Finding Inmates with Government Sites:
How to find each Inmate within the U.S.
- In principle you will need to search Federal, State and County Prison Records. Regularly this is a lot of work. Unfortunately, the hit rate is not very high. For every prison type we offer descriptions and instructions to help you finding the right person: + Help for Federal Prsion Records + Help for State Prison Records and + Help for County & City Jail Records
- You may narrow down your search: + do you know the city or county (at least the state) where the person has been in residence and/or + do you know the city or county (at least the state) where the crime occured? Both data could help you to get faster results.
- You also may narrow down your search, if you know the type of crime that was committed. + Individuals who commit felonies are sent to the state or federal penitentiary + individuals who commit misdemeanors are sent to the county facilities
Find an Inmate in Federal Penitentiaries, State Prisons or County Jails
1.) Federal Penitentiary Records Search
Search all Federal prision records by inmate’s first and last name (both are required).
Please not: Federal inmate´s names must be an exact match (i.e. John Doe will not find Jon Doe)!
More Help for Searching an Federal Inmate: How to locate an Federal Inmate
Search at the Bureau of Prisons: BOP.gov
2.) State Prison Records Search
38 States allow you to perform instant access database searches on their prison records.
A Listing of all these States with instant access prison records as well as many other helpful links and instructions you will find at our How to locate a state prison inmate page.
On the other hand 13 States do not allow online searches in their prison inmate records. For finding prisoners in these state correctional facilities you have to follow the state’s guidelines. For further help you also may look at the How to locate a state prison inmate page.
3.) County Jail Records Search
There are more than 3.500 Counties in the United States. Most of these Counties do not offer any online searches on jail or incarceration records.
In our How to find a county jail prisoner webpage you will find an easy to understand step-by-step guide. There is also a well-structured list of counties with searchable websites.