Pennsylvania Inmate Search

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is responsible for keeping an updated database on all inmates serving out their sentences in Pennsylvania state prisons. 

The public database is located on the official Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website. The public database only contains inmates that are currently under the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections supervision, whether they are in prison, on parole, or on probation. The public database is updated daily. You can search by their inmate number, first and last name, gender, date of birth, age, and other identifying information.

 Unlike the state of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania city and county jails keep their records separate. If you are looking for information on an inmate serving out time in a city or county jail, you will need to get in touch with the correct agency. 

When an offender is housed in a state prison, they are property of the Department of Corrections Division. As stated above every state’s Department of Corrections Division has their own jail roster or database that the general public may use.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections offender search database can be found on the official Pennsylvania Department of Corrections website.

You can search the inmate list by using the following pieces of information:

• First Name
• Middle Name
• Last Name
• Inmate Number
• Gender
• Race
• Committing County
• Current Location
• Citizenship
• Date of Birth
• Age

The DOC number will take precedence during all searches. The DOC is a six-digit number. All incoming inmates will be assigned their DOC number by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. This will be the easiest and quickest way to locate an inmate.

If you decide to enter their DOC number in the field provided, you will NOT need to enter their first and last name. However, the DOC field will only show results for the EXACT number you have entered, so you will want to double check, if no results pop up.

If you don’t know the inmate’s DOC number or there are no search results for the DOC number you plugged in, the next thing you can do is search by the inmate’s first and last name.

When you finally get some search results, you will see a list of all inmates that fit the criteria you plugged in. This is not a release search. All inmates are currently sitting behind bars.

You will see the following pieces of information in the Pennsylvania jails inmate search:

• Inmate Number
• Inmate Name
• Race
• Date of Birth
• Current Location
• Committing County

You can click on the inmate’s name to bring up their own personal file. When you do this, you will see the following information:

• Inmate Number
• Mugshot
• Inmate Name
• Aliases
• Age
• Date of Birth
• Race
• Height
• Weight
• Citizenship
• Complexion
• Current Location
• Permanent Location
• Committing County
• Last Updated Time

As we stated above, the only prisons you will be able to find in the Pennsylvania inmate search are state-operated facilities. All city and county jails are NOT in this database whatsoever. 

In the state of Pennsylvania, there are 100 state prisons. These prisons are available in the above database. All other prisons that are not listed below will NOT come up in the roster. Keep this in mind when searching for an inmate in the Pennsylvania prison inmate lookup database brought to you by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. 

Looking for who’s in jail in city and county jails will be more difficult than trying to find out who’s in jail in a state or a federal prison. There is typically not much information on these smaller jails. A lot of city jails do not even supply an inmate database to the general public. However, it is not impossible to locate an inmate in one of those facilities, if you know exactly who to seek out with your questions. 

As far as county jails, majority of county jails will be managed and operated by that county’s Sheriff’s department. They will be the agency, you should reach out to if you believe the person you are looking for is in a county jail. 

As far as city jails, majority of city jails do not have much information about them. They are typically just holding pens for inmates to be transferred out to their “permanent” jail. If you believe the person you are looking for is in a city jail, it is best to contact that cities corrections division. You can typically find all department information on the city’s official website.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections offender search database is updated regularly. It is typically updated during normal business hours. You will notice that inmate’s information can change quite frequently. Especially, if they have court proceedings and such.

If you have any questions or want to have the updated information, you will be required to contact the facility that the inmate is in. They will have the utmost updated information available on the inmate.

If you believe the information on an inmate is incorrect, you will want to contact the facility in which the inmate is held to dispute the information.

In the jail roster, you will also find the inmate’s mugshot. This mugshot is taken when an inmate is being booked and processed into a state prison. The mugshots typically do not change unless an inmate is getting transferred into another state prison facility.

You can also use the VINELink (VINE) to get notifications on inmate’s moving throughout the system. You will need to select the state of Pennsylvania. You will then want to select that you are searching for an offender or a defendant.

You will need to click the notification section of the inmate’s profile to get notified through text, calls, or email. When they make any changes to their VINE account, you’ll get notified in real-time.

You may notice that there is not a way to search for sex offenders in the Pennsylvania inmate search. That’s because the sex offender search is in a whole different database. Just like the DOC inmate locator, this database is available to the general public to use also.

The sex offender database can be found on the official U.S. Department of Justice website.

You can search this database by the following pieces of information:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Address
• City
• County
• Zip Code

Keep in mind that you will be able to search the database by either the offenders name or the address fields.

This offender search is strictly for offenders that are NOT in a state prison. These offenders are out on their own in the community.

When you do a successful search, you will see the following information:

• Mugshots
• Offender Name
• Level
• Registration Number
• Age
• Sex
• Race
• Hair Color
• Eye Color
• Height
• Weight
• Scars, Marks, and Tattoos
• Address
• Offenses