Search Renville County Jail Inmates

Renville County Jail Overview

Renville County Jail is operated by the Renville County Sheriff's Office at 104 4th Street South in Olivia. The jail opened in 2008 and serves as the county's public-facing custody point for arrests made by the Sheriff's Office and local police departments. It also houses people for outside agencies, including federal Bureau of Prisons boarders and other county boarders. No Minnesota DOC prison, BOP prison, or ICE-dedicated detention facility was found inside Renville County.

The facility holds sentenced and pretrial adult men and women. Official sources describe it in two ways. The county jail page calls it a 72-bed facility, while the 2025 Jail Annual Report states that the jail is licensed for 78 inmates, with 72 housing beds plus six holding-cell beds in three holding cells. The approved operative capacity is 65. The facility includes a pre-booking area, booking area, administrative offices, library, computer lab, classrooms, laundry, kitchen, gymnasium, and a licensed chemical dependency treatment program.

The Renville County jail overview page is the official source for the jail's address, capacity description, visitation, mail, phone, commissary, booking, programs, PREA, and general facility rules.

The overview page is useful because it ties the inmate roster to the jail's visiting, mail, money, booking, and program rules in one official location.

Renville County Jail Population

The 2025 annual report lists an average daily population of 53 at Renville County Jail. Renville County's own average daily population was 18.6, while BOP boarders averaged 15.2, Redwood County averaged 10.6, Kandiyohi County averaged 8.3, and other counties or private-pay placements made up smaller shares. That split is central to understanding the jail. The Renville County Jail population often includes people whose case or custody authority is not local.

Renville County Jail Inmate Lookup

Current inmates are found on the Renville County Jail in-custody roster. The roster is a current custody table. It shows a timestamp and visible fields for photo, MNI, name, sex, age, booking number, intake date, charges, and bail/bond. It does not provide a public search form, so users should scan the list or use browser find. If a person was sentenced to state prison, use the Minnesota DOC locator rather than the county roster.

1. Open the official in-custody roster and check the timestamp.
2. Scan for the person's last name or use browser find.
3. Compare age, sex, MNI, booking number, and intake date to avoid mistaken identity.
4. Read the charge and bail/bond fields for court pending, sentenced, boarder, or BOP hold wording.
5. Call the jail at 320-523-3600 before traveling, posting bond, or sending money.

Renville County Jail Contact

The jail main number is the practical starting point for custody, release, and visitation questions. Jail Administrator Captain Ned G. Wohlman is listed in the research file with a direct phone of 320-523-3778, and the Assistant Jail Administrator is Kali Steffel at 320-523-3791. Routine inmate messages are not delivered by corrections officers, but dire emergency messages may be requested through the jail main line.

Booking at Renville County Jail

Renville County's annual report describes intake in practical detail. A person is brought into the pre-booking area, the arresting officer completes the handoff, and intake officers change out the inmate, search for weapons or contraband, scan the body, and inventory property. Staff create the jail computer record with personal information, charges, medical history, identifying scars, marks, tattoos, and property inventory. Fingerprints for Renville County law-enforcement arrests are transmitted by Live Scan to the Minnesota BCA and FBI.

The county jail page says a person entering for a sentence gives identity and medical or mental-health details, submits fingerprints, is photographed, and in some cases provides a DNA sample. Clothing is stored until release. Money brought into the jail is deposited into the inmate trust account. People are commonly held in a holding cell until after first appearance, then moved to a 4-, 8-, or 16-person pod if they remain in custody.

Visit Renville County Jail

Official jail rules state that there is currently no on-site visitation. All inmate visits are video unless pre-approved by Jail CRS or Jail Administration. Dispatch initiates visits, and law-enforcement traffic or 911 calls can delay them. Visitors must have picture ID with name and current address and must provide their relationship to the inmate. Minors must be with an adult, and guardian permission is required when the adult is not the guardian.

Mail Phone Money

Mail to the jail should use the inmate's full name, c/o Renville County Jail, 104 4th Street S., Olivia, MN 56277. Non-privileged mail is searched and inspected. Privileged mail from attorneys, court officers, Minnesota DOC, BOP, or elected officials is opened in the inmate's presence. Do not mail cash. Mail may be rejected for no-contact violations, sexually explicit content, gang-related content, criminal plans, stickers, stamps, perfume, foreign material, coded mail, or content encouraging violence.

Inmates after initial appearance generally have access to email, phone, and voicemail, except when discipline limits access. The public cannot call directly to an inmate. Phone cards are bought through canteen, and communications deposits may be made through Reliance Telephone. Public voicemail for an inmate is 320-400-3018. Corrections officers do not deliver routine messages.

Release and Work Release

Released persons leave through the public entrance on 4th Street as soon as the jail can process them out. The inmate handbook says bail bond companies should come to the public entrance, where staff assist with the bonding process. No release process begins until the jail receives bail, a bond, or an official teletype notice that bond conditions have been received. No one is released without proper official paperwork from the court of jurisdiction.

Work release is separate from bond. Renville County no longer charges pay-to-stay, but work-release participants pay fees. The 2025 annual report states that work release requires the offender to have been employed at least 35 days before reporting, pay $27.50 per day, pay two weeks in advance at first, and then pay weekly. Some convictions make GPS monitoring mandatory, and the inmate is responsible for those costs.

Renville County Jail Programs

Renville County Jail has a strong program identity for a small county facility. Programs include chemical dependency treatment through Project Turnabout, GED and adult basic education, Parenting Inside Out, REAL Essentials Life, REAL Essentials Motherhood, Children of Incarcerated Parents, Native programming with smudging when volunteers are available, AA, church services, Bible study, library, recreation, and one-on-one staff help. The jail started offering GED testing in 2014 and has recorded 119 GEDs and 43 high school diplomas.

Medical care is contracted through Advanced Correctional Health Care, with 24/7 on-call nurse-practitioner coverage and a full-time RN under an on-site medical director Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. The 2025 annual report says medical made 123 mental-health referrals that year. The jail also contracts with an outside forensic psychology professional for teleconference mental-health recommendations.