Conducting a New York Inmate Search

The state of New York offers public information about the inmates living under incarceration in the prisons within the state. The New York State Department of Correctional Services is responsible for supervising the correctional facilities located in the state. It also preserves and maintains all records of the inmates of state prisons. According to the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), the department is required to provide the public with all inmate information except documents which are deemed confidential as per the Public Officers Law §87. Records of youthful offenders of New York State are also not available to the public.

How to Conduct a New York Inmate Search

You can conduct a New York inmate search at http://nysdocslookup.docs.state.ny.us/. There are two methods by which you can conduct a search:

* Search based on name and year of birth: enter the last name and birth year of the individual, and all matching results are displayed. You can also enter the first few characters of the individual's name to obtain a list of all offenders whose names begin with those letters.
* Search based on Department ID Number (DIN) or New York State ID (NYSID): this quickly narrows down the search, as each inmate has a unique ID number.

New York Inmate Search Results

The results of a New York inmate search reveal a number of details, categorized into sub-sections as follows:

- Identifying and location information: inmate name, DIN, date of birth, race, sex, housing releasing facility, date received (original and current), custody status, admission type, county of commitment, latest release date, and/or type (if applicable).
- Crimes of conviction: details and classification of the crime that was committed by the inmate.
- Sentence terms and release dates: aggregate maximum sentence, aggregate minimum sentence, earliest release type, earliest release date, parole hearing type, parole hearing date, parole eligibility date, maximum expiration date, conditional release date, maximum expiration date for parole supervision, post-release supervision maximum expiration date, and parole board discharge date.

If you are unable to find a particular offender using the New York inmate search, the individual in question may be housed in a county correctional facility. To determine if this is the case, you should contact the appropriate law enforcement agency or the county correctional facility. You can find helpful links to these institutions at http://www.docs.state.ny.us/http://www.peoplepublicrecords.org/Links.html.

Contact Details for the New York State Department of Correctional Services

If you require additional information, you can mail or call the New York State Department of Correctional Services by using the following contact information:

NYS Department of Correctional Services
Building 2
1220 Washington Ave
Albany, New York 12226-2050
Phone: 518-457-8126

You can also contact the NYS Department of Correctional Services by filling out the form at http://www.docs.state.ny.us/DOCSwebcontactform.asp. You must complete all the fields in this form or your request or suggestion will not be processed.

If you wish to access certain records that are not available from the inmate search, you can request access to the records pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law. To place a request, fill out and submit the New York State Freedom of Information Law Request Form available at http://www.docs.state.ny.us/DOCSwebfoilform.asp.