When one of your loved ones is picked up on a new case, your first priority will be finding that person. You’ll want to make sure they’re alright. You might also be able to help them find a bonding company to get out of jail as soon as possible. Depending on where you live and the size of your city, it may be more difficult to find a person in jail. So what steps should you take to find a person in jail for free? Here are a few tips to help.
Free online jail inmate locators
You should first understand the difference between jail and prison. Jail is where a person goes when he or she is first arrested. They’ll go through processing, getting their fingerprints taken and going through other identification measures. A person will stay in jail prior to their trial unless they happen to pay a bond. This is much different from prison, where a person will go once they have been convicted and sentenced. If you’re going to use the free online locators, then you should look in the jail in your town rather than the prison in your state.
The jail is almost always run by the local county sheriff’s office. This means that if you are looking for someone who was arrested in Houston, you’d check with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department’s website rather than anything run by the city. Once on those sites, you’ll likely be able to put in the name of the person you are looking for. In many instances, you’ll be required to put in the birthday of inmate, too. If you have this information, the online locator may provide you with the jail location and the inmate’s jail identification number.
Calling the jail
It costs nothing to call your local jail. While you may run into some resistance in trying to get information, many employees who work at the jail will be willing to let you know where a person is located. In some cases, the online locators will only provide you with a location in coded numbers. In many big cities, there are multiple jails, and if you’re not a lawyer, you’ll have no idea what some of those numbers mean. By calling the jail and providing the name of the inmate you are looking for, they can help you figure out precisely where to find them.
Getting help from a bail bonding company
If you are having trouble and you’ll need to bail out your loved one anyway, then enlisting the help of a bail bonding company is never a bad idea. They are professional operators in this space. A good bonding company will be able to quickly find the person you are looking for. They have connections with people at the jail who can give them the rundown on when the person might be arraigned and released. This is a great option if you are not familiar with the jail system and need to get a person out in a hurry. Know that it will cost money to bail a person out, but a bonding company may help you locate them for free.
Jim Treebold is a North Carolina based writer. He lives by the mantra of “Learn 1 new thing each day”! Jim loves to write, read, pedal around on his electric bike and dream of big things. Drop him a line if you like his writing, he loves hearing from his readers!