South Dakota Inmate Search

The South Dakota Department of Corrections is the agency responsible for keeping an updated database on those individuals who are serving their time behind bars in South Dakota state prisons. 

The database is online and available to the public. It can be found on the official South Dakota Department of Corrections website. The databases include those in prison, on parole, and those that completed their time and no longer under the South Dakota Department of Corrections supervision. You can search the database by their DOC number or their first and last name.

 The state of South Dakota database does not include South Dakota city or county jails. Those jails keep their own records separate from the state. 

When an offender is housed in 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 South Dakota Department of Corrections offender search database can be found on the official South Dakota Department of Corrections website.

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

• DOC Number
• Last Name
• First Name

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 South Dakota 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 South Dakota jails inmate search:

• DOC Number
• Last Name
• First Name
• Middle Initial

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 Name
• Age
• Race
• Gender
• Hair Color
• Eye Color
• Height
• Weight
• Aliases
• DOC Number
• Current Facility
• Parole Office
• Correctional Status
• Additional Info

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

In the state of South Dakota, there are 13 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 South Dakota prison inmate lookup database brought to you by the South Dakota 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 South Dakota 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 South Dakota. 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 South Dakota 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 South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation.

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

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

Keep in mind that you will be able to search the database by either the offender's 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
• Aliases
• Gender
• Race
• Date of Birth
• Date Updated
• Height
• Weight
• Hair Color
• Eye Color
• Offenses