The Columbia County Inmate Population
The Columbia County inmate population has two local meanings. The first is the county jail population held by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office at the Columbia County Jail in Portage. That group includes people arrested in Columbia County, defendants waiting for court action, sentenced county jail inmates, and Huber or work-release participants. The second is the state prison population physically housed in Columbia County at Columbia Correctional Institution. Those people are adult male felons in Wisconsin Department of Corrections custody, not county jail inmates.
This distinction matters before any lookup starts. The Sheriff's Office booking report can show a recent jail booking event, but the county warns that the report is not proof of current custody because many people are released soon after booking. Current county jail custody is checked through the sheriff's VINE page or the Wisconsin VINE system. Sentenced state prisoners are searched through the Wisconsin DOC locator. Federal and immigration detainees use separate federal tools.
Columbia County Inmate Population Statistics
The strongest local jail population source in the research is the 2024 Columbia County Jail PREA/PBEA report. It listed a 2024 average daily population of 132 people, made up of 112 male inmates and 20 female inmates. On December 31, 2024, the jail reported 105 male inmates and 18 female inmates, for a year-end count of 123. The Sheriff's jail page describes 165 secure jail bunks and a separate Huber Center with 192 more beds.
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Secure jail bunks | 165 | Sheriff's County Jail page, inspected July 2026 |
| Huber Center capacity | 192 | Sheriff's County Jail page |
| Total 2024 jail ADP | 132 | 2024 Columbia County Jail PREA/PBEA report |
| Total inmates on Dec. 31, 2024 | 123 | 2024 Columbia County Jail PREA/PBEA report |
| Adult jail admissions, 2025 | 2,813 | Wisconsin DOC Office of Detention Facilities annual report |
| County 2024 population | 59,196 | Columbia County official county profile |
Columbia County Jail Capacity
The Columbia County Jail should not be reduced to one plain bed number. The sheriff's jail page describes a secure jail with 165 total bunks and a Huber Center that can hold 192 additional inmates. The secure jail has intake and holding or special cells on the first floor, secure male housing on the second floor, and more secure male housing plus female housing on the third floor. The Huber Center opened in 2005 and is tied to work-release and sentenced-jail programming.
Using the 2024 ADP of 132, the jail's average count was about 80 percent of the secure-jail bunks and about 37 percent of the combined secure and Huber bunk count. That does not prove the jail was over or under capacity in every housing unit. Huber beds and secure beds serve different custody levels. No official consent decree, active overcrowding order, or current local jail construction plan was located in the research materials.
The Columbia County Jail page shows the facility context behind those numbers.
The jail page is the source for the secure-bunk, Huber Center, floor-layout, and staffing details used to describe the local Columbia County inmate population.
Columbia County Booking Trends
Admissions show how many adults entered the county jail system in a year. They are not the same as the daily inmate population, because one person may be booked and released quickly while another may remain in custody for months. Wisconsin DOC Office of Detention Facilities data shows Columbia County adult jail admissions fell sharply in 2020 and then returned to a more stable post-2020 range.
The trend is useful for context, but it should not be read as a live head count. A high admissions year can still have a moderate daily population if many people bond out, serve short commitments, or move to another custody system quickly. Likewise, the Columbia County inmate population on any given day can be affected by weekend arrests, court calendars, Huber eligibility, probation or parole holds, and transfers to DOC after sentencing.
| Year | Adult jail admissions | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 3,027 | ODF Table 1 |
| 2019 | 3,099 | Highest in the 2018-2025 period |
| 2020 | 2,315 | Pandemic-era drop |
| 2021 | 2,692 | Admissions rebounded |
| 2022 | 2,687 | Nearly flat from 2021 |
| 2023 | 2,675 | Slightly below 2021-2022 |
| 2024 | 2,797 | Increase from 2023 |
| 2025 | 2,813 | Up 0.6 percent from 2024 |
Who Counts in Columbia County
The county jail population includes more than one legal status. A person may be booked after an arrest, held while waiting for a first appearance, kept in jail after bond is set, serving a county jail sentence, or housed in the Huber Center under work-release rules. The research did not locate a Columbia County breakdown by pretrial status, felony versus misdemeanor, race, age group, or hold type. Those splits should not be guessed.
Gender was reported in the 2024 PREA/PBEA material. The annual ADP was 112 male and 20 female, about 85 percent male and 15 percent female. The same rough split appeared in the December 31, 2024 count. The state prison population at Columbia Correctional Institution is different. CCI is an adult male DOC prison, so people there are searched in DOC data and are not part of the sheriff's jail roster or booking report.
Custody flow: Arrest or warrant service leads to jail booking; court and bond decide short-term custody; a state prison sentence moves the person into DOC lookup.
