1. Open the Sheriff's official inmate search.
2. Type the last name first. Add the first name only if you get too many results.
3. No match? Try a different spelling, a former last name or a short form of the first name.
4. Look at the custody status, charges, bail, court date and arresting agency.
5. Write down any case or complaint number you see. Courts and lawyers will ask for it.

The search page may show a notice that it is still being finished. If so, or if the page won't load, call MCCI at 732-431-7860. Give staff the full name and birth date. Another option is VINELink, the statewide tracker for jails and prisons.

No result? The person may still be in custody somewhere. Common reasons include:

• Still at the police station. After an arrest, police do paperwork first. Anyone handed a complaint-summons leaves the station with a date to appear and skips the jail.
• Booked minutes ago. If the arrest was very recent, call the jail instead of waiting.
• Already released. Most people charged on a warrant see a judge within 48 hours, and many go home that day.
• Moved. They may be in state prison, federal custody, ICE custody or a youth center. Those answers are further down.
• Spelling. Hyphens, accents and second last names can throw off a search.

Phone the arresting police department (all are in the last answer), the jail at 732-431-7860, or the Sheriff's Office at 732-431-6400, which is staffed day and night. For court files, the courthouse records office is at 71 Monument Park, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-358-8700, ext. 87370.

Almost every adult arrested here goes to MCCI. It holds men and women, both sentenced and waiting for trial, with room for 1,328 people. The county also rents some of its beds to other agencies, so people from elsewhere may be there too. If the person isn't at MCCI, check these nearby county jails:

• Middlesex County Adult Correction Center, Apple Orchard Lane, North Brunswick, NJ 08902, 732-297-3636
• Ocean County Jail, mail P.O. Box 2191, Toms River, NJ 08754, 732-929-2043
• Mercer County Correction Center, 1750 River Road, Lambertville, NJ 08530, 609-397-7460
• Burlington County Detention Center, 54 Grant Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060, 609-726-7161

Youth under 18 are never held at MCCI. They go to a youth detention center, covered in the answer on teens. The cells at the Sheriff's training site on Dutch Lane Road are used for practice only, never for prisoners.

The Sheriff describes the lookup as a tool for custody status, charges, bail, court dates and the arresting agency. To ask about a booking photo, call the Sheriff's Office.

• New Jersey treats arrest photos as investigation records, so they are generally exempt from public records requests. A 2013 Government Records Council ruling said so.
• News outlets and others can make that request at the Sheriff's Office, 732-431-6400.
• For a photo held by immigration officials, file a records request with ICE at its FOIA page.
• Federal agencies don't usually release booking photos. The U.S. Marshals are an exception and sometimes share a photo while chasing a fugitive.

Yes, through VINE. It is a free statewide service that tells you where a person is held and whether they are still in custody, from county lockups to state prisons. It works for families, not just crime victims.

1. Search the person on VINELink, or call 877-846-3465.
2. Pick how you want alerts: phone call, text, email or the VINELink app. Each one has to be set up by itself.
3. TTY users can dial 866-847-1298.

For prison cases, VINE can also flag parole actions and court trips. Crime victims can get help signing up from the Prosecutor's Victim-Witness Unit at 132 Jerseyville Avenue, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-431-6459.

Paying money to get out is uncommon in New Jersey now. Since January 1, 2017, Criminal Justice Reform has based release on risk, not money. With a summons, the person goes home right away with a date to appear. With a warrant, they wait at MCCI for a judge's ruling. The law gives the court 48 hours at most. Before that hearing, Pretrial Services prepares a Public Safety Assessment.

• Most people go home on their own word or with rules, like check-ins or an ankle monitor.
• Prosecutors may file to keep a person locked up until trial.
• Money bail is rare. When it is set, pay on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the courthouse Central Fee Office, 71 Monument Park, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-358-8700.
• At any other time, pay at Booking in the back of MCCI with cash or a bail bondsman. Cards and checks are refused there.

Every step, place and payment rule is on our bail and release page.

The jail search and the jail's phone line are the fastest way. Call 732-431-7860 if the search won't load. New Jersey's top tier of charge is the indictable crime, ranked first through fourth degree. Elsewhere these would be felonies. The lower tier is the disorderly persons offense, close to a misdemeanor.

• Superior Court cases can be looked up in Promis/Gavel public access.
• Got a town court complaint number? Type it into the Municipal Court Case Search.
• The Criminal Division at the courthouse answers at 732-358-8700, ext. 87913.
• The defense lawyer gets the full complaint and can explain it best.

