Complete a Free Alabama Inmate Search (Look Up Anyone)

Run a free Alabama inmate search to reveal information on sentencing, charges, and the current facility where an incarcerated individual is being held.

An inmate is someone locked up in either jail or prison, and interested parties can find information on them regardless of where they’re located. Various databases and agencies can provide information on inmates, their potential release dates, and crimes they’ve been arrested for or convicted of.

Inmate information, like other data produced by state government agencies, is available under the Alabama Open Meetings Act.

This resource will help you better understand how inmate information is categorized and how to conduct your search for incarcerated individuals in Alabama.

This resource was written by Attorney Robert Bailey Jr, who holds a Juris Doctorate from Widener University School of Law.

Jail Inmates vs Prison Inmates

An inmate may be located in a jail or prison. When performing a search for inmates in Alabama, it’s important to understand the distinction between the two. Below is a summary of how a person may be incarcerated in Alabama.

Jail: Jails in Alabama are supervised at the county and city levels. The county jails in Alabama are primarily run by the sheriff’s office, while city jails are maintained by the local police department. The primary difference is the scope of the two jails, as the county jail will have a broader jurisdiction.

While a county jail may house an inmate for a misdemeanor offense, both types of jails serve other purposes. They are often used to hold someone after they were initially arrested, while waiting for trial, and sometimes, as an inmate transitions from one facility to the next.

State Prison: Alabama state prisons consist of twenty-eight facilities that hold individuals convicted of various state crimes.¹ The State prisons are responsible for holding anyone who is convicted of a serious crime in Alabama. State prisons are maintained by the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Note: The Alabama Department of Corrections is also responsible for maintaining supervision over released inmates under probation or parole. 

Federal Prison: If a person has committed a federal crime, they will not be incarcerated in a state prison. Rather, they will be housed in a federal facility maintained by the Bureau of Prisons.

How To Find Inmates in an Alabama Jail

Inmates in jail can be located at either a county or city jail. If you do not know where the person you are looking for is incarcerated, you may have to perform an Alabama inmate lookup through several counties and cities.

To find inmates at the county level, you can check with the sheriff’s office, as they are usually responsible for managing the jail and inmates. Certain county jails have online inmate search tools, while others, you will have to submit a formal request or access the information in person.

To help you better understand the process of accessing inmate information from a county jail, below is information for conducting a search in Madison County, Alabama. The county jail here is the Madison County Detention Facility.² To look up inmate information, you can search the Madison County Detention Facility Inmate Roster by an inmate’s name.

Once you enter a subject’s name, you will receive a list of matching results. Once you click on the profile of an inmate, you can view the following information related to their arrest:

• Name
• Mugshot
• Descriptive information (e.g., gender, race, age)
• Booking number and date
• Holds & hold type
• Charges (including the statute violated and a description of the offense)
• Arresting agency
• Court type & disposition
• Bond amount & type

Note: Inmate information is current as of their booking but may be subject to change after any court hearings.

For additional information, you can contact the Madison County Detention Facility by email at jail@madisoncountyal.gov or by calling them at 256-519-4800. You can also contact them by mail or in person at the address below:

Madison County Detention Facility
P.O. Box 2047
815 Wheeler Avenue
Huntsville, Alabama 35801

A record seeker may also want to consider reaching out to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office by calling them at 256-532-3413. The sheriff’s office is available for inquiries from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday. You can also talk to someone in person at the following location:

Madison County Sheriff’s Office
100 Northside Square
Huntsville, Alabama 35801

There are also Alabama arrest and criminal history lookup tools and resources available to view the contact information for every county jail as well as any available inmate search links.

To find inmates at the city level, you can check with the local police department, as they are usually responsible for managing the jail. Like in counties, the way you can access inmate information is often different from one city to another.

For conducting an inmate search at the city level, here is an example of the resources and steps you can take in Birmingham, Alabama. In this city, you can find information about inmates through the Birmingham City Jail. The easiest starting point is conducting a free online search using the Birmingham Jail Search Tool.

A record seeker can use this tool to conduct a name-based search. You can also include a subject or booking number if you have one. You can narrow down your search results by setting a booking date range or only searching people who are currently in custody.

The results will provide you with descriptive information about the person, their name and mugshot.

You can click on the inmate’s name to view a complete booking history. This includes bond information and the charges that led to the subject’s arrest. For the charges, you can view a description, offense date and the current status of the criminal case.

For additional inmate information, you can call the Birmingham City Jail at 205-254-6369 or 205-254-6370. You can also talk to someone at the following address:

Birmingham City Jail
425 Sixth Ave. 
Birmingham, Alabama 35205

You may also want to talk to someone at the Birmingham Police Department. They can be reached at 205-254-1700 or at the address below:

Birmingham Police Department
1710 First Ave. N. 
Birmingham, Alabama 35203

How To Determine Who Is Incarcerated in a State Prison: Run an Alabama Inmate Search

If you are looking to perform an inmate search for someone in prison in Alabama, you can do so through the Department of Corrections. The Alabama Department of Corrections is responsible for all state prisoners.

To search for someone who is incarcerated, you can use the Alabama Department of Corrections Inmate Search Tool.⁵ You can search for an inmate by their identification number or name. After you perform a search, the results will provide their name, identifying number and the Alabama institutions they are currently incarcerated in.

To get more information on a particular inmate, click on their name. When you do, the following information will be provided:

• Mugshot
• Birth year
• Descriptive characteristics (e.g., race, sex, hair and eye color)
• Custody status
• Aliases
• Any scars, marks or tattoos
• Sentencing information (includes sentence date and criminal offense)
• Admitted date
• Minimum release date

A record seeker also has the option to look through a list of inmates on death row, those that have escaped and the Department of Corrections Execution List.^{6, 7} You may want to search these lists if you have a specific focus of your inmate search.

For additional information, you can email them at Constituent.Services@doc.alabama.gov or call them at 334-353-3883. You can also write them or visit their office at the address below:

Alabama Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 301501
301 South Ripley St. 
Montgomery, Alabama 36130

Here is some additional information that may be helpful:

• Parole Results
• Victim Notification Result
• Alabama DOC Public Records Policy

How To Track Down Details on Someone Held in Federal Prison

In addition to state prisons and jails, you may want to look for someone incarcerated in a federal facility. To find someone in a federal prison, you can use the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Search Tool. This search tool contains inmates incarcerated from 1982 to the present.

You can use this tool to search for an inmate by name. You can narrow down your search results by including their race, sex or age.

The search results page will provide a brief summary of information on the inmate. In particular, you can see the facility they are incarcerated in or when they were released.

For individuals incarcerated before 1982, you can consider searching prison records with the National Archives.⁹ While it’s not free, you can also search criminal records through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) Search Tool. Here, you can view a variety of federal criminal records, including their sentencing information.

As you can see, inmates can be found in various prisons and jails throughout the state using a variety of tools; you are now equipped to perform an Alabama inmate search at the state, county or city level.