Mississippi inmate search

In Mississippi, county and city governments handle local detention. The county jails are run by county sheriffs. Municipal lockups are operated by city police departments, and local authorities also manage youth detention centers. A local sheriff or police department employs the jail officers working inside.

No unified state jail system exists in Mississippi. Even so, state law treats running municipal, county, and youth jails as a concern that spans the whole state. Local jail officers get their training standards from the Board on Jail Officer Standards and Training, which sits inside the Department of Public Safety. Local officials keep control of daily operations. Bookings and custody records are handled by each sheriff or police department for its own facility.

Local facilities are run separately by sheriffs and police departments. So no single statewide county jail roster exists. Look at the county's own roster first, or reach out to the jail directly. Call the jail instead when an arrest happened in the last few hours, since new bookings take time to show up.

Custody details get recorded at the station by local jail officers during the jail booking process. When a county lacks an online list, turn to the state's notification network. You can search online or call 1-888-967-7284 for help locating an offender. All 365 days a year, that toll-free line is open 24 hours a day.

People serving time in state prison are covered by the Mississippi Department of Corrections inmate search. MDOC, the short name for this agency, holds offenders once a court hands down a sentence. A county or city jail is not the same as state prison. Right after an arrest, or while waiting for court, people stay in local jails.

It takes only a moment to search the state database. Type in the person's name or ID number, then hit the search button. One detail is enough to run a search; both aren't required. There's also a parolee search on the MDOC website for people under state supervision. When someone arrested last night doesn't show up there, the local county jail is the next place to check.

Mississippi VINE lets you look up custody status and register for automatic alerts at no cost. The state notification program, SAVIN, is also run by MDOC, and it sends VINE notifications to families and victims.

To locate an offender and sign up for alerts, search online or make a call:

• Call the Mississippi VINE toll-free line at 1-888-967-7284 any time, 24 hours a day.
• Reach the Office of MS SAVIN at 601-359-5759.
• Reach the toll-free SAVIN line by calling 1-888-9-MSSAVIN.

Callers can get phone support 365 days a year when they need help locating an offender or contacting local victim services.

When setting release conditions, courts apply the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure, specifically Rule 3.2 and Rule 8.4. A judge has 3 main options to pick from, depending on the case:

• A personal recognizance release, meaning you sign a promise to come back to court and pay no money upfront.
• Appearance bond.
• Secured appearance bond.

Bail bonds work as a financial guarantee that the person will appear in court. Mississippi allows commercial bail bonding. Families can pay a premium to hire a professional bail agent. That premium is the fee the agent gets for posting the bond.

Mississippi Code Title 83, Chapter 39, Sections 83-39-1 to 83-39-31 covers these rules. Regulating the industry and licensing bail enforcement agents, soliciting agents, and professional bail agents is the job of the Mississippi Insurance Department.