Charges can change. The County Prosecutor reviews every adult indictable complaint and may lower some to town court charges.

The court brings up a lawyer at the first appearance. For an indictable charge, a 5A form asks about money, work and home. A judge decides if they qualify, and then the case goes to the state public defender.

• Office of the Public Defender, local office: 7 Broad Street, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-308-4320
• Steps to apply: public defender application
• Town court cases: ask the municipal court about its public defender. A fee of up to $200 may apply, and the judge can waive it.
• Federal cases: Federal Public Defender, Station Plaza 4, 22 South Clinton Avenue, Trenton, NJ 08609, 609-989-2160

Lawyers meet clients at MCCI in private interview rooms.

Every visit at MCCI must be approved ahead of time, and the person inside books it. Walk-in visits are not allowed. Ask them to schedule you, or call the jail at 732-431-7860 and ask for visits.

• Bring a valid photo ID.
• No more than two adult visitors at a time.
• Arrive on time. Late visitors are turned away, and a missed slot can't be moved to later that day.
• Visits may be contact or non-contact, depending on the person's housing.
• Leave phones, bags, food, drinks, lighters, money, wallets, strollers, car seats, diaper bags and toys outside. Bring only one car key or fob. Lockers are there.

The dress code is strict, and people who break it are refused. Skip heavy coats, hats, tank tops, see-through clothes, short skirts or shorts, leggings without a cover, flip-flops, underwire bras, military-style clothes and anything that looks like a uniform. Read more on our visiting guide.

Call MCCI at 732-431-7860 before you send anything. Ask which deposit methods the jail uses now, any fees, and the details you need, such as the person's full name and birth date. Don't mail cash or personal checks, because the jail's mail rules turn them away.

Money on the account pays for snacks and supplies from the store, which our commissary page explains. For a step-by-step look at deposits, see our inmate money guide.

Ask jail staff at 732-431-7860 how prepaid phone accounts are set up and what they cost.

• Our jail phone guide explains how prepaid accounts usually work.
• Our inmate messaging guide covers email and tablet messages.
• Assume any call may be recorded, and keep talk about the case off the line.

Lawyers can speak with clients in private rooms at the jail.

Address letters like this:

Inmate's full name
Monmouth County Correctional Institution
1 Waterworks Road, Freehold, NJ 07728

• Use a plain white envelope no bigger than a standard #10 (4-1/8 by 9-1/2 inches).
• Don't send food, cigarettes, cash, personal checks, greeting cards or photos printed on photo paper.
• Up to 12 photos can be sent through freeprintsnow.com, the photo service the jail names.
• Books must come from Barnes & Noble by standard shipping. Magazines must come straight from the publisher.
• Since March 5, 2021, the jail has refused packages and deliveries from Amazon.

See our jail mail guide for more on letters and packages.

Ask the jail about anything taken at booking, such as clothes, phones, keys and wallets. Call MCCI at 732-431-7860 to ask when items can be collected and which ID to bring. If they're still locked up, ask if they have to sign before you can take anything.

Don't go to the Sheriff's headquarters for jail property. That building, at 2500 Kozloski Road, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-431-6400, handles civil papers, fingerprints and wage garnishments.

If police kept something as evidence, ask the arresting department or the Prosecutor's Victim-Witness Unit about getting it back.

MCCI gives health care to everyone it holds. Two national groups have accredited MCCI: the American Correctional Association and, for health services, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

• Call 732-431-7860 and ask to have the medical staff told about a health problem, medicine or allergy.
• Medical records can be asked for with the Medical Record Request form on the Sheriff's website.
• Addiction help inside includes classes, group and one-on-one counseling, and daily AA meetings. Staff also help people find in-patient treatment after release.
• To report mistreatment, ask the operator for the jail's Internal Affairs unit.

For an emergency you see outside the jail, dial 911.

The Sheriff's Warrant/Fugitive Section handles warrant arrests from 2500 Kozloski Road, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-431-6400. Anyone can call this 24-hour line to ask about a name. Statewide fugitives are on the State Police Most Wanted list. For town warrants, call the municipal court that handles the town. Marlboro, for one, tells people to call its Violations Bureau. A Superior Court warrant can be checked with the Criminal Division, 71 Monument Park, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-358-8700, ext. 87913. To resolve it, hire or call a lawyer and plan a surrender at MCCI, or ask the court that issued it to set a new date.

