The county lookup searches the people housed at the Adult Correction Center, and you agree not to use it to harass anyone. Try it like this:

1. Open the jail's inmate lookup on a phone or computer.
2. Put in a last name. Add a first name only if the list is long.
3. Tick "Current Inmate Only" to hide past bookings.
4. If you know a rough age, use the age range boxes to narrow it.
5. Open the match and copy down the inmate number. Staff, mail and money services will ask for it.

Other boxes let you search by booking or release dates, or by the agency that brought the person in, such as a town police force or the State Police. Still stuck? Phone the Records Office at 732-951-3355.

No match on the search is not proof of release. Run through these:

• Charged on a summons. Police may have handed over a court notice and let the person go without a jail booking.
• Still being processed. Booking and the first court steps take hours. Check the "Booked Today" list.
• Already gone. Many people leave within a day or two once a judge rules. See "Released Today."
• Typed differently. Try one name at a time, a maiden name or a different spelling.
• Under 18. Teens are booked at the youth detention center next door.
• In another jail. An arrest just over the county line, or a federal or immigration case, may lead elsewhere.

For a sure answer at any hour, call 732-951-3360, the jail's 24-hour line.

Adults from all 25 towns here go to the North Brunswick jail. If the arrest happened near a border, check the jails next door:

• Monmouth County Correctional Institution, 1 Waterworks Road, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-431-7860
• Somerset County Jail, 40 Grove Street, Somerville, NJ 08876, 908-231-7150.
• Mercer County Correction Center, 1750 River Road, Lambertville, NJ 08530, 609-397-7460
• Essex County Correctional Facility, 354 Doremus Avenue, Newark, NJ 07105, 973-274-7500. Union County has no jail of its own and houses its adults here.

Teens go to the county's Juvenile Detention Center on the same Route 130 grounds, 732-297-8991.

The lookup is set up to find a person by name or inmate number. Photos are taken at booking: the Sheriff's Identification Section photographs and fingerprints everyone arrested on an indictable charge.

A 2013 Government Records Council ruling backed Camden's refusal to release arrest pictures, treating them as criminal investigation records. Reporters can still ask the Sheriff's Office at 732-745-3271.

• Photos held by ICE go through the ICE records request portal.
• Federal booking photos stay out of public hands, with one exception: a fugitive's picture may be released by the U.S. Marshals Service.

VINE is a free statewide tool. It shows custody status and location for people held anywhere in the state system, from a county jail to a state prison. Search it any time on VINELink. You can also sign up for alerts by phone, text, email or the VINELink app.

• Register by calling 877-846-3465. The TTY line is 866-847-1298.
• Each kind of alert, such as text or email, must be set up on its own.
• For state prisoners, notices can cover parole decisions and court trips.

Checking the lookup's "Released Today" list each morning is another quick habit.

Probably, and often without paying. Since January 1, 2017, New Jersey's Criminal Justice Reform law has put release on a risk check instead of cash (N.J.S.A. 2A:162-15 to -26). When police use a warrant, the judge's ruling on release must come within two days of booking. The usual result is release, either on a signed promise or under Pretrial Services check-ins. Prosecutors can ask a judge to hold the most serious cases until trial.

On the rare occasion a judge sets cash, the jail takes it day or night. Exact cash, a postal money order and a certified bank check all work; call Records at 732-951-3355 for the total first. Our bail and release guide covers the hearing, bail agents and refunds.

Call Records at 732-951-3355 to hear the charges and which court holds the case. New Jersey grades them this way:

• First and second degree crimes are the gravest, with 5 to 20 years in prison.
• Third and fourth degree crimes carry up to 5 years.
• Together these are indictable crimes, the state's word for felony-level charges.
• Disorderly persons and petty disorderly persons offenses are minor charges, heard in town courts, with up to 6 months in jail.

Look up Superior Court cases with Promis/Gavel public access, and find town court complaints through the Municipal Court Case Search. The County Prosecutor's Office decides the final crime charges; it is at 25 Kirkpatrick Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-745-3300.

A public defender can be appointed as early as the very first court hearing. The person fills out the 5A money form, and the judge decides if they qualify. The county's office is:

• Office of the Public Defender, 550 Jersey Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-937-6400
• How to apply: the defender's step-by-step page

A person facing a detention hearing has the right to a lawyer there too. Town court cases use the municipal public defender, with an application fee of up to $200 that a judge can reduce. Families can also hire a private lawyer, and the county bar's referral line is 732-828-0053.

