St. Clair County Detention and Intervention Center Releases

Detention Center Release Paths

The St. Clair County Detention and Intervention Center is the county’s main adult jail. The Sheriff also calls it the Intervention & Detention Center and the St. Clair County Jail. A person may leave after posting bond, receiving a recognizance or court release, completing a short jail sentence, or obtaining a dismissal or acquittal. Each event ends the jail’s physical custody, but it does not always end the case or all legal duties.

A transfer is different. A person can leave this Port Huron facility for the Michigan Department of Corrections, another county jail, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, ICE, or the U.S. Marshals Service. In that event, the person is released from the Sheriff’s building but not to the community. The destination or receiving-agency field in the maintained booking record is therefore as important as the exit date. A court order shows authority for an action; the custodial record is stronger evidence of when the person actually left.

Confirm a Detention Center Release

The official St. Clair County Inmate Lookup accepts a last name, first name, or booking number and describes its results as current booking records. A match supports current Sheriff custody at the displayed snapshot. A nonmatch proves much less. It can reflect release, transfer, spelling, a correction, or update lag. The portal has no official recent-release tab and publishes no rule that a former detainee stays visible for a fixed time.

Use a released-first sequence that tests each custody layer. Save names, case numbers, and booking identifiers as they appear in official records. Those details reduce false matches and make a later records request more precise.

1. Search the county lookup by booking number when known, then by full and partial name. Note the portal’s refresh time.
2. Check the 72nd District Court for most preliminary and misdemeanor matters or the 31st Circuit Court for felony proceedings. Look for bond, dismissal, sentencing, commitment, or release entries.
3. If a state prison commitment is plausible, use Michigan OTIS. For federal or immigration custody, use the correct federal locator.
4. Ask the Sheriff Service Bureau for the existing booking and release record, including timestamp, disposition, holds, and destination when maintained and disclosable.

The broader St. Clair County released-inmate search and records path explains how Sheriff, court, MDOC, VINE, and federal evidence fit together. MI-VINE can also provide a prospective custody-change alert while a person is in a participating agency, but an alert is not a certified release record.

Note: Always compare the booking number, court case, and event dates before treating two same-name records as one person.

Detention Center Release Records

The Sheriff Service Bureau maintains inmate records and handles local Freedom of Information Act requests. A useful request seeks existing records rather than asking staff to create an explanation. Identify the person, booking number or approximate booking dates, then request the booking summary, exact release date and time, release authority or disposition, holds shown at release, and any receiving-agency or transfer field that is maintained and open to disclosure.

The Service Bureau accepts a written request at the same address or by fax at 810-966-4302. Records staff can be reached at 810-987-1704, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The county FOIA hub links the current request form, policy, cost itemization, and appeal form. Confirm the current form before sending sensitive identity details.

Published local charges are $5 for the first report page, $1 for each added page, a $15 handling fee, and $1 per photograph placed on CDR. Michigan law calls for a response within five business days through a grant, denial, partial grant, or permitted extension notice. That response period is not a guarantee that records will be produced within five days. Narrow dates and ask for a cost estimate when the request could require a broad search.

A strong request names the record and the custody episode. Include the full name, aliases if known, date of birth when needed to distinguish the person, booking number, and a narrow booking-date range. Ask for the maintained booking summary, release screen, actual exit timestamp, releasing authority or disposition, and any receiving-agency field. The destination matters because release from the St. Clair County building may be a transfer. Requesting existing fields also avoids asking staff to research a question or create a new report.

If a responsive record is partly withheld, the written response should identify the legal basis and appeal route. Juvenile, sealed, personal, or exempt law-enforcement information may not be open. Ask for segregable nonexempt portions rather than assuming that one protected field closes the whole record. The booking photo can be requested for purpose-neutral identification, but it does not establish when custody ended.

Detention Center Custody Profile

The Sheriff’s 2023 Annual Report describes a 491-bed maximum, average daily population of 337, and 3,731 bookings during that year. Bookings count admissions, not releases. The center holds local pretrial detainees, people serving shorter county terms, and contract populations. A judgment and commitment control any one person’s route, so the general county descriptions should not replace the case record.

The public lobby hours shown through the lookup are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Around-the-clock jail staffing does not create a round-the-clock records window or a published release schedule. No official source gives a routine release hour, exit door, family waiting point, or weekend timetable. Call the jail information line for a case-specific operational question, while using the maintained record to confirm the completed event.

The Sheriff traces the office to 1821 and the first county jail to 1827. That history gives local context, but it does not identify the record for a modern release. The current Detention and Intervention Center, its maintained booking data, and the court file govern today’s verification. Historic names or buildings should not be used to route a present records request.

St. Clair Mixed-Custody Releases

St. Clair County’s border location and mixed-custody center make transfer checks unusually important. County and federal sources document local, ICE, BOP, and USMS populations in the same Sheriff-operated building. The federal contract population is a legal-custody layer, not a second jail. A person can share the address with a county detainee while release authority rests with a federal agency.

The official 2022 ICE inspection recorded county, ICE, BOP, and USMS populations and ICE presence at the facility at that time. It is dated evidence, not proof that every contract or population remains unchanged. When the roster entry identifies a federal holder, ask for both the holding authority and the destination. Then use the Federal, ICE, and USMS custody page to choose BOP, ICE, or court verification.

Release

The custodian relinquishes control, sometimes to the community and sometimes to another agency.

Transfer

Physical departure from this jail while custody continues elsewhere.

Detainer

A request or notice tied to another authority that may affect the planned exit.

Discharge

End of a specified sentence or supervision authority, not merely departure from a building.

Detention Center Release Logistics

The county jail page says property inventoried at intake is returned at discharge. Property linked to a transfer is stored for only 30 days, and the facility warns that it is not responsible for personal articles left after discharge or transfer. The remaining inmate-account balance is issued by check after stated medical expenses are deducted. These details are distinct from proof of release and should not be used to infer a date.

Bond placement depends on timing. During county business hours, bond is paid at court. When court is closed, the jail accepts cash and credit cards, subject to its licensed-bonding-agent exception. Bond questions go to the jail information line. Payment may start a local release process, but another hold can prevent community release and the criminal case can remain pending.

Re-entry Case Management, community referrals, mental-health discharge planning, medication-assisted treatment, peer recovery, and RSAT are among the named programs. The 2023 report says release-back-to-community services can arrange behavioral-health treatment and supply bus tickets, clothing, and hygiene kits. It also reports 120 naloxone kits distributed at release or on request that year. These are local service facts, not guaranteed items for each person.

Release support and release proof remain separate. A bus ticket, property check, or referral may follow a community exit, yet none replaces the Sheriff’s timestamp and disposition. For a transfer, the receiving agency’s record completes the chain. Keeping those records separate avoids turning a useful service detail into an unsupported claim about custody.

Note: The Sheriff publishes useful release support details, but no fixed ride, bus route, release time, or benefit is promised.