County Jails: Search Inmates and Facilities

For a County Jail inmate search, select the state in which the county is located in and go to the page with the counties of the selected state. From there, you can browse the county jails and search for the page to find county jail inmate locator links and facility information. We have all of the available inmate locator links for the available states where you can search for an inmate by name.

County Jail Inmate Locator

Select a State from the list below to find inmates in County jails of the selected State.

County Jails by State

“City or County Jail”

Most offenders will start at a local or county jail with very few cells. You can locate an offender in custody easily by searching the databases. You might need to consider transport time to the nearest jail cell before using an inmate locator.

The county jail is usually for short-term custody for those awaiting trial. Once booked, the county inmate search will reveal the location of the individual. You can check the county website under Inmate Services for more information.

Please note that not all counties have inmate search information online. Inmate locators are currently available for the following states: Alabama AL, Alaska AK, Arizona AZ, Arkansas, California CA, Colorado CO, Connecticut CT, Florida FL, Georgia GA, Idaho ID, Illinois IL, Indiana IN, Iowa IA, Kansas KS, Kentucky KY, Maryland MD, Michigan MI, Minnesota MN, Mississippi MS, Missouri MO, Montana MN, Nebraska NE, Nevada NV, New Hampshire NH, New Jersey NJ, New Mexico NM, New York NY, North Carolina NC, North Dakota ND, Ohio OH, Oklahoma OK, Oregon OR, Pennsylvania PA, Rhode Island RI, South Carolina SC, Tennessee TN, Texas TX, Utah UT, Vermont VT, Virginia VA, Washington WA, West Virginia WV, Wisconsin WI and Wyoming WY.

Here is a list of the states that DO NOT have inmate locator systems available. These are Delaware DE, District of Columbia (Washington D.C.) DC, Hawaii HI, Louisiana LA, Maine ME, Massachusetts MA and South Dakota SD. However, their Department of Corrections websites and facilities information are available.

The U.S. Territories of Puerto Rico (PR) & Guam (GU), some Military Jails and High-Value Detainee facilities do not have inmate search systems.

You can also search for the County Jail by its name to see the facility’s page and inmate search information.

County Jails

Local county jails are not for long-term imprisonment. They are important in the criminal justice system primarily as pretrial detention facilities. They house many types of prisoners. All state or federal prison inmates start their unfortunate careers of incarceration as local county jails inmates, where most linger in pretrial detention if unable to post bail for pretrial release after their initial court hearings. Almost all detainees plead guilty to something. Once in a while a detainee charged with misdemeanors waits through many months of delay for trial, finally gives up and pleads guilty or stands trial and they find him guilty, and then the sentence must be no more than time already served. Convicted felony offenders transfer to state or federal prisons to serve their longer sentences.

To locate an inmate in a County Jail, scroll up (or click here) to browse the available County Jails, ordered by State, where you can click on a jail and find the inmate search link if available on the facility’s page.

Imprisonment Laws in County Jails

Pretrial detentions cannot be indefinite but must have limits. The Sixth Amendment provision for speedy trials sets the limits, plus all states but six (Alabama, Delaware, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, and South Carolina, where the Sixth Amendment provision prevails), have enacted speedy trial statutes. The remedy for violation of the right to a speedy trial is dismissal of the case against the accused.
Case law has established a disciplinary distinction between pretrial detainees and convicted inmates. County jails may subject convicts but not detainees to punishments to maintain order and security and implement correctional policies and purposes. The definitive Supreme Court ruling is that “In evaluating the constitutionality of conditions or restrictions of pretrial detention . . . the proper inquiry is whether those conditions amount to punishment of the detainee. For under the Due Process Clause, a detainee may not be punished prior to an adjudication of guilt in accordance with due process of law . . . Government concededly may detain him to ensure his presence at trial and may subject him to the restrictions and conditions of the detention facility so long as those conditions and restrictions do not amount to punishment or otherwise violate the Constitution.”*

Inmate Rights in County Jails

Under the Sixth Amendment detainees have a right to assistance of counsel for preparation of their defenses by meeting and communicating with their attorneys. Detention conditions that limit detainee phone conferences with their attorneys, provide inadequate privacy for meetings or conferences with their attorneys, or cause substantial and unpredictable delays when attorneys arrive for jail visits with them may violate the Sixth Amendment right.

