La Plata Detention Overview
San Juan County's sheriff page states that San Juan County has no jail and contracts with La Plata County for jail services. La Plata County Detention Facility is therefore the primary jail-service facility for San Juan County arrestees who must be held in custody. It is operated by the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, Detentions Division, and it is a county detention facility rather than a state prison.
The facility holds La Plata County detainees and San Juan County detainees under the jail-services contract. The population may include pretrial defendants, people serving local sentences, persons with holds, and inmates awaiting transfer. No official San Juan source reviewed published a separate local San Juan jail capacity, because that jail does not exist. A La Plata sheriff letter in official Durango records did reference population pressure and a 170-inmate threshold for acceptance limits, so capacity context should be tied to La Plata operations.
La Plata Facility Population
The facility map records La Plata County Detention Facility as the one detention facility serving this San Juan County site. Published details did not include a full capacity table, housing-unit map, construction year, or official San Juan average daily population. The useful population fact is that San Juan County detainees are part of a contracted regional jail population in Durango.
Because the exact San Juan share of La Plata's jail population was not found in official sources, do not read a La Plata population count as a San Juan-only count. The San Juan County inmate population is a functional custody path spread across the contracted jail, CDOC after prison sentencing, and federal systems when those apply.
Look Up La Plata Inmates
The official La Plata County Detentions inmate-search page does not publish a native San Juan roster. It sends users to VINELink for people in custody at La Plata County jail, CDOC for Colorado prison custody, and ICE for immigration custody. For a San Juan County arrest, this is the correct jail lookup route once the person has been transported to the contracted facility.
- Open La Plata County's inmate-search page and choose the current jail custody route.
- Use VINELink, select Colorado, and search by name or offender information when available.
- Open More Info for a matching record and save the Offender ID if bond or deposits may be needed.
- If no jail result appears, check CDOC for sentenced state prison custody.
- Use BOP for federal custody and ICE ODLS for immigration custody.
VINELink is useful for current custody, but it does not replace court records. Court charges after a San Juan County arrest are handled through the Colorado Judicial Branch San Juan County page and records request route.
La Plata Jail Contact
The official La Plata jail contact page identifies the jail contact channel, public phone, fax, and facility address. It also provides an online question/comment form and warns that communications through that form may be public documents subject to the Colorado Open Records Act. For San Juan arrest reports or local criminal justice records, the San Juan County Sheriff's Office remains the local records custodian.
The La Plata jail contact screenshot matches the public facility address and contact line used for San Juan County detainees held in Durango.
This contact source is separate from the San Juan Sheriff's Office records route, which remains the local channel for San Juan arrest reports.
La Plata County Detention Facility
742 Turner Drive
Durango, CO 81303
970-247-1161, ext. 2
Fax: 970-382-7001
San Juan County Sheriff's Office
1557 Greene St. / P.O. Box 178
Silverton, CO 81433
970-387-5531
sheriffsoffice@sanjuancolorado.us
Visit La Plata Detainees
La Plata's visitation page is video-visitation oriented and points users to JailATM for account setup and visit services. Visitors must be 18 unless accompanied by an adult, and children cannot be left unattended. On-site visits are limited to two visitors at a time, with an exception for a child under age two on a visitor's lap.
Bags, purses, cell phones, electronics, and personal items are not allowed in the visitation area except keys and identification. Dress and conduct rules are enforced. The facility can deny, cancel, or terminate a video visit because of court orders, emergencies, misconduct, restrictions, or rule violations.
| Rule | Official Detail |
|---|---|
| Account/vendor | JailATM is linked for tablet information, messages, photos, and visitation. |
| Age | Visitors must be 18 unless accompanied by an adult. |
| Visitor limit | On-site visitors are limited to two at a time, with a child-under-two lap exception. |
| Items barred | No bags, purses, phones, electronics, or personal items except keys and identification. |
| Conduct | Disruption, nudity, provocative behavior, or equipment damage can end a visit or bar future visits. |
Mail Phone Money
La Plata separates personal mail, legal mail, money orders, electronic deposits, phone funds, and tablet services. Personal letters and photos use a Jonesboro, Arkansas processing address. Legal mail and money orders still use the Durango jail address. The mail page says books and magazines are not accepted for inmates effective September 1, 2024, while tablets and the in-house library remain available.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| Personal mail | La Plata County Jail, inmate name and inmate name number, P.O. Box 16120, Jonesboro, AR 72401. |
| Legal mail | Inmate's Name, c/o La Plata County Jail, 742 Turner Drive, Durango, CO 81303. |
| Money orders | Inmate Payments, c/o La Plata County Jail, 742 Turner Drive, Durango, CO 81303. |
| Deposits | Lobby kiosk with cash, credit, or debit; phone deposits at 1-866-232-1899; online TouchPay portal. |
| Debt allocation | If jail debt exists, 60 percent of each deposit goes to debt and 40 percent to commissary or phone time until paid. |
| Phone and tablets | TouchPayDirect for phone-call funds, IC Solutions prepaid support, and GettingOut for tablet messages, photos, mail, and visits. |
La Plata's phone/tablet page warns that messages, photos, phone calls, mail, and visits are subject to recording and monitoring at any time. It also says inmates have access to individual tablets in each cell block.
Bond at La Plata
La Plata's official bond page lists TouchPay online deposits, the jail-lobby kiosk, bondsmen, and exact cash. The online or kiosk path requires the Offender ID from VINELink More Info. If cash is used, it must be exact because the jail cannot make change. A hold, court order, wrong ID, or changed bond condition can prevent a deposit from releasing the person.
| Bond Method | Detail |
|---|---|
| Online | TouchPay online bond/account path linked from official La Plata pages. |
| Kiosk | Jail-lobby kiosk can accept bond/account payments where allowed. |
| Bondsman | Private surety option listed by the jail as a bond route. |
| Exact cash | Cash must be exact because jail staff cannot make change. |
Booking and Intake
A San Juan County arrest may begin with a deputy or local law-enforcement action in Silverton or elsewhere in the county. If custody is required, the detention path moves to La Plata County Detention Facility. Booking creates custody records, but it is not the same as a court conviction. Formal charges are filed and tracked through the San Juan County court system and the 6th Judicial District prosecution process.
For users, the practical flow is arrest, transport if jail custody is required, booking at the contracted facility, first appearance or court review, bond or hold decision, and then release, local jail custody, transfer, or sentencing. A jail profile may answer custody status, while a court docket answers charge status.
About La Plata Detention
La Plata's detention menu includes inmate search, bond, courthouse security, phone and tablet services, mail and books, money, property release, visitation, and work release. Work release reopened July 1, 2022, and applications must be received at least three weeks before the court-ordered report-to-jail date. Medical screening, grievance procedures, religious services, and accreditation details were not located in the official public pages reviewed.
The San Juan context remains important for travel and records routing. The San Juan sheriff page describes a high-elevation, remote mountain county with rugged terrain and winter recreation traffic. Visitors and bond posters traveling from Silverton to Durango should confirm custody status, road conditions, and visit rules before leaving.
Note: Confirm custody, bond eligibility, and visit status with La Plata before traveling from San Juan County to Durango.