physical Address:

Blue Earth County Jail
401 Carver Road
Mankato, MN 56001

The Administrative Hours are 8:00am to 5:00pm, Monday-Friday, but the lobby is open 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week.  offices are open

Mailing Address:

The Blue Earth County Jail’s mailing address is the same as its physical address, but with the addition of a P.O. Box number.  How you address the mail depends on who you are trying to reach.  Mail sent to inmates should have the inmate’s name on the mail, but money for inmate trust accounts should not be sent directly to inmates. 

Blue Earth County Jail
401 Carver Rd.
P.O. Box 228
Mankato, MN 56001

Jail Phone Numbers:

The jail’s main number is 507-304-4830.  The jail’s fax number is 507-304-4859. You can find additional department-specific contact information, including a list of people to contact at the jail, along with their phone numbers and email addresses on the Blue Earth County Jail’s departmental information page: http://www.blueearthcountymn.gov/directory.aspx?did=40.

Inmate Mailing Address:

Inmate’s Full Name
Blue Earth County Jail
401 Carver Rd
P.O. Box 228
Mankato, MN 56002

Inmates may receive mail through the U.S. Postal Service.  All mail may be opened and checked prior to delivery to an inmate.  All incoming mail must include a complete return address.  Prohibited items are considered contraband and will not be distributed to the inmate.  It may be thrown away, returned to sender, or held for the sender.  Some contraband, such as drugs, may trigger an investigation and could result in prosecution of the sender in addition to institutional disciplinary action against the inmate.  If you have questions about whether items are considered contraband, you can contact the jail directly prior to sending the item.

Things that are frequently considered contraband include: stickers, stamps, envelopes, paper, pens, pencils, inappropriate pictures or photos, sexually explicit materials, plastic cards, phone cards, stickers, lipstick marks or other liquids on envelopes or letters, padded or bubble mailers or glued items. While individuals are usually prohibited from sending reading materials directly to inmates, publishers and bookstores are usually permitted to directly ship reading materials to the inmate, but there may be restrictions on the type of reading materials an inmate is permitted or the number of books, magazines, etc. that an inmate may have.

Blue Earth County Jail Roster:

Blue Earth County Jail inmates are listed in a roster-style custody list known as the Blue Earth County Jail Roster Report.  The roster is current as of the day it is accessed.  The roster is an alphabetical list of all people currently in the Blue Earth County Jail.  In addition to inmate names, the roster contains booking photos or mugshots, the date and time of the booking, the arresting agency, the case number, the charges against the individual, the inmate’s status, and a projected release date if the inmate has been sentenced.  The inmate’s status may show that an inmate has received bail terms, but not the amount of any bond or bail that has been set.

Mugshots:

The Blue Earth County Detention Center has mugshots available on its Blue Earth County Jail Roster Report.  You can search for specific inmate by name to find that inmate’s mugshot or look at the entire jail roster system.  You may find additional information on wanted criminals at Blue Earth County’s Adult Criminal Complaints Viewer, which contains allegations of criminal complaints against adults in Blue Earth County.  This system is maintained by the Blue Earth County Attorney.  You may also find additional information on wanted criminals in Blue Earth County at the county’s Active Arrest Warrants site

Jail Visitation:

Visitation at the Blue Earth County Jail can occur in two ways: remote visiting and on-location visiting.

To qualify for remote visitation you must visit www.inmatecanteen.com and register as a visitor.  After being approved, you will be able to participate in remote visitation, as well as emails and texts to the inmates.  Remote visiting is 39 cents per minute. Emails are 25 cents and texts are 13 cents each.