Detainees with complaints about their treatment under institutional policies, practices, regulations, or rules may assert formal grievances but first should study the state’s inmate grievance procedures. The Prison Litigation Reform Act ** requires exhaustion of all available administrative grievance remedies before courts will hear any claim for judicial relief. An issue is nongrievable if there is no remedy for it. Examples of grievable issues are retaliation, inadequate medical care, and unfair jail job assignments.

Commissary in County Jails

Most if not all county jails maintain commissaries, many with elaborate services. The Houston County, Alabama, Jail, as an example, accepts commissary deposits 24 hours a day seven days a week online or by phone. To deposit money through the county website users need to know the inmate’s name and number (retrievable on the website), the pay location code (shown on the screen), and a credit or debit card.

Inmates Visitation policies and Rules in County Jails

Because County Jails for short-term confinements handle high levels of visitation traffic from nearby inmate family and friends, many of them have installed inmate video visitation systems. Video visitation technology allows inmates and their visitors to communicate via videoconferencing equipment. Traditionally inmates transferred from their cells or dormitories to visitation areas, which visitors had to walk through the facility to reach.
Inmates and visitors now use video visitation stations in visitor areas for visitors, in day rooms or cell block areas for inmates, eliminating inmate and visitor movements through the correctional facility. Video visitation online can save visitors trips to the county jail. Visitors can use their home computers as stations, the ultimate in visitation convenience.

This video visitation development frees correctional officers for traditionally important security duties by reducing the number of them necessary to oversee visitation, recovers space and equipment for other uses, blocks sources of contraband infiltration, and avoids any inmate confrontation.

Paroles in County Jails

Parole is not an issue for pretrial detainees, the majority inmate population of county jails. The minority population under determinate sentences of less than a year has insufficient time in custody to have parole as a concern. So it is fair to say that county jails seldom if ever participate in the parole process.

Bails in County Jails

The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive bail. This prohibition applies to state under the Fourteenth Amendment, and state constitutions also prohibit excessive bail. There is no absolute constitutional right to bail, only the due process right that the courts not abuse discretion in determining conditions of release and that bail be reasonable and not excessive.
Generally, bail should be in an amount reasonably related to apparent reliability and appreciation of responsibility shown by the accused’s personal history and by case facts and circumstances indicating risk of flight. Courts have considered whether $500,000 bail bonds were excessive and reached different results based upon case circumstances.

Inmate Services in County Jails

State corrections officials estimate that between 70 and 85 percent of their inmates need substance abuse treatment. In roughly 7,600 correctional facilities, 172,851 inmates participated in drug treatment programs. More than 13 percent of inmates in treatment were under 18 years old. About 73 percent of local jails provide drug treatment services, 32.1 percent detox care, 29.6 percent drug education courses, and 63.7 percent self-help and support programs. Prisons and jails also provide pharmacological maintenance programs for long-term administration of medications that either replace illegal drugs or block their actions. Examples of such pharmacological applications are methadone maintenance, naltrexone treatment, and buprenorphine administration.

Many county jail inmates join outpatient programs with individual, group, or family counseling services, peer group support, and vocational and cognitive therapy. Aftercare support to prevent relapses typically involves 12-step meetings, occasional group or individual counseling, self-help and relapse-prevention strategies, and vocational counseling.

Inmate Search / Inmate Locator Links

Find inmates fast at Inmatesearcher.com website, where users can do a quick and easy county jail inmate search. Select the facility of interest to find all details needed, inmate search links, and all state prison facility contact information — address, telephone numbers, and commissary/visitation information. Scroll up (or click here) to find all of the available County Jails ordered by State. Click on a facility to navigate to its page and find information and Inmate search links, if available.

_______________

* Bell v Wolfish, 441 US 520, 535–537 (1979). The detainee/convict distinction implies no impunity for intentional violations of detention facility rules and regulations nor for any other intentional misconduct.

** “No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under . . . federal law by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted,” United States Code Title 42 Section 1997e(a) (2006). State court policy is similar.