Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 30, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Steele County, Minnesota, has about 37,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Steele County Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the County Attorney files charges, a case in the Steele County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Steele County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Steele County
The Steele County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Steele County. It reported 113 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Owatonna, 26,626 residents: 367 arrests reported for 2025.
- Blooming Prairie, 1,938 residents: 13 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Steele County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Owatonna: 367 for 2025, 448 for 2024, 480 for 2023, 502 for 2022, 517 for 2021 and 611 for 2020.
- Steele County Sheriff's Office: 113 for 2025, 100 for 2024, 91 for 2023, 96 for 2022, 155 for 2021 and 167 for 2020.
- Blooming Prairie: 13 for 2025, 28 for 2023, 14 for 2022, 27 for 2021, 36 for 2020 and 7 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 493 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 480 in 2025 against 548 in 2024, down 12 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 357 arrests, against 324 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Steele County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Steele County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 28 people, down from about 52 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 86 beds, and it ran at 60 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Steele County Sheriff's Office at steelecountymn.gov/search.php?q=Inmate+Roster (page title: Steele County, MN), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Steele County
An arrest in Steele County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Steele County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Minnesota Court Records Online, the Minnesota Judicial Branch's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed.
Minnesota is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the public criminal history search online is free and shows 15 years of convictions, through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Steele County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the agency must answer promptly, within a reasonable time, and it may charge copying, and staff time for requests over 100 pages.
- An arrest by the Steele County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Owatonna or Blooming Prairie: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Steele County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Steele County: Owatonna and Blooming Prairie. Medford and Ellendale have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Steele County District Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Steele County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Owatonna (26,626)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Steele County each year?
Owatonna reported 367 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 493 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Steele County?
Look on the custody page of the Steele County Sheriff's Office at steelecountymn.gov/search.php?q=Inmate+Roster. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Steele County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Steele County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Steele County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension: the public criminal history search online is free and shows 15 years of convictions. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Steele County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Steele County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable time.
Is this the official Steele County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.