The Clare County Inmate Population
The official facility map for Clare County identifies one local detention facility: the Clare County Jail, operated by the Clare County Sheriff's Office in Harrison. That jail is the local custody point for people booked after arrest by the sheriff, local police, Michigan State Police, or another agency that brings a detainee into county custody. It also holds people waiting for arraignment, people serving local jail sentences, warrant detainees, and people held for other agencies when the sheriff accepts the hold.
The Clare County inmate population is not the same as the Michigan prison population. A person in pretrial jail custody or serving a short local sentence remains a county jail matter. A person sentenced to the Michigan Department of Corrections moves to the state prison or supervision system and should be searched through OTIS. Federal and immigration custody use still different tools, including the BOP locator and ICE locator. This split matters because no single Clare County search box covers all of those systems.
Clare County Inmate Population Statistics
Clare County does not publish a current daily jail population dashboard in the official county sources reviewed. The strongest numeric source in the research is the Vera Institute Incarceration Trends county dataset, which compiles public jail and prison data. The figures below should be read as dataset figures for the listed year, not as a live count from the sheriff's office.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Total jail population | 168 | Vera Incarceration Trends, 2019 |
| Rated jail capacity | 176 beds | Vera county CSV, 2019 |
| Total pretrial custody | 103 | Vera county CSV, 2019 |
| Total sentenced custody | 65 | Vera county CSV, 2019 |
| Total jail admissions | 497.25 | Vera county CSV, 2019 |
| Total prison population from Clare County | 127 | Vera county CSV, 2019 |
Clare County Jail Population Trends
The Vera pull shows a county jail population that was above rated capacity in 2015 and 2016, then moved closer to the rated bed count in later years. The 2019 row is especially important because it shows 168 people against 176 rated beds. That direct comparison is about 95.5 percent, but it is still a dataset comparison, not a sheriff's formal crowding declaration on a given day.
| Year | Total Jail Population | Rated Capacity | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 219 | 177.33 | Vera reports 140.11 pretrial and 78.89 sentenced custody. |
| 2016 | 237 | 177 | Highest year in the six-year pull. |
| 2017 | 190 | 176.67 | Vera reports 544 admissions. |
| 2018 | 186 | 176.33 | The population remained above rated capacity in the dataset. |
| 2019 | 168 | 176 | Below rated capacity by the annual dataset measure. |
| 2020 | 110.625 | Not populated | The extracted Vera row reports population only. |
State and national context helps frame the trend without changing the Clare County count. The Vera Michigan fact sheet reports long-term growth in Michigan jail populations since 1970, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported a national jail incarceration rate of 198 per 100,000 U.S. residents at midyear 2023. Those are context figures, not Clare County daily population numbers.
Who Is Counted in Clare County Custody
The Clare County inmate population includes several custody groups. Pretrial detainees are people held before their cases are resolved. Sentenced local prisoners are serving jail time rather than a state prison sentence. Other holds can include warrants, court orders, probation or parole matters, and federal custody. Vera's 2019 county row lists 56 people from federal custody, all categorized as U.S. Marshals, and 20 people from other jails.
- Pretrial custody: Vera listed 103 Clare County jail detainees in this category in 2019.
- Sentenced jail custody: Vera listed 65 sentenced local jail prisoners in 2019.
- Federal custody: Vera listed 56 federal custody detainees in 2019, all under U.S. Marshals in the dataset.
- State prison custody: Vera listed 127 people in prison from Clare County in 2019, which is separate from the jail roster.
The demographic breakdown in the 2019 Vera row includes 143 male and 18 female jail population entries, along with race and ethnicity categories reported by the dataset. These figures are useful for population analysis, but they do not identify a current person in custody. For an individual lookup, use the sheriff, FOIA, court, OTIS, BOP, ICE, or VINELink path that matches the custody type.
Clare County Jail Capacity Rules
Michigan law gives several rules that shape jail population access and jail operation. MCL 801.51a addresses county jail population above 95 percent of rated design capacity and the actions that may follow when crowding reaches statutory thresholds. Because Vera's 2019 rounded figure places Clare County near that mark, the safest statement is that the county was close to a statutory capacity threshold in the dataset, not that a formal overcrowding action occurred.
Key Statutes:
MCL 15.231 states Michigan's public policy favoring access to information about government affairs, subject to legal limits.
MCL 15.235 covers FOIA response timing, including the five-business-day response period and possible extension.
MCL 791.262 directs MDOC to supervise and inspect county jails and lockups under sheriff jurisdiction.
MCL 801.4 places prisoner safekeeping and maintenance expenses on the county treasury.
Search Clare County Jail Inmates
No official public Clare County jail roster or sheriff inmate-search portal was located on the county homepage or sheriff page during research. That finding changes the lookup strategy. A Clare County inmate search should begin with official phone and records channels, then move to court and state or federal systems if the person is no longer in local jail custody.
The official sheriff page is the best local starting point because it lists the jail number, command staff, records instructions, Express Account, and HomeWAV links. The screenshot below comes from that official sheriff page and shows why the jail page is useful even without a public roster.
The page supports phone and written-record access, but it does not show a searchable current-inmate list. When a search must confirm a person right now, call the sheriff's office and ask for the jail or control room.
- Call the Clare County Sheriff's Office at (989) 539-7166 and ask for current jail custody information.
- Use control room extension 4238 if the phone system accepts direct extension entry.
- For recent arrests after hours, ask Clare County Central Dispatch at (989) 539-1336 for routing help, not detailed records.