The jail sets its visit rules in a visitor handbook, and staff can take away visits from anyone who breaks them. Before you drive out, call the Visiting desk at 732-297-3636. Good questions to ask:

• The visiting days and hours for the person's unit
• Whether you must sign up ahead or get on a visitor list
• Which ID cards count and which outfits get turned away
• Whether children can come, and with whom
• Whether video visits are offered, from home or from the lobby

Expect a security checkpoint on Apple Orchard Lane. Our visiting tips page explains what usually happens on visit day.

The county links outside vendor websites from its family resources page. One handles adding funds and ordering Secure Pak care packages. Another handles tablet funding. Keep the inmate number handy, and read the fee list before paying.

Account money can buy snacks, hygiene items and phone time, and it can even be put toward bail. For account questions, call the jail's Business Office at 732-951-3430. Mailing cash is a mistake. For deposit tips, see our money guide, and for what the store sells, our commissary guide.

The jail's phone system runs under contract with an outside phone company. Rates and how to open a prepaid account are on that company's Friends & Family website, which the county links. Tablets are funded through a separate vendor site.

To make sure you have the right site, call the jail at 732-297-3636. Questions about the case belong in talks with the defense lawyer, nowhere else. More help: the jail calls guide and the inmate messaging page.

Personal mail at this jail goes through a secure electronic system. In the county's words, incoming mail is "digitally screened and printed directly within the facility" to keep out contraband. That means your letter reaches the person as a printed copy.

• Call 732-297-3636 before you write, and ask where to send personal mail and how to use the system.
• Include the person's full name and inmate number.
• Lawyers have their own secure legal mail channel and can still mail paper to P.O. Box 266, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.

Cash in a letter is never a good idea. Typical rules on photos and books are in our mail guide.

Whatever the person carried at booking, such as a phone, keys or a jacket, is bagged and kept until release. For an early pickup, the person may need to sign a release for you. Call the main desk at 732-297-3636 to ask how and when pickups happen, then bring photo ID to the Apple Orchard Lane jail.

Items police seized as evidence are different. Those go back only through the Prosecutor's Evidence Control Unit; call 732-745-3300.

The jail's health care program is accredited by the national standards group for correctional health, the NCCHC. The county asks families to speak up right away about any health worry, including any sign of suicidal thoughts or a past attempt.

• Call 732-297-3636 and ask for medical.
• Share the medicine names, doses and the outside doctor's phone number.
• In a life-threatening emergency, call 911.

Complaints about how the person is treated can go to the jail's Internal Affairs Unit at 732-740-6909.

Town officers pick up warrants within their borders, and the Sheriff's Office, 701 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-745-3271, does so across the county. For missed Superior Court dates, the Prosecutor's Fugitive Unit, 732-745-3300, works with federal marshals. Browse the jail's Wanted Inmate page plus the statewide State Police most wanted page. A town warrant can be checked through the Municipal Court Case Search, or with a call to the town court. To resolve one, call a lawyer before anything else. With that help, surrender at the county jail (Apple Orchard Lane, North Brunswick, NJ 08902). A new court date is the other route. Superior Court is at 56 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, 732-645-4300.

Each kind of case has its own calendar keeper:

• Crimes: Superior Court, 56 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, 732-645-4300. Ask for criminal case management.
• Lesser charges and tickets: the town's municipal court. Look the case up on the Municipal Court Case Search.
• Teens: the Family Courthouse, 120 New Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903.

Every town court's phone, with its session days, is on our court guide.

Federal arrests here go to Newark or Trenton, split by the Raritan River. North-side cases go to 50 Walnut Street, Room 4015, Newark, NJ 07101, 973-645-3730. South-side cases go to 402 East State Street, Room 2020, Trenton, NJ 08608, 609-989-2065.

1. A magistrate judge decides jail or release at the first court date, in a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142(f)).
2. Until the case ends, the U.S. Marshals keep custody, often in a county jail under contract. Ask the Newark office, 973-645-2404, or the Trenton office, 609-989-2069, where the person is.
3. Read the court file on PACER.
4. Once sentenced, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by name or register number.

An immigration case runs apart from the criminal charges. Follow the steps:

1. To start, immigration officers send a detainer on Form I-247A. The form requests that jail staff keep the person for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
2. If the jail holds the person, officers drive them to an ICE site.
3. ICE's Newark Field Office, which covers New Jersey, sits at 970 Broad St., 11th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102, 973-776-3274. One place it holds people is the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, 625 Evans Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07201, 908-282-5700.
4. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator with an A-number, or a name plus country of birth.

