Find someone in prison
Short answer: every state runs its own official locator, and federal prisoners are in the BOP locator. Pick the state below.
Search and estimate here: Oklahoma and Nevada
For Oklahoma and Nevada, our built-in search uses official DOC data and links straight to the screener.
Choose a state
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
What you need
- Have the person's full legal name and date of birth, or better, their state ID number (DOC, inmate or offender number). The ID number gives the most exact match.
- Try spelling variations, a maiden or former name, and searching by last name only.
- Newly sentenced people can take days or weeks to appear after leaving county jail. If someone is still in county jail, check the county sheriff, not the state DOC.
- Federal prisoners are in the BOP locator, not a state system.
- Write down the ID number once you find it. Mail, money, visiting and phone accounts all ask for it.
Sources: BOP Inmate Locator (opens in new tab) · Last verified: · Corrections