Benzie County Jail Roster

The Benzie County jail roster is maintained by the Sheriff's Office in Beulah, Michigan. This roster shows all inmates currently held at the county jail facility. You can search for Benzie County inmates through VINELink or contact the sheriff's office by phone for the most current information. Benzie County is a small county in the northwestern Lower Peninsula along Lake Michigan. The jail roster includes every booking processed by the sheriff's staff, covering arrests from all law enforcement agencies in the county.

Benzie County Sheriff and Jail

The Benzie County Sheriff's Office operates the county jail in Beulah. Under MCL 800.7, the sheriff has charge and custody of the jail facility. The sheriff's staff handle all aspects of the jail, from taking in new inmates to releasing them when their time is done or bond is posted.

Benzie County is one of the smallest counties in Michigan by area. The jail is sized to match the local needs. Most inmates held here are pretrial detainees or people serving short misdemeanor sentences. The facility also holds inmates on warrants from other agencies. Every person who goes through booking at the Benzie County jail gets an entry on the jail roster. The roster is a running list of who is in the facility at any given time.

Search Benzie County Inmates Online

VINELink is the best free option for checking the Benzie County jail roster online. Select Michigan, then choose the Benzie County facility. Enter the last name of the person you are looking for. Results show custody status right away. The service is free and runs all day, every day.

Signing up for VINELink alerts is a smart move if you need to track an inmate. Register after finding the person in the system. You get a call, text, or email when their status changes. If someone bonds out of the Benzie County jail at midnight, you know about it. No need to keep refreshing the search.

Phone calls to the sheriff's office are always an option. Staff can confirm whether someone is in custody and share details about charges and bond. This is the most direct way to get current information about the Benzie County jail roster.

For people in state custody rather than county jail, the OTIS system from the Michigan Department of Corrections is the tool to use. It tracks prisoners, parolees, and probationers at the state level. Records remain on OTIS for three years after an offender is discharged.

Note: Not all Michigan counties have the same level of VINELink coverage, but Benzie County participates in the system.

Benzie County Booking Information

The booking process creates the record that feeds the Benzie County jail roster. When jail staff process a new arrest, they collect the inmate's personal information. Name, date of birth, height, weight, hair color, eye color. A mugshot gets taken. Charges are entered from what the arresting officer documented. All of this goes into the booking record.

MCL 800.13 requires the sheriff to keep records of all prisoners committed to the jail. The law specifies that the name, date and cause of commitment, and the committing authority must be documented. These are legal requirements, not suggestions. The Benzie County jail roster is built from these individual booking records.

Booking photos are public records in Michigan. The court in Patterson v. Allegan County Sheriff ruled that mugshots cannot be kept from the public under FOIA's privacy exemption. You have the right to request booking photos from the Benzie County Sheriff's Office.

FOIA Requests for Benzie County Records

Want jail records from Benzie County? Michigan's Freedom of Information Act gives you access. Under MCL 15.233, submit a written request to the FOIA coordinator at the sheriff's office. Describe the records you want. Be specific. The office must respond within five business days. Extensions of up to ten days are allowed.

Copy fees run about ten to twenty-five cents per page under MCL 15.234. The first twenty dollars of labor for searching is free. After that, the county can bill at its actual rate. Mailing costs actual postage. These fee limits are set by state law and apply to all public bodies in Michigan, including the Benzie County Sheriff's Office.

Exemptions exist under MCL 15.243. Medical records, active investigation materials, and jail security information can be withheld. Standard jail roster data is not exempt. The ACLU v. Calhoun County case in 2022 reinforced that only statutes can create FOIA exemptions. Federal regulations do not qualify. This ruling strengthened public access to jail records across the state.

Benzie County Criminal Records Tools

The ICHAT system from Michigan State Police offers criminal history searches. Each search costs ten dollars. It pulls records from agencies statewide, covering felonies and serious misdemeanors. Court records from the 19th Circuit Court, which serves Benzie County, are searchable through MiCOURT. You can look up case numbers, hearing dates, and outcomes there.

The Michigan Sex Offender Registry is free. You can search by name or location to find registered offenders in Benzie County or anywhere in the state. These statewide tools work alongside the jail roster to give a more complete picture of someone's criminal history.

The VINELink search portal covers Michigan jails including Benzie County. The site is shown below.

Choose Michigan and then Benzie County to check current inmate status in the county jail.

Nearby Counties

Benzie County is in the northwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula. These neighboring counties each run their own jail with a separate roster.