Adults from Ocean County who are committed to jail on indictable offenses or lesser charges are received at:
165 Sunset Avenue
Toms River, NJ 08753
In New Jersey, an arrest is normally processed first at the arresting police department, and a court decides whether the person is released or committed to the county jail. Municipal police, the county sheriff’s office and other agencies all deliver commitments here. Corrections officers photograph and fingerprint each new admission, record their property, confirm warrants and complete a medical screening before housing is assigned.
The New Jersey State Police and federal agencies, including the U.S. Marshals and ICE, may also lodge people at this facility.
Under the New Jersey Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive, state, county and local law enforcement may not hold someone past their release time solely on an ICE detainer unless it is accompanied by a judicial warrant, and they may not enter 287(g) agreements. Notifying ICE of a release is limited mainly to people charged with or convicted of serious or violent offenses.
The public listing of recent admissions is pulled from the county’s official booking list (opens in a new tab) or an official statewide jail list. Where permitted, a record may include a booking photo, the charges and the arresting agency. For details a listing leaves out, contact the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center at 732-288-7708.
Between arrival at the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center and placement in housing or release, two hours to a full day is typical, depending on how busy intake is.
Since the Criminal Justice Reform Act took effect in 2017, New Jersey has largely replaced cash bail with risk-based pretrial release. Pretrial Services, which offices in the Ocean County Probation Office, prepares a risk assessment, and a person committed to the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center on a complaint-warrant must go before a judge, typically within 48 hours, who will release them on conditions or, if the prosecutor moves for it, hold a detention hearing. Monetary bail, and therefore the use of bail bonds, is now rare. See our Bail page for more.
Call the facility at 732-288-7708 and ask whether the person has been admitted.
The line may offer an automated inmate locator, or an officer may help you directly. To protect privacy, staff often ask for a date of birth before confirming anything.
Many people arrested in New Jersey are released from the police station on a summons and never come to the county jail, and those who are committed may not show up in records for several hours.
You can also check the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center Booking Roster online.
Once arrested and given Miranda warnings, the person is processed at the arresting police department in Ocean County. If a complaint-warrant is issued, they are then taken to the county jail.
Processing involves several steps. Attorneys generally urge arrested people not to talk about the charges with police or other detainees, since those conversations, and jail phone calls, can be recorded and used against them.
Admission includes a mugshot, fingerprints and a series of questions about personal history and mental health. New Jersey law requires a DNA sample from people arrested for certain serious crimes, such as murder, kidnapping and sexual assault. Warrant checks cover Ocean County, other New Jersey courts and national databases.
For a drunk-driving arrest, blood is drawn only with consent or a warrant; refusing a breath test is a separate traffic offense in New Jersey.
New Jersey law bars strip searches of people held only for a traffic or disorderly persons offense unless there is a warrant, consent or reasonable suspicion that they are hiding a weapon or drugs. Others may be strip searched under jail policy, and everyone passes through a metal detector or scanner.
Intake officers and medical staff ask about physical and mental health, current medications, allergies, drug and alcohol use, tattoos, gang ties and any risk of suicide. This information drives classification, cell placement and follow-up care.
Personal items are collected, itemized and kept in storage until release. With the detainee’s signed authorization, a family member or friend can usually pick them up earlier.
Stored property includes street clothing, cash, wallets and purses, phones, jewelry, piercings and watches. Eyeglasses may be held if they present a security risk, and any shoes the person keeps have their laces removed.
The detainee gets the chance to call a relative, friend or lawyer about the arrest and any bond or bail or release questions.
While waiting for their first appearance, they are issued a jail uniform, footwear, bedding, a towel and personal hygiene supplies.
A shower is usually required before housing, and some jails also apply a treatment for lice or scabies.
Admission can be wrapped up in about an hour or can take 24 hours or more. The pace depends on volume, staffing and how cooperative the detainee is.
People who are badly intoxicated or combative are often kept in a holding area for several hours before intake resumes.