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County Jail Lookup
Quiet street at night outside a county jail lobby where families come for an inmate search

County jail lookup: find the jail and its inmate search

Each jail opens to its own official inmate search, with the jail's phone number listed beside it.

Bail questions? A paid bail agent who advertises here, not the jail: 1-844-343-6285

Begin your inmate search with the roster the county sheriff keeps, since most arrested people are taken to a county jail. Call the jail instead when the arrest just happened. It can take a while for new bookings to show up on the web.

The sheriff's booking desk is where a county jail lookup begins. County Jail Lookup is not a government agency. Names, mugshots, and arrest records never appear on it.

Find jail rosters by state

Each county sheriff operates its own booking desk and custody list. Check the county where the arrest happened to see who is in jail. Every state directory covers that state's county jails, the state prison locator, and VINELink.

To check custody status, the sheriff's website offers an inmate lookup you can use. Certain counties don't post their rosters on the web. Where that happens, phone the booking clerk to do a jail lookup.

Have the person's full name and their birth date ready. VINELink also lets you sign up for custody status change alerts and search state custody.

Once you've found the jail: bail, visits, and money

When your county jail inmate search confirms the person was booked, talk to the clerk about release. A bond is either a cash deposit or a bail bond, used for release before a court date. Rules differ by state: commercial bail in Texas is covered by Bond Resources, while monetary bail in Illinois was abolished by 725 ILCS 5/110-1.5.

To learn the release steps, see bailing someone out of jail. Before you go to the jail, look up the visiting hours.

There's also a guide to putting money on inmate books for commissary. When the online list seems unclear, phone the jail's number and ask the clerk.

Questions and answers

How can I find which jail someone is in?

Officers usually book people into the jail of the county where police made the arrest, so begin there. When the arrest happened near a county line, look at the neighboring county's roster as well. Calling the police department's non-emergency desk is another way to ask where they take people.

Does this site serve as the official jail roster?

No, not a sheriff, and not a government agency: County Jail Lookup serves as an independent directory. It doesn't hold custody records, mugshots, or inmate names. It connects you to the county sheriff's own roster and booking desk phone number.

Can you look up inmates on the web?

Yes, online search pages come from most county sheriffs and state prison agencies, along with the Federal Bureau of Prisons: Inmate Locator. Entering a first and last name shows you where someone is held. An online roster may be missing in smaller rural counties, so call the booking desk instead.

What can make an inmate not appear in search results?

The person might still be in intake and doing paperwork at the booking desk. Try entering only the start of the last name, since the spelling may differ from the one you have. Release or a transfer to another facility could also explain it.