Columbia County Jail Records Law
Wisconsin public-records law supplies the access framework for booking records, jail records, and many sheriff records. It does not mean every detail is posted online or released without review. Columbia County's Records page states that records can be redacted under Wisconsin Statutes ch. 19 and other laws, and that personal or highly restricted personal information may be removed unless the requester meets DPPA permissible-use rules.
Wis. Stat. section 19.31 declares Wisconsin's presumption of public access to government records.
Wis. Stat. section 19.35 governs requests, inspection, copies, and permitted fees.
Wis. Stat. section 59.27(1) places the county jail and persons in it under the sheriff's charge and custody.
Wis. Admin. Code ch. DOC 350 sets minimum standards for Wisconsin jails and houses of correction.
Search Columbia County Inmates
A Columbia County inmate search should start with the person's legal status. For a recent arrest, use the Sheriff's Jail Bookings page to see whether a booking event was posted. Then use VINE or call the jail to confirm current custody. For a sentenced state prisoner, use the Wisconsin DOC locator. For a federal sentence, use the BOP locator. For immigration detention, use ICE ODLS.
- Check the Columbia County Jail Bookings page for a recent booking event.
- Use Wisconsin VINE or the VINE operator line to confirm current county jail custody.
- Call the Columbia County Jail if the online custody channel does not answer the question.
- Search WCCA when the prosecutor has filed a court case after the arrest.
- Move to DOC, BOP, or ICE tools when the person is outside county jail custody.
The sheriff's booking page is still useful because it can show the booking type, offense date, statute, and booking time. Its warning must stay attached to the result: booking does not equal current custody.
Columbia County Booking Fields
The public booking report is a report, not a searchable current-inmate roster. It provides a recent booking log and a Web Daily Bookings area. The research captured the following fields from the booking report and PDF.
| Field | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inmate Name | Report field | Last-name-first format |
| Name Number | Report field | Numeric jail or person identifier |
| Age | Report field | Age at booking or report time |
| Address | Report field | May be city, state, ZIP, or address line |
| Booking Type | Report field | May show serving sentence or another booking category |
| Statute and offense | Report fields | Wisconsin statute number and offense label |
| Date/Time | Report field | Booking date and time |
The official Jail Bookings page is the source for the booking report and its custody warning.
The page points readers toward the booking report while making clear that VINE is the current custody path for Columbia County jail inmates.
County Jail vs State Prison
County jail and state prison records answer different questions. The Columbia County Jail covers arrests, pretrial detention, short county sentences, Huber, and local jail custody. Columbia Correctional Institution is a Wisconsin DOC prison for adult male felons. A person sentenced to DOC custody may pass out of county jail tracking even when they are later housed in Portage at CCI.
| Question | County Jail | State DOC |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it? | Columbia County Sheriff's Office | Wisconsin Department of Corrections |
| Who is covered? | Local arrests, pretrial, county sentence, Huber | Sentenced DOC prisoners and supervision |
| Main lookup | Bookings report plus VINE for current custody | DOC Inmate and Offender Search |
| Local facility | Columbia County Jail | Columbia Correctional Institution |
Columbia County Detention Facilities
Two detention facilities define the Columbia County inmate population map. One is the county jail used after local arrests. The other is a state prison operated by DOC. They sit in the same county, but they use different lookup systems, contact rules, mail rules, and visiting rules.
- Columbia County Jail holds people arrested in Columbia County, pretrial detainees, sentenced county jail inmates, and Huber participants.
- Columbia Correctional Institution is a Wisconsin DOC prison for adult male felons committed to state custody.
Past Columbia County Records
Released or older booking records may not remain easy to find on the public booking page. The documented fallback is the Sheriff's Records unit. Requesters can use the official records page, email openrecords@columbiacountywi.gov, or call the Sheriff's Office at (608) 742-4166 and select extension 2. A useful request gives the person's name, date of birth if known, booking date or event date, case number if known, and the exact record sought.
The Sheriff's Records page describes the request and redaction process.
That route is the local source for booking records, incident reports, and booking photos that are not posted in the daily booking report.
Columbia County Inmate Population FAQ
How large is the Columbia County inmate population?
The best located local ADP figure is 132 for 2024, from the Columbia County Jail PREA/PBEA report. That count is jail ADP, not a count of all people in DOC custody at Columbia Correctional Institution.
Does Columbia County have a live jail roster?
The sheriff posts a daily Jail Bookings report, but the county says it is not proof of current custody. VINE and the jail phone line are the current custody paths.
Where are sentenced state prisoners searched?
Use the Wisconsin DOC locator. It covers people sentenced to DOC incarceration or supervision, not ordinary county jail sentences or juveniles.
Can booking photos be browsed online?
No official Columbia County mugshot gallery was located in the research. The inspected booking report showed booking data, not photos.