New Jersey limits step 1 through the Attorney General's Immigrant Trust Directive. Under it, the jail keeps someone past release for ICE only in three cases. The person must face, or have been convicted of, a crime that falls on the Directive's violent-or-serious list, or have an indictable conviction no more than five years old, or a removal order a federal judge made final. In those cases the hold still can't run past 11:59 p.m. on the release day. Every ICE request is shared with the person on paper, too. The county corrections office keeps its own written policy on contact with ICE.

Once a judge imposes a state prison term, state officers transport the person to an intake center run by the Department of Corrections. Testing and a classification score decide which prison comes next.

• The state's inmate search is linked from the corrections department's offender page.
• Read about visits and mail at each prison in our New Jersey state prisons guide.
• Parole release timing is handled by the State Parole Board, 609-292-4257.

Under-18s are kept out of the adult jail. If a Family Court judge orders a teen held, the teen goes to the Juvenile Detention Center, a secure, short-stay center beside the adult jail off Route 130 in North Brunswick, 732-297-8991. Its mailing address is P.O. Box 7164, North Brunswick, NJ 08902.

The county's Youth Services office, 732-398-4410, can confirm the teen's location and the hearing date for parents. Youth cases go to the Family Part at 120 New Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. Teens do not show up on the adult lookup.

The lookup's "Committed By" box shows which agency made the arrest. All 25 towns run their own police force. Call 911 in an emergency, and use these lines for everything else.

Cities

• New Brunswick Police, 25 Kirkpatrick St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-745-5200
• Perth Amboy Police, 365 New Brunswick Ave, Perth Amboy, NJ 08861, 732-442-4400
• South Amboy Police, 140 North Broadway, South Amboy, NJ 08879, 732-721-0111

Townships

• Cranbury Police, 23-A North Main Street, Cranbury, NJ 08512, 609-395-0031
• East Brunswick Police, 1 Jean Walling Civic Center Drive, East Brunswick, NJ 08816, 732-390-6900
• Edison Police, 100 Municipal Blvd., Edison, NJ 08817, 732-248-7400
• Monroe Township Police, 3 Municipal Plaza, Monroe Township, NJ 08831, 732-521-0222
• North Brunswick Police, 710 Hermann Rd, North Brunswick, NJ 08902, 732-545-3200
• Old Bridge Police, also covering Laurence Harbor, 1 Old Bridge Plaza, Old Bridge, NJ 08857, 732-721-4000
• Piscataway Police, 555 Sidney Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854, 732-562-1100
• Plainsboro Police, 641 Plainsboro Rd, Plainsboro, NJ 08536, 609-799-2333
• South Brunswick Police, for Dayton, Kendall Park and Monmouth Junction too, 1 Police Plaza, Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852, 732-329-4646
• Woodbridge Police, for Avenel, Fords, Iselin, Port Reading and Sewaren as well, 1 Main St, Woodbridge, NJ 07095, 732-634-7700

Boroughs

• Carteret Police, 230 Roosevelt Ave., Carteret, NJ 07008, 732-541-4181
• Dunellen Police, 355 North Ave, Dunellen, NJ 08812, 732-968-3000
• Helmetta Police, 60 Main St, Helmetta, NJ 08828, 732-251-4100
• Highland Park Police, 222 South 5th Ave, Highland Park, NJ 08904, 732-572-3800
• Jamesburg Police, 131 Perrineville Rd, Jamesburg, NJ 08831, 732-521-0011
• Metuchen Police, 500 Middlesex Ave, Metuchen, NJ 08840, 732-632-8500
• Middlesex Borough Police, 1101 Mountain Ave, Middlesex, NJ 08846, 732-356-1900
• Milltown Police, 39 Washington Ave, Milltown, NJ 08850, 732-828-1100
• Sayreville Police, 1000 Main St, Sayreville, NJ 08872, 732-727-4444
• South Plainfield Police, 2480 Plainfield Ave, South Plainfield, NJ 07080, 908-755-0700
• South River Police, 61 Main St, South River, NJ 08882, 732-238-1000
• Spotswood Police, 77 Summerhill Rd, Spotswood, NJ 08884, 732-251-2121

County, campus and state agencies

• County Sheriff's Office, 701 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-745-3271. It moves inmates to court and takes prints and photos after indictable arrests.
• Rutgers University Police, 55 Paul Robeson Boulevard, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, 732-932-7211
• Middlesex County College Police, Woodbridge Avenue and Mill Road on the Edison campus, Edison, NJ 08817, 732-906-2500
• County Parks Ranger Unit, 1030 River Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, 732-745-3926
• New Jersey State Police, P.O. Box 7068, West Trenton, NJ 08628, 609-882-2000.