California Inmate Search

The State of California prison system comprises state prisons, federal facilities, and city and county jails, holding at least 97,000 offenders annually. In turn, local law enforcement agencies and the Department of Corrections maintain elaborate offender databases accessible to the public via their official websites. Hence, if searching for an inmate in California, do an online search and confirm it by calling the relevant correctional officials to confirm. Below are the steps: - 

California Statewide Inmate Search  

Is the inmate you are looking for convicted of a serious crime in California? If so, they could be in one of the 34 state prisons or community supervision programs run by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). CDCR oversees at least 85,000 offenders at any given time. It has an elaborate offender lookup at its official website, providing family and friends with the personal details, criminal history, and custody statuses of their loved ones behind bars. Then, use it to locate someone in a California state prison or community supervision as follows: - 

1. Go to https://inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov/ 
2. Agree to the terms and conditions 
3. Locate for the offender by providing their CDCR Number or name in the search query form 
4. Click 'Search for Inmate' to get the following offender details: - 

• Name 
• CDCR Number 
• Age 
• Admission Date 
• Current Location 
• Parole Eligible Date & Information 

Locating a Federal Inmate in California 

Is the person you are searching for convicted of a federal crime in California? If so, they could be in one of the 21 federal prisons in California. The federal prisons have a holding capacity of up to 11,235 offenders. For this, visit the Federal Bureau of Prisons' official website and use their online inmate locator as follows: - 

• Go to https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ 
• Search for the inmate by number or name 
• If searching by name, provide the offender's name. Narrow your search by specifying the inmate's race, age, and sex 
• If searching by number, type the inmate's BOP Register Number, DCCD Number, FBI Number, or INS Number in the query form 
• Click 'Search' to generate the offender's name, number, age, race, sex, and release date 

California Jail Roster Search 

Next, California law enforcement agencies, comprising Police Departments and Sheriff's Offices, have city and county jails as their primary holding facilities. To date, there are 114 jails in the 58 counties in California. In 2019 the jails had an overall inmate population of 82,460 detainees as they awaited trial, sentencing, settling of bail, release, or transfer to prison. Still, some sentenced inmates would serve sentences of up to 12 months at the county jails.  

Then, if you wish to locate someone held in a California jail, scrutinize the jail roster by the arresting Police Department or Sheriff's office. Start checking the law enforcement agency's official website for a link to the online jail roster. Most jail roster lookups require you to know at least the name of the offender and the booking number. A successful jail roster search will reveal the offender's personal details, arrest and booking details, and custody status.