The jail search lists the next court date when it is working. Other ways to check:

• Superior Court: Promis/Gavel public access, or the Criminal Division at 732-358-8700, ext. 87913.
• Municipal cases: search the Municipal Court Case Search, or NJMCdirect for traffic tickets.
• Not sure which town has a ticket? Judiciary Customer Services can tell you at 609-421-6100.

Every courthouse and all 32 town courts, with phones and court days, are in our criminal court guide.

The federal court for this area sits in Trenton, 402 East State Street, Room 2020, Trenton, NJ 08608, 609-989-2065.

1. After arrest, the person sees a magistrate judge, usually that day or the next.
2. Custody versus release gets argued at that first visit, unless one side gets a short delay (18 U.S.C. 3142(f)).
3. If kept in custody, the U.S. Marshals choose where. Ask the Trenton Marshals office, in the same building, at 609-989-2069, where the person is being kept.
4. The Marshals often use county jails, and MCCI is one the Federal Public Defender lists. Others include Essex and Hudson, and the federal center in Philadelphia.
5. After sentencing, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by name or register number.

PACER has federal court files, and each page costs a little.

Start with the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Enter a name plus country of birth. An A-number works too. Here is how a person usually ends up with ICE:

1. The jail receives ICE's detainer paperwork, Form I-247A.
2. That paper requests a hold of up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE officers pick the person up.
4. They are taken to an ICE site. The Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, 625 Evans Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07201, 908-282-5700, is a main one. Mail to a detainee there must show the A-number's last four digits.
5. For questions, call the Newark Field Office, 970 Broad Street, 11th Floor, Newark, NJ 07102, 973-776-3274.

Under the state's Immigrant Trust Directive, MCCI can hold someone for ICE past release time only when one of three things is true. They face, or were once convicted of, an offense in the Directive's Appendix A of violent and serious crimes. Their record shows an indictable conviction of a non-violent kind within five years. Or the jail has a federal judge's signed order of removal, final and on file. The extra time ends at 11:59 p.m. on the release date. Whenever ICE asks for something, jail staff must put it in writing for the person, in a language they know.

When the sentence is state prison time, custody passes from MCCI to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Everyone starts at a state reception center, where staff check health needs and set a custody level, and that level decides the prison.

• Search on the Department of Corrections incarcerated person lookup.
• Read about each prison in our list of New Jersey state prisons.
• Call the Department of Corrections at Whittlesey Road, P.O. Box 863, Trenton, NJ 08625, 609-292-4036.
• VINE also tracks people in state prison.

Visits and phone calls at a reception center have their own rules, and calls start only after the person's phone PIN is set up.

Teens don't go to MCCI. The county's own youth jail closed, and the Sheriff's Office drives detained youth to the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center. Its street is Apple Orchard Lane, and its mailing address is P.O. Box 7164, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. Phone: 732-297-8991.

• Under a shared-services deal, a few youth go to the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center, 165 Sunset Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754, 732-288-7708.
• The Family Division at the courthouse handles youth cases: 71 Monument Park, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-358-8700, ext. 87240.
• Some youth stay home on house arrest or a monitor through the county's Division of Juvenile Detention Alternatives, 732-866-3688, at 3000 Kozloski Road, 3rd Floor, Freehold, NJ 07728.

Parents should call the detention center to learn visit rules and when the first court hearing is set.

These are each department's main lines from the state's police directory. Call 911 for an emergency. If a number has changed, call the Sheriff's Office at 732-431-6400.

Bayshore and Middletown

• Aberdeen Police: 1 Aberdeen Square, Aberdeen, NJ 07747, 732-566-2054
• Atlantic Highlands Police: 100 First Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716, 732-291-1212
• Hazlet Police: 255 Middle Road, Hazlet, NJ 07730, 732-264-6565
• Highlands Police: 27 Shore Drive, Highlands, NJ 07732, 732-872-1158
• Keansburg Police: 179 Carr Avenue, Keansburg, NJ 07734, 732-787-0600
• Keyport Police: 70 West Front Street, Keyport, NJ 07735, 732-264-0706
• Matawan Police: 150 Main Street, Matawan, NJ 07747, 732-566-1010
• Middletown Township Police: 1 Kings Highway, Middletown, NJ 07748, 732-615-2100
• Union Beach Police: 650 Poole Avenue, Union Beach, NJ 07735, 732-264-0313

