Kentucky inmate search

Across Kentucky's 120 counties, local jailers run the county jails that handle detention. The Kentucky Jailers Association member list helps you reach the facility holding someone. Use it to get the phone number and call the jail yourself.

In all 120 counties, Kentucky Court of Justice Pretrial Services works beside local jailers, with coverage 24 hours a day and 7 days each week. In 24 hours or less, court officers question the person, while the county jailer handles daily care after an arrest. Custody questions go to the jail; release questions go to the court program.

Kentucky doesn't have one statewide roster built only for local jails. You'll look at the county's own roster or phone the jail holding the person instead. The statewide VINE system also shows local custody status, since county jail data is included.

Before a name shows up online, your family member must complete the booking steps following an arrest. When the arrest was only a few hours ago, the jail is the place to call, because a new booking will not post immediately. The Kentucky Jailers Association member list has the jail's phone number.

State prisons are run by the Kentucky Department of Corrections, known as KDOC. To find state prisoners, use the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup System, or KOOL as it's called. A county jail roster doesn't work the same way as this state search.

After an arrest, police bring the person to the county jail, where the wait for court begins. Only after a court sentences someone to state prison does KDOC hold them. You won't find the person in KOOL if the arrest happened last night. Use KDOC only when the person is serving a state sentence.

You can check an offender's custody status through Kentucky VINE, a free automated service. You can find someone held locally with it, because county jail data is included. There's also an option to sign up for automatic alerts that notify you of any custody status change.

If you don't have internet access, you can call the toll free line at 1-800-511-1670. You can call that line at any hour: it stays available 24 hours a day, with coverage 7 days a week. The Department of Corrections Victim Services page has more about these alerts.

Since 1976, Kentucky has outlawed commercial bail bonding. KRS 431.510 bans paid bail bond work, and it bars charitable bail groups from paying bail of $5,000 or more. Pretrial Services instead interviews and assesses the arrested person no later than 24 hours after arrest.

Release on recognizance goes to verified and eligible low risk defendants under KRS 431.066. Recognizance is a written promise to come back to court without paying money. With an unsecured bond instead, they owe money only when they miss court. Toward bail, eligible defendants also get $100 per day in jail credit. Under KRS 431.525, judges use release choices, both financial and nonfinancial:

• Recognizance release, unsecured release, or third party surety release, with someone else taking responsibility
• Cash or property used for financial release
• Release before arraignment or monitored conditional release
• Diversion for a misdemeanor or deferred prosecution