Where Houghton Facility Releases Go
The Houghton County Corrections Facility is the county jail operated by the Houghton County Sheriff’s Office. A departure from this building can lead to the community after bond, a judge’s release order, dismissal, or completion of a jail term. It can also lead to the Work Camp, another county, tribal custody, a state prison, or a federal custodian. Only the first group is a community release.
The jail’s departure entry answers the physical question: when did the person leave this facility, under what recorded authority, and what destination or status was entered? A MiCOURT docket can explain the bond, dismissal, sentence, or later court order. If the person was committed to the Michigan Department of Corrections, OTIS becomes relevant after MDOC assumes jurisdiction. OTIS does not cover a person whose only custody was a county jail sentence.
A transfer is not a release. Ask whether the destination was the community or another agency before describing the event.
Confirm a Houghton Facility Release
Houghton County publishes no official browser roster or recent-release feed. The direct route is a Corrections call, followed by the record that fits the event. Have the full name, date of birth if known, approximate booking dates, and any case or booking number ready. The broader Houghton County released-inmate search and records guide explains how the systems fit together.
- Call Corrections and ask whether the person remains physically housed at the jail or Work Camp.
- If the person left, ask for the date and time, release type or authority, and whether the recorded destination was the community or another custodian.
- Search MiCOURT in the 97th District Court. For a felony that was bound over, also check the 12th Circuit Court for the final judgment or commitment.
- Check MI-VINE for a custody event only if a matching Houghton record is available. Verify any alert with the Sheriff and court.
- If the destination was MDOC, use OTIS for the state status and assigned location. Do not call a state transfer a jail release to the community.
- Request the existing booking card and inmate release form when an exact timestamp or durable record is needed.
A phone answer is useful for current status, but it is not a certified record. Likewise, a bond payment or court docket entry may show why release could occur without proving that door processing is complete.
Note: Corrections can give a current status route, but a written release entry provides the more durable record.
Houghton Facility Records and Contact
The official facility contact is the best first stop for a same-day custody question. The Sheriff’s FOIA route is the better channel when the requester needs the actual release form, booking record, or transfer entry.
| Facility | Houghton County Corrections Facility |
|---|---|
| Address | 403 East Houghton Avenue, Houghton, MI 49931 |
| Corrections | 906-482-1742 |
| Sheriff office | 906-482-0055 |
| Fax | 906-487-5949 |
| Directory hours | Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. |
Use the Sheriff’s official FOIA request form. Describe the existing record and a narrow date range. A useful request names the person and asks for the booking card, release date and time, release authority or type, community-release or transfer status, receiving agency when public, bond document, and associated transfer paper. Electronic delivery can be requested where practical.
Houghton Corrections Facility Profile
The Sheriff describes this as a 28-bed county jail at the rear of the Sheriff’s Office. Published staffing is nine full-time and six part-time corrections officers. The facility may house people for the Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Office and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Court when a bed is available. It does not house juveniles.
When Houghton holds someone for Keweenaw County or the tribal court, the physical departure record may be held by Houghton while the originating case and authority remain with the other agency. That split makes it especially important to ask which court or custodian controlled the next step.
The adult jail expressly excludes juveniles. A juvenile matter belongs in the Probate and Family Court system and should not be traced through an adult released-inmate search. This boundary also explains why the absence of a juvenile name from Houghton Corrections records supplies no release evidence.
What a Houghton Release Record Shows
There is no one universal released-inmate certificate. For this county jail, the most useful evidence is usually the booking or jail-register entry paired with the release form. The court record supplies legal authority, while another agency’s record may be needed if custody continued elsewhere.
| Requested field | What it helps establish |
|---|---|
| Booking number and admission time | Which confinement event the release belongs to |
| Arresting or committing agency | Which office began or controlled the custody chain |
| Court and case number | Where to find the bond, judgment, or release authority |
| Release date and time | When the jail recorded the physical departure |
| Release type or authority | Whether bond, order, sentence completion, or another basis applied |
| Destination or receiving agency | Whether custody ended or continued through transfer |
Not every field will exist or be public. Michigan FOIA applies to existing records, so a focused request should ask for the held document and listed fields rather than asking staff to write a new explanation.
Note: Request fields by name because Michigan FOIA does not require the Sheriff to create a new release summary.
Official Houghton Jail Source
The Sheriff’s Corrections page is the official source for the facility description and contact route.
The page confirms the local facility and Corrections contact, but it does not provide a public roster, a release list, or a release archive.
Houghton Release Search Boundaries
MiCOURT, MI-VINE, OTIS, and federal locators answer different questions. MiCOURT can show a court action but may lag the physical event. MI-VINE may report a participating agency’s release or transfer notice, yet current Houghton participation and released-result retention were not independently proven. A missing result should lead back to Corrections, not to a conclusion.
OTIS is for MDOC prisoners, parolees, probationers, and recently discharged people within its public display rules. It excludes jail-only custody. The BOP locator covers federal custody, and ICE ODLS covers current ICE detention plus certain recent releases. Neither is a substitute for the Houghton County jail form.
A person can leave Houghton on a state commitment, federal writ, immigration hold, tribal pickup, or another county transfer while still confined. The receiving system must be checked before the event is described as release to the community.
Houghton Jail Release Record Retention
Michigan General Schedule 11 describes a jail inmate jacket that may contain intake material, booking cards, mug shots, sentencing and court records, release forms, property forms, transfer papers, bonds, warrants, and related papers. Category 11.210 retains that jacket until release plus ten years. Retention means a record may still be held. It does not promise that each listed item exists or must be disclosed without review.
The Sheriff’s page does not publish a local web-retention period because it has no official browser roster or recent-release archive. This is why an older Houghton County Corrections Facility event should be pursued through a targeted FOIA request instead of an unofficial roster mirror.
Michigan FOIA permits requests for existing nonexempt records but does not require the County to create a new release list or answer research questions.
Note: Inmate-jacket retention does not make every field public or place any record in an online archive.
Current Houghton Custody Services
The Corrections Facility describes video visitation around the clock and says there is no in-person visitation. Weekend video visits are described as free. These services concern a person who is still in custody. They should not be used as evidence that a release occurred or failed to occur.
The jail also identifies counseling, clergy services, and self-management work intended to assist people for release. Participation may support preparation, but it is not a release order, a release timestamp, or proof that supervision has ended. Confirm the actual event through Corrections, the court, and the release form.
Houghton Custody Map and Jail History
Houghton County says jail replacement has been discussed since 1983. Proposals were defeated in 2000, 2010, 2018, and 2025. That history helps explain why the present local map remains a small county jail paired with the separate Work Camp. Planning references to a larger future facility are not present capacity and do not create a new place to search.
The current map is the 28-bed Houghton County Corrections Facility and the 26-bed Houghton County Work Camp. Former MDOC Camp Kitwen in Painesdale has been vacant since 2009. It is historical property, not operating custody, and no released-inmate lookup should be directed there.
The sibling Houghton County Work Camp release guide explains why an approved work trip is still county custody and how to confirm a later final discharge.