Conducting a County Inmate Search

County jails are located in specific geographical areas within a state, and are managed by local governments. The county sheriff’s office maintains records of all inmates in county jails; in some cases, this information is available online. A county inmate search is crucial in performing background checks on individuals to determine whether or not they have criminal records.

Searching for the criminal record of another individual is easy since many databases offer the service for free. Criminal records usually contain information such as the status of an offender and any sex offender registrations, felonies, dates of convictions, and dates of offenses that are linked to his or her name.

County Jail Inmate Search

The purpose of county jails is to house offenders who are awaiting trial in higher courts of the state or in the Supreme Court. These jails are supervised by the local sheriff's department. There is no national database for prisoners in county jails.

Individuals can search for an inmate through the nature of his or her crime. A criminal record contains details about convictions, felonies, misdemeanors, and sex crimes. An inmate search can also be performed based on social security number.

Many county jails offer online search options for locating inmates in correctional facilities. For example, you can search for inmates located in the Salt Lake County of Utah at http://iml.slsheriff.org/IML, or in Broward County, Florida at http://www.sheriff.org/apps/arrest/index.cfm. Individuals can search for inmates in Leon County Jail in Florida at http://198.180.240.104/jailinfo/. For details about inmates in Madison County Jail in New York, one can conduct a search at http://www.madisoncountysheriff.us/search_inmates___visiting_hours.

To locate inmates in the Union County Jail, Arkansas, visit http://66.76.205.182:3500/inmatesnow.aspx; for inmates in Jefferson County, Alabama, conduct a search at http://sheriff.jccal.org/main.asp. If you are a resident of Clayton County, Georgia, you can search for inmates in the county jail at http://weba.co.clayton.ga.us:8011/index.shtml. For information about inmates in San Diego County, California, search the website at http://apps.sdsheriff.net/wij/wij.aspx. Or for the details of inmates in Orange County, CA, you can run a scan at http://www.ocsd.org/e_services/whosinjail/.

Public criminal records can be obtained from county jails. Some websites serve as prison inmate locators, so there may not be a need to visit the prison physically. The number of records available online is immense: you can gather information about most wanted criminals, fugitives and sex offenders. The free databases and public court record are extremely helpful.

Using Other Inmate Lookup Sites

Those looking for an inmate are advised to base their searches on specific criteria. Searching for an inmate in a county jail will be a time-consuming affair since all offenses will be listed. It is best to narrow down the search by including keywords that indicate the nature of the crime.