Red Bank, Holmdel and the river towns

• Colts Neck Police: 124 Cedar Drive, Colts Neck, NJ 07722, 732-780-7323
• Eatontown Police: 47 Broad Street, Eatontown, NJ 07724, 732-542-0100
• Fair Haven Police: 35 Fisk Street, Fair Haven, NJ 07704, 732-747-0991
• Holmdel Police: 4 Crawfords Corners Road, Holmdel, NJ 07733, 732-946-4400
• Little Silver Police: 480 Prospect Avenue, Little Silver, NJ 07739, 732-747-5900
• Monmouth Beach Police: 14 Willow Avenue, Monmouth Beach, NJ 07750, 732-229-1313
• Oceanport Police: P.O. Box 370, Oceanport, NJ 07757, 732-222-6300
• Red Bank Police: 90 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701, 732-530-2700
• Rumson Police: 80 East River Road, Rumson, NJ 07760, 732-842-0500
• Sea Bright Police: 1099 East Ocean Avenue, Sea Bright, NJ 07760, 732-842-0010
• Shrewsbury Borough Police: 419 Sycamore Avenue, Shrewsbury, NJ 07702, 732-741-2500
• Tinton Falls Police: 556 Tinton Avenue, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724, 732-542-4422

Shore towns

• Allenhurst Police: 125 Corlies Avenue, Allenhurst, NJ 07711, 732-531-2255
• Asbury Park Police: 1 Municipal Plaza, Asbury Park, NJ 07712, 732-502-5789
• Avon-by-the-Sea Police: 301 Main Street, Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ 07717, 732-502-4500
• Belmar Police, which Lake Como's borough page also lists for its police: 601 Main Street, Belmar, NJ 07719, 732-681-1700
• Bradley Beach Police: 701 Main Street, Bradley Beach, NJ 07720, 732-775-6900
• Brielle Police: 601 Union Lane, Brielle, NJ 08730, 732-528-5050
• Deal Police, which also covers Interlaken and Loch Arbour: 190 Norwood Avenue, Deal, NJ 07723, 732-531-1113
• Long Branch Police: 344 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ 07740, 732-222-1000
• Manasquan Police: 201 East Main Street, Manasquan, NJ 08736, 732-223-1000
• Neptune City Police: 106 West Sylvania Avenue, Neptune City, NJ 07754, 732-775-1615
• Neptune Township Police: 25 Neptune Boulevard, Neptune, NJ 07753, 732-988-8000
• Ocean Township Police: 399 Monmouth Road, Oakhurst, NJ 07755, 732-531-1800
• Sea Girt Police: 319 Baltimore Boulevard, Sea Girt, NJ 08750, 732-449-7300
• Spring Lake Police: 311 Washington Avenue, Spring Lake, NJ 07762, 732-449-1234
• Spring Lake Heights Police: 555 Brighton Avenue, Spring Lake Heights, NJ 07762, 732-449-6161
• Wall Township Police: 2700 Allaire Road, Wall, NJ 07719, 732-449-4500
• West Long Branch Police: 965 Broadway, West Long Branch, NJ 07764, 732-229-5000

Western towns

• Allentown Police: 8 North Main Street, Allentown, NJ 08501, 609-259-3491
• Englishtown Police: 15 Main Street, Englishtown, NJ 07726, 732-446-7000
• Freehold Borough and Township each have their own force. Borough: 36 Jackson Street, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-462-1234. Township: 1 Municipal Plaza, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-462-7500
• Howell Township Police: P.O. Box 580, Howell, NJ 07731, 732-938-4111
• Manalapan Police: 120 Route 522, Manalapan, NJ 07726, 732-446-4300
• Marlboro Police: 1979 Township Drive, Marlboro, NJ 07746, non-emergency 732-536-0100

Towns patrolled by State Police or a neighbor

• Farmingdale and Millstone are patrolled by the State Police Hamilton station, 1400 Negron Drive, Hamilton, NJ 08691, 609-584-5000.
• Roosevelt, Shrewsbury Township and Upper Freehold are also patrolled by the State Police. Call State Police headquarters, P.O. Box 7068, West Trenton, NJ 08628, 609-882-2000, or the Sheriff's Office to find the right station.

County and campus police

• Sheriff's Office: 2500 Kozloski Road, Freehold, NJ 07728, non-emergency line 732-577-8700
• Monmouth University Police: 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ 07764, 732-571-3472
• Brookdale Community College security: 765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738, 732-842-1950