La Crosse County WI Main Jail

La Crosse County WI Main Jail basic information to help guide you through what you can do for your inmate while they are incarcerated. The facility's direct contact number: 608-785-9630

The La Crosse County WI Main Jail is a medium-security detention center located at 333 Vine St in La Crosse, WI. This county jail is operated locally by the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office and holds inmates awaiting trial or sentencing. Most of the sentenced inmates are here for less than two years. La Crosse County accepts inmates from surrounding towns, municipalities, the US Marshal's Service and the La Crosse Police Department who do not have their own long-term lock-up.

There are new detainees delivered to the jail daily, you can see arrest records here. Some are released after putting up bail, are released to a pretrial services caseload, are placed under supervision by a probation agency, or are released on their own recognizance with an agreement to appear in court. If there is no release, the inmate must wait here at the jail for their court appearance as a guest of the County, getting a bed and three square meals.

Trustees are inmates who work in the jail as cooks, as orderlies for the staff, in the laundry or in the commissary. The trustees are paid a very small amount for their time and some jail gives the trustees a few days off their sentence in exchange for their work.

When an inmate arrives in jail they are put together in a large holding cell with other inmates in the intake. While in intake they are under heightened observation. Violent and out of control inmates are segregated.

Can I Get Work Release?

Work release is when you are released from jail during the day so that you can go to work. At the end of the day, you return to jail for the night. There are a number of requirements to be able to get into the work-release program. Most programs require your employer to fill out some paperwork. If you want to get into the work release program then apply prior to being sentenced to jail. This will minimize the amount of time you spend in jail waiting to get into the program.

Can I call my family in Jail?

La Crosse County WI Main Jail has a phone program where inmates make outbound calls only, you cannot call into jail. Since you are paying for those calls don't make it a habit of accepting collect-calls, they are over $15 each. The alternative is to set up an account through their third-party phone company which charges steep fees for each minute used. You are paying for them to call you. Click here if you are going to speak a lot and need a discount on the calls.

Remember - These phone calls are recorded and conversations can be used against you or the inmate so do not discuss your case over these phone lines.

The first jail was built in La Crosse County in 1858 and over the years the location and size of the jail changed to meet the needs of the justice system. In 1965 the 4th Street jail, designed for male and female, adult and juvenile inmates, opened on the second floor of the current Administrative Center. The linear jail was originally created with 60 beds plus 10 receiving cells. As the jail population grew, an area of the first floor in the Administrative Center was remodeled as a 54-bed male Huber facility. Huber inmates are given the privilege of leaving the jail to go to work, counseling, school or treatment. They must submit a schedule of their activities, have it verified and approved before they may be released. Juveniles were moved out of the jail and into a new Juvenile Detention Facility that opened in 1990. Again the population grew and in 1992 the former Montgomery Ward's Service Center, across the street from the 4th Street jail, was remodeled "temporarily" as a 110-bed male Huber facility. The old first floor Huber area became a "Medium Security" area for male inmates in the still overcrowded second-floor jail.

As the jail population continued to increase, a decision was made to build a new Law Enforcement building which would provide housing for inmates along with the offices and space for the Sheriff's Dept., 911 Dispatch, Court System and District Attorney. The original plan included a jail facility in excess of 400 beds. The final building provided 172 beds in the 8-pod (17 to 30 beds per pod) housing unit on the second floor of the Law Enforcement Center and 23 receiving cells with a 7-bed medical area on the lower level.

The new jail in the Law Enforcement Center opened in September of 1997. Due to lack of space and the need for inmates to be housed utilizing objective classification (a system of housing assignments based on current charges, past criminal and jail behavior records), the female population remained in the old second floor 4th Street jail. The County Board authorized necessary repairs to be made to comply with state mandates and passed a resolution to limit the number of females to be held in the facility at a maximum of 39. The "Medium Security" area in the Administrative Center was closed and the "temporary" Male Huber Facility remained operational for a total bed capacity of 321. On January 1, 2006 the Male Huber Facility was closed; the bed capacity was reduced to 211.

In November of 2008, the ground was broken for a $29.5 million addition to the 1997 Law Enforcement Center. Jail expansion plans included a new kitchen, jail garage, booking, master control, two 57-bed direct supervision blocks, increased program space, and remodeling of three existing housing blocks along with the medical and receiving holding cell area of the existing jail. On 02/23/11 the old 1960's "Female Jail" closed and all inmates were housed in the Law Enforcement Center Jail with a bed capacity of 274 plus 49 receiving/medical and close supervision cells.