New York Inmate Search, Prison and Jail Information (2024)

New York inmate records arecomprised of the paperwork, digital files, physical evidence, and court recordsassigned to each inmate traveling through the criminal justice system. They mayinclude DNA samples, audio and video clips, forms, police reports, arrestwarrants, trial documents, and sentencing.

These inmate records originatewith local law enforcement, the courts, confinement facilities, and otheragencies who come in contact with the inmate. They usually include the person’sname, date of birth, race, gender, and a physical description, including eyeand hair color, height, weight, and any defining marks.

The New York State Department of Corrections andCommunity Supervision is the state agency in charge of inmates, incarcerationfacilities, and inmate records.

New York Prison and Jail System

The state of New York has 53correctional facilities, including prisons, drug treatment programs, maximum,minimum, and medium-security facilities. Some also act as communitycorrectional offices where those on parole or probation must check-in. Six ofthe facilities hold women, and 50 hold men.

New York City also has 16detention and treatment centers that act as jails housing short term inmatesand those awaiting trial. New York State also has some local county jailfacilities that serve the same purpose.

There are roughly 50,000 peoplein prison in New York and another 27,000 in local jails or detention centers.New York also has 11,000 people in federal prison.

How to Search for Inmates in New York

The New York State Department ofCorrections and Community Supervision has an inmate locator tool on its websitewhere you can easily find someone in prison. You can search using the inmate’sname, or DIN, or NYSID. If you search by name, you can narrow the results byadding in a birth date.

The results will show a listwith inmates’ DIN, name, gender, birthdate, status, facility, and race. You canclick on the DIN to get additional information. The extra details will showwhere they are currently held, the county where they were indicted, and theirparole or probation date. You may also see the inmate’s crimes, sentencing, andother dates.

You can also use a third-partytool like InfoTracer to find someone in a New York prison easily.

Types of Jails in New York

How to Contact, Send Money to or Visit an Inmate in New York

New York eagerly encouragesfamily visitation for inmates. They even have facilities especially set up formaking visits comfortable. However, there is awhole page of rules thatvisitors must obey when visiting an inmate in New York.

Offenders are allowed to receivemail, and family and friends can send mail and packages; however, they mustfollow the rules specified here.

New York uses the Securusprogram for phone calls, and you can prepay for your incarcerated loved one tocontact you. Information about that is here.

You can send money toan individual in prison using the JPay system and following the guidelines here.

Police Departments in New York

New York Counties