# Sheriff Joel Brott *Sheriff of Sherburne County, Minnesota; named in five at-issue pairs in the project's record.* Joel Brott is identified in the project's record as the [[sheriff]] of Sherburne County, Minnesota. The [[Sherburne County Jail]] held federal immigration detainees under his administration.[^1] The record names him in five at-issue pairs, each setting two documented items side by side. The pairs concern five subjects: - the jail's average daily count of ICE detainees, set beside the county attorney's diversion referrals;[^1] - a 2019 public statement by Brott about detainees' criminal histories, set beside federal detention records;[^2] - a jail mail policy that ended in a $98,000 federal settlement naming Brott personally;[^3] - a clinic nurse's written staffing warning to Brott in 2022;[^4] - the Chapter 11 filing of a jail vendor after the county replaced it.[^5] Each pair is keyed in the pack to a White House presidential action that serves as its anchor document. The reporting, filings and data the pairs rest on are identified in the rows only by domain: prisonlegalnews.org, kare11.com, startribune.com, detentionreports.com, hometownsource.com and lrl.mn.gov. Their URLs are not among the pack's citable sources, so the figures below are stated as the at-issue record gives them.[^1][^3] The record does not establish the reasons for the decisions it describes. ## Who - The at-issue record identifies Brott as the sheriff whose jail averaged 131 ICE detainees a day across a nineteen-year run.[^1] - A federal suit over the jail's mail policy named Sherburne County and Brott personally. It was settled on May 11, 2021.[^3] - A registered nurse in the jail clinic addressed her May 2022 staffing warning to three people: her supervisor, Brott, and the owner of the medical vendor.[^4] - When the county replaced a jail vendor, Brott declined to comment.[^5] - The same package names [[Kathleen Heaney]] as the Sherburne [[county attorney]]. Her office's [[adult diversion program]] is the comparison figure in the detention pair.[^1] ## What - **Detention statement.** In 2019, defending the jail's expansion, Brott said 75% of ICE detainees had prior criminal convictions.[^2] - **Mail policy.** From June 2019 the jail classified incoming newspapers and magazines as contraband. The general population received a single shared copy of the [[Star Tribune]], and segregated prisoners received nothing. The record states that the publisher was given no notice that its mail was being destroyed and so could not challenge the decision.[^3] - **Staffing warning.** The nurse wrote: "The current staffing levels put the patients and my license at risk." She was ten days behind on sick calls and two months behind on health assessments.[^4] ## When - **December 2018:** Federal records show Sherburne holding 307 ICE detainees.[^2] - **2019:** Brott made his public statement on detainees' convictions.[^2] - **June 2019:** The jail's contraband classification of publications began.[^3] - **2020:** The county attorney's adult diversion program referred four people.[^1] - **May 11, 2021:** The mail-policy suit was settled.[^3] - **May 4 and 5, 2022:** The nurse sent her emails. She resigned the next day.[^4] - **July 2026:** The record gives the most recent detention figures.[^2] - **Undated:** The vendor filed for [[Chapter 11]] after the county replaced it. The record does not date either event.[^5] ## How much - The mail-policy suit was settled for $98,000, plus a policy rewrite.[^3] - In its Chapter 11 filing the vendor claimed roughly $1.3 million in debts, more than half of it owed to law firms. Its owner listed himself as a creditor for $240,000.[^5] ## How many - **December 2018:** Sherburne held 307 detainees, of whom 109 had no criminal conviction.[^2] - **July 2026:** The record shows 47 detainees with criminal records and 76 without.[^2] - **Daily average:** The jail averaged 131 ICE detainees a day across a nineteen-year run.[^1] - **Diversion referrals:** The county attorney's adult diversion program referred four people in 2020.[^1] - **Clinic vendor:** The vendor had held the Sherburne contract for sixteen years when the nurse resigned.[^4] ## In the at-issue record - **AI-Sherburne-003.** The pair sets four diversion referrals in 2020 beside the jail's 131-a-day average of ICE detainees. The record states that both figures come from the officeholders' own filings. Its anchor note describes them as two ledgers in one courthouse, never reconciled to each other.[^1] - **AI-Sherburne-007.** Brott's 2019 statement that 75% of ICE detainees had prior convictions is set beside federal data for December 2018, which show 109 of 307 detainees with no criminal conviction. The pair adds the July 2026 figures of 47 detainees with criminal records and 76 without.[^2] - **AI-Sherburne-008.** The jail's 2019 contraband classification of publications is set beside the federal suit that named the county and Brott personally. The record flags the matter as adjudicated by settlement: $98,000 and a policy rewrite on May 11, 2021.[^3] - **AI-Sherburne-011.** The nurse's May 4–5, 2022 warning to Brott and the vendor's owner is set beside her backlog and her resignation the next day. The vendor had held the contract for sixteen years.[^4] - **AI-Sherburne-013.** Brott declined to comment when the county replaced the vendor. This is set beside the vendor's subsequent Chapter 11 filing, which claimed roughly $1.3 million in debts and listed $240,000 owed to its owner.[^5] ## Notes [^1]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — anchor document for at-issue pair AI-Sherburne-003 (diversion referrals and ICE detention average); the pair's underlying sources (hometownsource.com; lrl.mn.gov) are not in the pack's citable set. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^2]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — anchor document for at-issue pair AI-Sherburne-007 (Brott's 2019 statement; December 2018 and July 2026 detention figures); the pair's underlying sources (detentionreports.com; startribune.com) are not in the pack's citable set. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^3]: The White House, *Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos* (March 2025) — anchor document for at-issue pair AI-Sherburne-008 (jail mail policy; federal suit settled May 11, 2021, for $98,000); the pair's underlying source (prisonlegalnews.org) is not in the pack's citable set. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/stopping-waste-fraud-and-abuse-by-eliminating-information-silos/ [^4]: The White House, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026) — anchor document for at-issue pair AI-Sherburne-011 (nurse's May 4–5, 2022 staffing emails; vendor's sixteen-year contract); the pair's underlying source (kare11.com) is not in the pack's citable set. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/ [^5]: The White House, *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System* (May 2026) — anchor document for at-issue pair AI-Sherburne-013 (vendor replacement; Chapter 11 debts of roughly $1.3 million; $240,000 owner claim); the pair's underlying sources (kare11.com; startribune.com) are not in the pack's citable set. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/