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Direct answer

What to use for people in jail

For someone in a local jail, first identify the county/city of arrest and open that jail, sheriff or detention agency’s official booking lookup. The local route below gives a working example and the inputs to prepare. The Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator covers federal inmates and does not represent state or local jail custody. USA.gov provides a directory to state departments of corrections for state prison and prisoner information.

Check

Confirm the person before relying on a custody match

  • Verify the person. Use a second identity check before merging different sources: compare full name, middle name, jurisdiction, and any official reference number before combining it with information from another source.
  • Choose the custody system. Decide which custody system could hold the person before searching. A result from one correctional level should not be treated as universal custody coverage.
  • Confirm the outcome. Confirm whether the record describes a current condition or a past event. This prevents a historical event from being presented as a current status.
Important

Federal, state, and local custody systems are separate

Find the local custodian. Match the local record type to the county, city, court, or jail responsible for it. Keep the agency name with the result so the local scope remains clear.

Route

Custody sources for people in jail

Need Official source What it can establish
Local jail or booking. The agency serving the arrest location. For King County, Washington, open How to locate a person in jail and choose Subject Lookup. Its search interface has first/last name, DOB and booking-number filters. Check adult custody status, facility and booking number; this example does not cover every jail.
State prison alternative. State department of corrections. If the case or jail identifies state-prison custody, select the state in USA.gov’s corrections directory and follow that agency’s locator or contact instructions. Keep its result separate from the local booking record.
Federal custody. Federal Bureau of Prisons - Inmate Locator. BOP Inmate Locator is limited to federal custody information.

If the local lookup gives no match, check the spelling, known birth date and booking number, then ask the jail about the correct facility. King County’s page gives 206-296-1234 as an adult-custody phone alternative and links other regional facilities. A no-match in one jail does not establish that the person is not held elsewhere.

For federal cases, BOP searches by name or BOP register number and covers federal incarceration from 1982 onward. “Released” or “Not in BOP Custody” with no facility means the person is outside BOP custody, but another system’s custody or supervision may continue. BOP cautions that release dates may change. Check spelling/number after no match; state/local or pre-1982 records may be outside that result.

Related Record Guides

Sources

Authoritative next stops

Official federal corrections source; Federal custody

Federal Bureau of Prisons - Inmate Locator

BOP Inmate Locator is a federal inmate locator and does not represent state/local arrest or jail custody.

Federal custody