South Dakota Inmate Search

Searching for an inmate in South Dakota can be like searching for a pin in a haystack without knowing where the inmate could be housed. South Dakota has jails broadly classed into three:  

• Local county jails 
• State prisons 
• Federal prisons 

There are about 67 local jails and a single city jail for all 66 counties in South Dakota. All the local jails are managed by the area's local county or city government. They hold inmates on a pretrial basis and those serving short sentences. Only 6 state prisons, a federal jail, and 4 county juvenile detention centers serve the state for inmates on long sentences. 

The South Dakota Department of Corrections (SDDOC) manages South Dakota's adult prison system, adult parole system, and juvenile corrections system. The core mission of SDDOC is to rehabilitate inmates in jail. All in all, South Dakota has about 4,000 inmates in state prisons, 1,700 in local jails, and 1,200 in federal jails. 

Inmate Searches 

Inmate searches are the only way to know if a loved one has been committed in prison or is genuinely missing. Loved ones lost recently can be found in jails as they have to be convicted before they are sent to prison. 

• State inmate 

All you have to do is search for the Offender Locator Tool and search for an inmate using their first and last name or DOC number. The website will provide you with the necessary details on an inmate if available. Beware that you cannot get details on released inmates as the details are expunged from the public. 

• Federal inmate Searches 

Similarly, you can get a list of all state inmates in the federal jail through the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator by providing the name of or the BOP number of the inmate. 

• County Jail Inmate 

County inmate searches must be done at different jails, and sheriffs have websites with inmate locators. Inmate locators are sites similar to the ones for state and federal searches. Due to different issues, not all jails have websites, so tough luck getting an inmate location even from a third-party site. Luckily anyone can write a letter to the sheriff or the jail administration for detail on a particular inmate. However, the fastest way is visiting and calling the nearest jail you suspect a loved one may have been arrested at.