- Submit a written FOIA request for booking records, older custody information, incident reports, or mugshot access.
- Search MiCOURT, OTIS, BOP, ICE, or VINELink when the case has moved beyond county jail custody.
Clare County Inmate Search Fields
Because no official county roster was located, Clare County does not have a public roster search-field table with last name, booking number, or housing-unit filters. The usable fields are the facts a caller or requester can provide. A precise request can reduce confusion when names are common or when a person was arrested on an outside warrant.
| Access Path | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| No official public roster located | N/A | N/A | County and sheriff pages did not publish a searchable jail roster. |
| Phone lookup | Phone call | As requested by staff | Call (989) 539-7166 and ask for jail or control room help. |
| Written records request | FOIA form, email, fax, or mail | Requester and record description | Describe the inmate, booking date, charge, warrant, or case number as specifically as possible. |
Michigan's OTIS locator has more formal search fields for state prisoners, parolees, probationers, and some discharged offenders. OTIS accepts last name, first name, offender number, sex, race, age, offender status, and marks, scars, or tattoos. OTIS does not include county jail inmates or people sentenced only to jail.
What Clare County Inmate Records Show
Clare County did not publish an official public inmate-profile page in the sources reviewed. That means no public county table could verify online booking number, booking time, housing unit, bond per charge, booking photo, or release status fields. The accurate local statement is narrower: those details may exist in jail or court records, but the public path is phone confirmation, MiCOURT, FOIA, or the correct state or federal locator.
| Field | Clare County Public Finding |
|---|---|
| Name | Not inventoried from an official public roster. |
| Booking number | Not located in official public roster sources. |
| Mugshot | No official roster photo gallery was located. |
| Charges | Check jail phone channels, MiCOURT, the prosecutor/courts, or FOIA. |
| Bond | Confirm through the court or jail because no public roster bond table was located. |
| Release or status | Use sheriff, court, FOIA, VINELink, OTIS, BOP, or ICE according to custody level. |
Clare County Court Records After Arrest
After booking, the court record becomes the better source for formal charges. The Clare County courts page lists the 80th District Court and 55th Circuit Court contacts. The County Clerk/Register page also gives circuit-court record search, office hours, public vault search timing, payment links, bondsman information, and clean-slate links.
The official MiCOURT Case Search portal is the statewide case-search path for available trial-court records. Use it to check whether charges have been filed after a Clare County arrest. A booking charge is not the same as a conviction. It may be amended, reduced, dismissed, or replaced after prosecutor review.
The official courts page screenshot below shows the local court structure that matters after a jail arrest.
That court structure is separate from the jail. Use the jail for current custody and the courts for filed charges, hearings, bond orders, and dispositions.
Clare County Jail vs State Prison
A person can leave the Clare County inmate population without being released to the street. After a state prison sentence, custody shifts to MDOC and the statewide OTIS locator becomes the correct search path. No MDOC prison was identified inside Clare County, but nearby state facilities in mid-Michigan may receive people from the region after classification.
| System | Who It Covers | Where to Look |
|---|---|---|
| County jail | Recent arrests, pretrial detainees, local jail sentences, warrants, some holds | Sheriff phone line, control room, FOIA, MiCOURT for charges |
| Michigan state prison | Sentenced prisoners, parolees, probationers, some discharged offenders | MDOC OTIS Search |
| Federal custody | Federal inmates and some people moved after federal sentencing | BOP Inmate Locator |
| Immigration custody | ICE detainees and recent qualifying CBP custody | ICE Online Detainee Locator |
VINELink can also help with custody notifications where Michigan and local agency participation makes records available. Treat it as a notification tool, not as the court record or a substitute for the sheriff.
Clare County Custody Terms
Jail and court records use short terms that are easy to misread. These definitions help separate custody status from charge status.
- Booking
- The jail intake step after arrest, when identity, charges, property, fingerprints, and a booking photo may be recorded.
- Pretrial detainee
- A person held before the criminal case is resolved.
- Detainer
- A request from another agency to hold or notify before release.
- Bond
- Money or conditions set by a court to allow release while the case is pending.
- Disposition
- The outcome of a charge or case, such as dismissed, amended, or convicted.
Clare County Detention Facilities
The facility map identifies one local detention facility for the Clare County inmate population. No city jail, regional jail, state prison, BOP facility, or ICE detention facility was located inside the county from official sources.
- Clare County Jail holds local pretrial detainees, recent arrestees, local sentenced prisoners, warrant detainees, and accepted outside-agency holds.
Once a person is sentenced to state prison, the custody record shifts away from the local jail and into MDOC systems. If a federal or immigration hold is involved, BOP or ICE tools may become relevant after transfer.
Clare County Inmate Population FAQ
Does Clare County have an online inmate roster?
No official public Clare County jail roster was located on the sheriff or county site during research. Use the sheriff's main phone, control room extension, FOIA, MiCOURT, OTIS, BOP, ICE, and VINELink according to the custody question.
How large is the Clare County inmate population?
The best numeric county-level source found was Vera's county dataset. It listed a 2019 total jail population of 168 and rated capacity of 176 beds. Those are dataset figures, not a live sheriff dashboard.
Where are sentenced Clare County prisoners searched?
Search sentenced state prisoners through MDOC OTIS. OTIS covers prisoners, parolees, probationers, and certain discharged offenders, but it does not include county jail inmates or jail-only sentences.
Can VINELink replace a jail call?
No. VINELink can be useful for custody notifications where records are available, but current local custody questions should still be confirmed with the sheriff or jail.
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