Mainly people awaiting trial on local charges, plus people serving county sentences and some state inmates. The jail's number is 502-348-1860. When you write or call about someone, use the legal name the person was booked under.

The weekly jail count from the Department of Corrections for October 8, 2026 counted 131 people in a 102-bed jail.

Check the roster for name, charges and bond. VINELink can confirm custody and alert you by phone or text when status changes. Court dates appear on KYeCourts public access. A person booked very recently might not be listed yet, so check again later.

The jail's site lists onsite and remote video visits from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (finished by 4) and from 6 to 9:30 p.m. (finished by 10). Schedule and pay for time on the jail's family account website; help is at 866-340-7879. Children need an adult with them. Visitors provide name, address, birth date and license. Read our visitation guide.

Bond goes to the circuit clerk's windows at the Nelson County Justice Center, 200 Nelson County Plaza, Bardstown, KY 40004 (502-348-3648). Cash, money orders, checks and cards with a fee are accepted. Property bonds need an appointment. Many inmates are released after a pretrial screen with no money owed. Our bail guide has the steps.

Deposit online through the jail's payment service or at the lobby kiosk. Canteen is delivered on Wednesdays, so money must arrive by 7 a.m. Tuesday to count that week. Money orders can be mailed to P.O. Box 280, Bardstown, KY 40004, with nothing else in the envelope. See our money guide and commissary guide.

Inmates place outgoing calls only, through the jail's phone provider, and every call is recorded. Ask the jail at 502-348-1860 how to set up a prepaid account for your number. Never discuss the case, since recordings can be used in court. See our phone guide and messaging guide.

Personal letters go to the inmate's name and ID, Nelson County Correctional Center, PO Box 76550, Highland Heights, KY 41076. Legal mail goes to P.O. Box 280, Bardstown, KY 40004. Each envelope has to show a return address and be standard letter size. Up to 10 photos on photo paper are allowed. Stamps, stickers, cash and colored paper are banned, and rule-breaking mail is destroyed. See our mail guide.

At arraignment, the judge reviews income and may appoint the Bullitt County Trial Office of the public defender (650 N. Buckman Street, P.O. Box 6570, Shepherdsville, KY 40165; 833-254-2465). Relatives can phone that office with the case number to find the assigned attorney. Our court guide walks through what happens next in a Nelson case.

Phone the Nelson County Sheriff's Office at 502-348-1840 and ask. When one exists, an attorney can arrange a surrender at the jail in Bardstown.

Juveniles never share space with adult inmates. A detained teen must get a court hearing inside 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays (KRS 610.265). The Department of Juvenile Justice (502-573-2738) handles placement and notifies a parent or guardian.

Send the jail at 810 West Stephen Foster Avenue, Bardstown, KY 40004 a written open records request asking for the mugshot. News media may obtain booking photos from the Nelson sheriff's office. For an immigration booking photo, file the ICE records request form. Photos taken at a federal booking are withheld by the U.S. Marshals, except when they help find a wanted fugitive.

It can, when the U.S. Marshals place someone there. Federal arrestees appear at the U.S. District Court, Western District of Kentucky, 601 West Broadway, Louisville, KY 40202, 502-625-3500, where a detention hearing, which decides whether they stay in custody. Once sentenced, federal prisoners can be found with the federal prison locator. Bardstown families can ask the Marshals' Louisville headquarters, 502-588-8000.

Start with the Bardstown correctional center (502-348-1860) to confirm the detainer; the ICE office in Louisville, 502-625-6202, handles the immigration side.

1. ICE files Form I-247A with the jail.
2. After the state case would let the person go, the jail may keep them up to 48 hours past release.
3. ICE must make the pickup within that window, or the jail lets the person go.
4. Many detainees are taken to ICE facilities outside Kentucky.
5. Search the ICE finder for their location.

Once bond posts or a release order arrives, processing takes some time. Inmates get back stored property and any account money, less permitted fees. Have someone ready to pick them up on West Stephen Foster Avenue, and call 502-348-1860 to check on timing.

After sentencing, Corrections reviews each person and assigns a prison or a county jail. Search the KOOL lookup by name or number, and see our prisons in Kentucky for each prison's contact details.

Every county bordering Nelson books elsewhere. Bullitt has the Bullitt County Detention Center in Shepherdsville, 502-543-7263, and Hardin the Hardin County Detention Center in Elizabethtown, 270-765-7717. LaRue uses the LaRue County Detention Center in Hodgenville, 270-358-9876. Marion and Washington arrests go to the Marion County Detention Center in Lebanon, 270-692-5802. Spencer arrests are taken to the Shelby County Detention Center in Shelbyville, 502-633-2343, and Anderson arrests to the Franklin County Regional Jail in Frankfort, 502-875-8782.

Property bonds are set up by appointment with the circuit clerk at 502-348-3648. Cash, money orders, checks and cards (with a fee) are taken at windows 1 and 2; never put cash in the drop box. See our bail guide.

New Haven Police are at 302 W Center Street, New Haven, KY 40051, 502-549-3177. Countywide non-emergency dispatch is 502-348-3211, and Kentucky State Police Post 4 answers at 270-766-5078.

Sometimes. The clerk's listing gives a Zoom meeting ID for District Court, 317 041 0332, and passcodes for Circuit Divisions 1 and 2. Ask the clerk at 502-348-3648 or the person's lawyer before joining, since judges control who is admitted.

Bardstown Police are at 212 Nelson County Plaza, Bardstown, KY 40004, with a front office at 502-348-6811, and Nelson County Dispatch takes non-emergency calls at 502-348-3211. New Haven Police work from 302 W Center Street, New Haven, KY 40051 (502-549-3177), and Bloomfield Police answer at 502-252-8222.

The Nelson County Sheriff's Office (502-348-1840) and Kentucky State Police Post 4, 954 Cameron Ponder Drive, Elizabethtown, KY 42701 (270-766-5078), patrol outside Bardstown, New Haven and Bloomfield, including Fairfield. For any emergency, call 911.