Inmate Lookup & Prisoner Search

Every person held in the United States sits in one of three custody systems, and each keeps its own records. Federal prisoners are held by the Bureau of Prisons and, before sentencing, by the U.S. Marshals. State prisoners are held by each state's department of corrections. People awaiting trial and people serving short sentences are held in more than 2,800 county and city jails, plus immigration detainees held for ICE in contract facilities. No single database covers all of them, so a search starts with the question of which system holds the person.

This directory links to the state inmate search for all 50 states, each with its own guide to the state prison lookup, the county jail rosters and the rules on what the records show, and to the federal locators below.

Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.

Start with the charge. A federal charge, for example drug trafficking across state lines, bank fraud, immigration offenses or crimes on federal land, means federal custody: the Marshals before sentencing and the Bureau of Prisons after. A state charge with a sentence of a year or more usually means a state prison, found through that state's department of corrections search. A pending case, a misdemeanor sentence or a short felony sentence means the county jail, found through the sheriff's roster of the county where the arrest happened. A person picked up by immigration authorities is in ICE custody, found through the ICE detainee locator.

• Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate LocatorFederal prisoners since 1982 by name or register number, checked September 25, 2026
• U.S. Marshals Service prisoner operationsFederal detainees before sentencing, checked September 25, 2026
• ICE Online Detainee LocatorPeople in immigration detention by A-number or name and country of birth, checked September 25, 2026
• VINELinkCustody status and release alerts across participating state prisons and county jails, checked September 25, 2026

Most states run a public locator on their corrections website that returns the inmate's number, facility, offenses, sentence and projected release date, and many include people on parole or probation. Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and Ohio post the fullest records, with photographs and every release date, and Texas and New York post every date and offense without photographs. A handful of states, Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana and Massachusetts, publish no locator of their own and rely on VINELink for custody status. Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii run unified systems with no county jails at all, and West Virginia runs its jails as state regional jails, so one state search covers pretrial detainees there.

Kentucky, Louisiana, Utah and Tennessee house many state prisoners in county jails under contract, so a state inmate in those states may appear in both the state search and a county roster. Each state page in this directory explains the local arrangement, names the biggest county jails and links the state's parole board and court records.

Sheriffs run most jails and nearly every large jail posts an online roster with the booking date, the charges, the bond amount and the next court date, often with a booking photograph. Rosters update within hours of booking, faster than any state system. Small counties may post a daily list as a document or answer only by phone. City police departments in most states book arrestees into the county jail rather than holding them, so the sheriff's roster is the record even when a city police officer made the arrest. The county sheriff directory for each state on this site lists every sheriff and the jail lookup where one exists.

• County Sheriff DirectorySheriff offices and jail rosters by state
• Police Departments DirectoryCity police records by state
• Most Wanted DirectoryFugitive lists and warrants by state
• Criminal Records DirectoryCriminal history checks by state

Custody records are public in nearly every state under state open records laws, at least the name, the identification number, the facility and the status, and in most states the offenses, sentence and release date. Booking photographs are public in most states, though a growing number, including California, Colorado, Utah and Maryland, restrict posting them before conviction. Medical and mental health records, pre-sentence reports, classification and disciplinary files and parole board deliberations are confidential in every state we cover. A criminal history report is a different record from a custody record: it comes from the state police or a state bureau of identification, and access to it ranges from open name based searches in Florida, Texas and Washington to subject only access in Louisiana, Nevada and Virginia.

Start with these broader inmate and custody-status resources before drilling down into a state page.

• Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate LocatorSearch federal inmate records through the Bureau of Prisons
• VINELinkVictim-notification and custody-status information in supported jurisdictions
• U.S. Marshals ServiceFederal prisoner transport, warrants, and fugitive-apprehension information
• PublicRecordCenter.com Home

How to Use This Portal

• Choose the right jurisdiction. State prisons, county jails, city detention centers, and federal prisons often use separate search tools.
• Expect status changes. Booking, transfer, parole, release, or supervision information may update at different times across agencies.
• Cross-check related sources. Criminal records, court records, sheriff pages, and most-wanted pages can add context to an inmate search.