San Diego County Jail Inmate Search

Finding an Inmate in the San Diego County Jail

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department operates seven detention facilities in the county. If someone you know gets arrested in San Diego County, they will likely end up in one of these jails. Luckily, the county offers an easy way to search for inmates online. I’ll walk ya through how to use the San Diego County Jail Inmate Locator so you can find your friend or loved one.

What Info Ya Need to Search for an Inmate

First things first – to search for an inmate, you’ll wanna have some key details handy:

• The inmate’s first and last name
• Their date of birth
• Their race and gender

Sometimes ya might only have part of the name or just a nickname to go by. That’s fine – you can still search as long as you got some solid info to plug in.

Using the Inmate Locator Website

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department makes it super easy to find inmates. Just go to their Inmate Locator website and enter whatcha know.
You’ll see a basic search form with fields for:

• First name
• Last name
• Middle name
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Race

You don’t gotta fill in all the fields – just plug in what info you have. The more details you can provide, the better your chances of finding the right inmate.
Once you enter the details, hit the “Search” button and cross your fingers!

Understanding the Inmate Search Results

If your search finds the inmate, you’ll see their name, booking date, scheduled release date, bail amount, and the facility where they’re bein’ held.
Now here’s a few things that can help make sense of the results:

Booking Date vs Release Date

The booking date tells you when the inmate was processed into the jail. The release date is an estimate for when they’ll get out.
Sometimes you’ll see “N/A” for the release date. This usually means there ain’t a firm release date yet cuz their case is still movin’ through the courts.

Bail Amount

If there’s a dollar amount listed for bail, that’s how much it’ll cost to bail the inmate out while their case goes through court. If it shows as “$0”, that means the courts didn’t set bail and the inmate gotta stay locked up.

Facility Name

There are seven different detention facilities in the San Diego County jail system. The name listed tells ya which one your inmate’s chillin’ at.
The facilities go by these nicknames:

• SDSD Central Jail in San Diego
• SDSD Vista Detention Facility
• SDSD South Bay Detention Facility
• SDSD East Mesa Reentry Facility
• SDSD Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility for Women
• SDSD Santee Sheriff’s Station Temporary Holding
• Camp Barrett Minimum Security

So now ya know exactly where to visit your inmate!

What If Your Search Doesn’t Find Anyone?

Don’t sweat it if your first search comes up empty. Double check the details and try again with any other info you might have.
And here’s a few other things you can try:

• Search by just the first few letters of their first/last name
• Try alternate spellings of their name
• Use their middle name or initial instead
• Plug in their nickname or alias
• Double check the birthday – people often recall it wrong

Sometimes arrests don’t get fully processed for 24 hours too. So if ya know for sure they’re recently locked up, give it a day and search again.
You can also call the San Diego Sheriff’s Department at (619) 610-1647 for help finding the inmate. Explain whatcha tried already and they might be able to track ’em down.

Getting More Details on an Inmate

If you find the right inmate but want more deets, there’s a couple ways to dig deeper:

Click Their Name

If you click the inmate’s name in the search results, you’ll see their mugshot plus additional info like:

• Full list of charges
• Arresting agency
• Bail amount per charge
• Their case number

Search Court Records

To look up even more about the arrest, charges, and case status, you can search San Diego County court records online at the Superior Court website.
Just plug in the case number from the inmate details to pull up documents like the complaint, minutes from court hearings, and more. It costs like 10 cents per page to download forms, but it’s a handy way to stay on top of the case.
You can also search by their name – but having the case number makes it a helluva lot easier to find the right case.

Putting Money on an Inmate’s Books

If you wanna help out your incarcerated friend by putting some dough on their books for commissary items and phone calls, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department lets you do it online.
Just go to their Inmate Funds page and set up an account. You’ll add money to your account, then enter the inmate name and ID number to transfer funds straight to their account. It usually hits their books within an hour.
You can add between $20 and $500 per deposit. And there’s fees of like $3-$5 each time, plus certain percentage fees based on the deposit amount. Hey, the jail’s gotta make their bucks too, ya know?
Beats having to show up at the facility in person!

Visiting an Inmate in the San Diego County Jail

If you wanna visit your pal face-to-face, you can definitely do that too. Visiting policies vary a bit by facility, but here’s some key things to keep in mind:

• Make sure to follow the dress code or they won’t let you in
• No bringing in cell phones, cameras, bags, etc
• Inmates get one or two 20-30 minute visits per week
• Visiting hours depend on the facility, so check their websites
• You’ll have to go through security screening and show ID
• Phone calls between inmates and visitors ain’t allowed

Also be aware that visits could get canceled without much notice if there’s lockdowns, inmate transfers, or other issues.
Get specifics on visiting hours and more rules by checking out the website for whichever jail facility they’re in. Here’s quick links:

• Central Jail Visitation
• Vista Detention Facility Visitation
• South Bay Detention Facility Visitation