All new bookings go through the Regional Adult Detention Facility. The Sheriff also runs two other jails on the same county campus: a lower-security correctional center and a medium-security detention facility. People are placed by charge and risk.

VINELink (Imperial County) covers all three jails. For help, call jail information at 442-265-2266 or 442-265-2267.

The 48-hour arraignment rule applies, without Sundays or holidays. In-custody criminal cases are heard at the criminal courthouse, 650 Wake Avenue in El Centro (760-482-2200; criminal office 760-482-2245). A branch court in Winterhaven serves the Yuma border area. See Imperial court steps.

The county court's schedule sets starting amounts, paid at the jail in full or by bond. An El Centro judge may adjust the figure at the first hearing, keeping the person's means in mind. Federal immigration or border charges are separate and go to federal court in San Diego. See the Imperial bail guide.

The county Public Defender is at 895 Broadway in El Centro (442-265-1705). Spanish-speaking staff are common across the county's courts.

Visitors schedule ahead and show photo ID. Ask jail information which facility holds the person first. See Imperial visiting and remote visits.

Write to the person, with booking number, at the jail where they're housed. Imperial guides explain postcard and letter rules, funding accounts, commissary, phone time, e-messages and tablet programs.

Detained youths go to the juvenile hall at 324 Applestill Road in El Centro (442-265-2450). Probation's main line is 442-265-2379.

Hang up. Imperial deputies never ask relatives to pay a release fee by wire, gift card or app. Ring jail information at 442-265-2266 to check.

A federal case usually starts when teams from the ATF, the IRS, or the Marshals Service make an arrest. Border arrests often become federal cases. The county is part of the federal court for the Southern District of California, so cases are set at the federal courthouse in El Centro, 2003 West Adams Avenue, El Centro, CA 92243. The clerk's line: 760-339-4242. Within a day or so, the accused sees a U.S. magistrate judge. An officer from pretrial services interviews your loved one and writes a report for the court. U.S. court uses no bail chart. A judge rules on whether they go home in a bail hearing, using the Bail Reform Act.

Try the sheriff's roster right away, where a federal hold may show. Until sentencing, the Marshals usually hold them in contract jails. Or call Marshals staff for the Southern District of California in El Centro at 760-353-9790 (2003 West Adams Avenue, Room 210, El Centro, CA 92243). Once there is a federal prison sentence, they go into BOP custody, usually after some weeks. Find the person on the BOP locator by full name.

• Booking prints are run through national databases that ICE uses. If ICE decides the inmate may be removable, it may file a hold request to jail staff.
• A posted bail won't clear an ICE hold.
• With this hold, ICE asks jailers to keep them for immigration officers up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)). El Centro's jail applies Gov. Code 7284.6, the heart of SB 54, so release stays on schedule and an ICE transfer depends on a judge's warrant or certain qualifying convictions.
• Officers from ICE usually take custody in person while the hold lasts. If ICE never collects them, this means they are released.
• Look them up on the ICE online locator after the move, typing in the alien number (A-number) and the country of birth. The locator works too by native country, birth date, and first and last name when the alien number (A-number) is unknown.
• For questions, reach ICE's San Diego field office (it covers San Diego and Imperial counties) at 619-436-0410, located at 880 Front Street, Suite 2242, San Diego, CA 92101.
• The final stop is up to ICE.

Prison sentences are handled by the state corrections department. First, most people stay in the El Centro jail until the CDCR sends for them. Their first state stop is an intake center. Prison staff review each person by medical and mental care, security risk, and gang affiliation. Their next step is the unit that fits their rating.

For their unit, try the CDCR's inmate locator. The state prison page explains each unit.

No. Imperial posts no inmate list online, so no Imperial mugshots are posted. VINELink (Imperial County) tells you custody status only.

California's rule is Penal Code 13665. Social media is what it covers. It protects most people held for nonviolent crimes. Police can't post those mugshots online there. Photos posted there expire after 14 days. Fugitives and threats are the exceptions. Jail websites are outside this law. Even so, many sheriffs leave photos off.

Non-public booking photos come from sheriff's staff; journalists can call 442-265-2021. An immigration mugshot is only released after ICE's online public records request that ICE approves. U.S. mugshots aren't released to reporters or the community. Any release comes from the Marshals Service, who allow it only to find an escapee, when posting it aids an arrest or a warning to the community, or for immediate community safety.

• El Centro Police: 760-352-2111
• Calexico Police: 760-768-2140
• Brawley Police: 760-344-2111
• Imperial Police non-emergency: 760-355-1158
• Imperial County Sheriff's Office dispatch: 442-265-2021

Holtville, Calipatria and Westmorland are served by the Sheriff.

Yes, that's where nearly all of them go: the Regional Adult Detention Facility in El Centro. A register of actions from the court's online case lookup notes when a warrant issues, so families often look there first. The Sheriff's Office at 442-265-2021 checks names locally and statewide. Have a warrant yourself? Attorneys in Brawley and Calexico set up surrenders regularly, and walking in by appointment is far easier than a stop on Interstate 8. The West Main Street clerk can talk through a new hearing.