Maryland inmate search

Most local jails in Maryland are operated by County government departments. Some people serving short sentences, and others in pretrial custody, are also held by the state Division of Pretrial and Detention Services. A person in pretrial custody is waiting for court and hasn't yet been sentenced. The Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards regularly audits local facilities.

In the Bosley and Kenilworth buildings, the Baltimore County Detention Center is operated by the Baltimore County Department of Corrections. With no city or sheriff jail in Baltimore City, the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center is state-run. There, property kept for up to 3 days can be collected 24/7 at 301 East Eager Street if you show photo ID.

Custody checks in Maryland vary by facility, since some jails don't post a list online. The 2 Baltimore area facilities handle searches this way:

• Baltimore County: No online roster is posted by the county. Look up case details by name in Maryland Judiciary Case Search, then confirm custody through Maryland VINE or the 24/7 hotline.
• Baltimore City: Search by first and last name in the state Incarcerated Individual Locator. The tool shows where people committed to the Commissioner of Correction are housed, and it omits most city pretrial detainees.

After an arrest in the last several hours, phone a facility's detainee service or its 24/7 hotline directly; new bookings need time to show up.

The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, or DPSCS, runs state prisons. The DPSCS online search lets you enter a person's first and last names to see where people sent to the Commissioner of Correction are housed.

County jails hold people just after an arrest; DPSCS, by contrast, mostly houses people who've been sentenced and moved into state custody. Even though DPSCS runs Baltimore City intake, only some pretrial detainees appear in its online locator. To see how intake works, you can read about the booking process.

If a county doesn't publish an online jail roster, you can check custody status through the Victim Information and Notification Everyday system. Free alerts are also available if you want to know when someone gets transferred or released. The public gets this service from DPSCS and the Governor’s Office of Crime Prevention and Policy.

You can search by name online through the Maryland VINE portal at any time of day. To check by phone, call the toll free line at 1-866-634-8463, or use TTY 1-866-847-1298 for text telephones.

Once booking is done, a judicial officer can choose suitable bail, release on personal recognizance, pretrial home detention, or release with conditions. With personal recognizance, the person promises to come back to court and pays no money up front. For certain serious charges, a District Court commissioner can't grant release; the person must wait for a judge instead.

When the court sets bail, you can turn to a bail bond, meaning a bail bondsman posts the bond as a financial guarantee. The fee you pay, called a premium, is what the bail agent charges for this work. Bail bondsmen are licensed as insurance producers by the Maryland Insurance Commissioner under Insurance Article §§ 10-115, 10-116, 10-120, and 10-126. The rules for release come from Criminal Procedure Article §§ 5-101, 5-201, and 5-202 and Maryland Rule 4-216.