Remote visiting hours are:

Monday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Tuesday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Wednesday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Thursday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Friday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Saturday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Sunday7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Holidays7:00 AM - 10:00 AM 12:30 PM - 4:00 PM 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM

On location visiting hours are:

Monday None
Tuesday 8:30AM-10:00AM 12:30PM-2:00PM
Wednesday 6:30PM-9:30PM
Thursday 8:30AM-10:00AM
Friday 12:30PM-2:00PM
Saturday 8:30AM-10:00AM 6:30PM-9:30PM
Sunday 12:30PM-2:00PM 6:30PM-9:30PM
Holidays 12:30PM-2:00PM 6:30PM-9:30PM

Visitors must be at least 18 years of age or be accompanied by a parent or their legal guardian. Any children not visiting an inmate need to be accompanied by an adult, and may not be left unattended while an adult attends visitation.  Visitors must be dressed appropriately.  Although the jail does not publish a dress code, general dress code rules for jails prohibit any revealing clothing, including short-shorts, mini-skirts, tank tops, cleavage-bearing tops, clothing with offensive texts, any type of gang-related clothing, see-through clothing, or clothing that would be used as a weapon (no stiletto heels or steel-toed work boots). Photo ID is required for all visitors 18 years of age and older. During the visit do not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Inmate Phone Privileges:

Inmates cannot receive incoming telephone calls. However, you can leave messages for inmates.  To leave a message for an inmate, you can call 507-625-9500 and follow the prompts to leave an inmate message.  The voice mail system is not confidential and messages are subject to review by Blue Earth County jail staff.

Once an inmate receives his or her housing assignment, he or she can contact family and friends three ways.  The first is by calling collect from phones in the jail; family and friends must be willing to accept the charges.  The second is by setting up a direct bill/ prepaid account for phone calls.  The third is by purchasing a phone card.

To set up a prepaid collect call account or to by inmate phone cards, you can visit the Reliance Telephone website.  You may also send text messages or emails to an inmate using the inmateconnect system.  You can register for those services at the same time that you register for remote visitation services.

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary:

Inmate commissary accounts are a way for inmates to access basic food and hygiene items that are not provided by the Blue Earth County Jail, during the period of their incarceration.  Inmates can receive deposits in a number of ways.  Do not give cash money to any employee to deposit for an inmate.

You can send a money order or cashier's check, made out to the inmates to this address:

Inmate Name
C/O Blue Earth County Jail
401 Carver Rd
P.O. Box 228
Mankato, MN 56001

Do not send cash through the mail.

You may also put money on an inmate’s account or purchase canteen items directly for the inmate at the Inmate Canteen website.  In addition, the jail lobby has a self-service kiosk for the public to make deposits to an inmate’s account.  The jail kiosk accepts both cash and credit cards.  There are fees that apply to online and lobby kiosk deposits.

Bail Information:

Not all inmates are eligible for bond, but if an inmate has bondable charges, and can meet the conditions places on that bond, he or she can bond out.  Bonds exist to guarantee that the defendant arrives for court appearances and have a number of different forms that range from personal recognizance bonds to cash bonds.   The judge considers a number of factors in setting a bond, mainly the seriousness of the offense and the threat a defendant poses to the public.

To pay a cash bond: Bring the exact amount of cash to the Justice Center Jail Lobby at 401 Carver Road (during business hours) or the Release Lobby (after business hours). Fill out the appropriate paperwork with the front desk or custody officer. Receive a receipt.

If you need to use the services of a bail bondsman for a surety bond: Contact a bail bondsman (see list posted in various jail lobbies, in a phonebook, on the internet, etc.). Meet with the bondsman to fill out the appropriate paperwork. The bondman will then give the paperwork to the front desk or custody officer.

Some bail amounts contain additional non-financial conditions.  These conditions include, but are not limited to the following things: Electronic home monitoring (Alcohol or GPS); Jail drug testing; Meet with probation before release; and Victim notification.  These conditions can only be started after the cash bail or bond has been received. This will delay the inmate’s release until all conditions are satisfied. If an inmate is required to have Electronic Home Monitoring or meet with probation before release, you can contact the Blue Earth County Probation Department at (507) 304-4750.

Conclusion

The Blue Earth County Jail is the jail for Blue Earth County, Minnesota.  It holds both pre-trial detainees and convicted offenders.  The Blue Earth County Jail maintains a very detailed inmate arrest roster, which has booking data for inmates currently detained in the jail facility.  The jail also handles two other criminal justice-related services: fingerprinting and drug testing.  If you have been ordered to participate in a drug testing program, you must call the jail each day to determine if your color-coded group is required to report for drug testing on that day.   For any questions or comments about the Blue Earth County Jail, you can contact the jail or the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office.

Blue Earth County Jail Data & Statistics: