Toms River Municipal Jail

The county calls its search the Inmate Lookup Tool. Follow these steps:

1. Pull up the lookup in any web browser.
2. Type the name as it appears on the person's ID card.
3. If several people share the name, compare each record with what you know about your loved one.
4. If the record shows an ID number, copy it down. Mail to the jail needs that number.
5. Call 732-929-2043 to confirm the charges, any bail and the next court date. Staff have the newest facts.

Be ready to give the person's birth date when you call. It helps staff find the right record fast.

A missing name rarely means something is wrong. Common reasons:

• Booking is still going on. Intake includes a search, fingerprints, photos, a property list and a medical screening, and all of that takes time.
• Already released. Many people leave on a summons, or go home after the first hearing under New Jersey's release rules.
• Still at a police station. Township arrests in the county seat are processed first at the police holding area, 255 Oak Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-349-0150.
• Under 18. Teens are taken to the youth detention center instead.
• Moved. A transfer to state prison, a federal hold or ICE custody can take a name off the list.
• Spelling. Try a second last name, a maiden name or a common misspelling.

The jail can settle it at 732-929-2043. For older fingerprint and criminal history records, contact the Sheriff's Identification Bureau on the third floor of 120 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754, through the Sheriff's main line, 732-929-2044.

The county has its own adult jail, so most people end up there. Still, check these if the name doesn't match:

• Toms River Police holding facility, 255 Oak Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-349-0150. It is a police lockup for people just arrested in that township. It holds 12 adults and 3 juveniles and is staffed around the clock.
• Juvenile Detention Center, run by the county at 165 Sunset Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754, 732-288-7708, for anyone under 18.
• Monmouth County Correctional Institution, 2500 Kozloski Road, Freehold, NJ 07728, 732-431-6400, to the north.
• Burlington County Detention Center, 54 Grant Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060, 609-726-7161, to the west.
• Atlantic County's jail, the Gerard L. Gormley Justice Facility, 5060 Atlantic Avenue, Mays Landing, NJ 08330, 609-645-5855, to the south.

A neighbor county may hold someone arrested on its own warrant, even if the arrest happened here.

The jail takes a photo of every person at intake. To learn whether that photo is part of what the county shares, call 732-929-2043.

• In New Jersey, arrest photos are generally kept out of public records requests. In a 2013 decision, the Government Records Council said a city was right to refuse them under the Open Public Records Act.
• The Sheriff's Identification Bureau keeps mugshots and fingerprints for criminal history files. Reporters can ask the Sheriff's Office at 732-929-2044.
• The Sheriff's most wanted page does show a photo of each wanted person.
• To ask for an immigration photo, use the ICE FOIA page.
• Federal arrest photos are usually withheld. A rare exception is a picture the Marshals put out to find a person who fled.

Through VINE, a free statewide system, you can follow custody in New Jersey's county jails and state prisons. It tells you where someone is held and can warn you when that changes.

• Look someone up or register on VINELink, through its app, or by calling 877-846-3465. The TTY line is 866-847-1298.
• Phone, text, email and app notices are separate sign-ups, so choose every one you want.
• If the person is in state prison, notices also flag parole board steps and any trip out for a hearing.
• Crime victims can get help with notices from the Prosecutor's Victim/Witness Advocacy Unit at 732-929-2195.

Paying to get out is now the exception in New Jersey. Since Criminal Justice Reform began on January 1, 2017, the typical release costs nothing.

• A summons means the person walks out holding a court date.
• Anyone arrested on a warrant waits at the jail while Pretrial Services scores their risk. A judge rules on release within 48 hours.
• Most leave on a signed promise, sometimes with check-ins, home detention or a monitor.
• Money bail, when used at all, exists only to get the person back to court.
• The prosecutor can ask a judge to hold a person until trial at a detention hearing.

For bail questions, call the jail at 732-929-2043. Account deposits at the kiosks or by phone are for spending money, not bail. Our bail page has every step.

The jail can tell you the booking charges at 732-929-2043. Court records give more detail once a case is filed:

• Superior Court criminal files: Promis/Gavel public access.
• The Municipal Court Case Search covers town court complaints.

New Jersey uses its own grades. An indictable crime, of the first to fourth degree, is close to a felony elsewhere. A disorderly persons offense is close to a misdemeanor. A grand jury decides whether an indictable charge goes forward, and the prosecutor can change or drop charges along the way. That office is the County Prosecutor's Office, 119 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-929-2027.

Free counsel starts with a 5A form, handed out by the court at the first hearing. It asks about income, bills and daily life, and a judge uses it to decide who qualifies.

• Indictable cases go to the Office of the Public Defender, 236 Main Street, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-286-6400.
• Town court cases: people who qualify get a municipal public defender when jail time, a lost license or steep penalties are possible.
• Families may also hire a private lawyer.

Lawyers, clergy and other professionals visit Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact visits for lawyers and clergy pause from noon to 1 p.m. and from 2:30 to 3:15 p.m. Contact visit requests go in writing to the Office of the Warden. Professionals can also book video visits 1 to 7 days ahead after they register, and approval takes 24 to 48 business hours.

Every visitor must register first, either in the jail lobby or online. The first visit needs 48 hours for approval, and you must be on the inmate's approved list.

• Video visits: two 15-minute visits a week for eligible inmates. Book 1 to 7 days ahead, and cancel at least 24 hours before. Weekday hours are 6 to 10 p.m., weekends 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visits from home are offered for $4.00 per 16-minute session.
• Contact visits: Fridays 8 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m., Saturdays 8 to 10 a.m., and Sundays 8 to 10 a.m. for primary caregivers only. The inmate must have been held 90 days and gets one every 30 days. Up to two adults may come. Ask at least 14 days ahead with each visitor's name, date of birth and Social Security number, and cancel by noon the Wednesday before.
• ID: a U.S. driver's license, a government photo ID showing your address, or a passport. Contact visits need a U.S. government photo ID.
• Rules: arrive 15 minutes early. No phones, purses or jackets. Children must be watched at all times and can't come during school hours. Visitors under 18 must be married to the inmate or come with a parent, guardian or adult relative. There are no visits on county holidays, and visits other than with lawyers are recorded.
• Dress for contact visits: no tank tops, flip-flops, high heels, low-cut shirts, bare midriffs, dangling earrings, or skirts or shorts above the knee.

Inmates in the Assessment Unit, in sanction housing or in disciplinary detention can't have visits. Anyone who was held at this jail, or released from state prison, must wait at least one year to visit. Our visiting guide has more pointers.

Account money pays for commissary items, calls and tablet use. The county takes deposits these ways:

• A kiosk in the jail's main lobby, or a second kiosk at the Public Information Office behind the jail on Court House Lane. Both take cash, debit or credit cards.
• Online, through the deposit site the county links on its inmate information page.
• By phone at 866-345-1884.

Money orders, checks, and money mailed in or dropped off are refused. The jail takes its facility and medical fees straight from the account. Families can order commissary gift packs, but packages from outside are turned away. Our money guide and commissary guide explain more.

Calls, messages, photo sharing, video visits, music, movies and games all run through one provider's platform. Add funds online, by phone at 866-516-0115, or in the provider's app for iPhone or Android.

• You need a touch-tone phone to accept a call. Saying no to a call costs nothing.
• Calls have a time limit.
• Charges show up on your phone bill or come by mail. A bill left unpaid for 30 days can get your number blocked.

Leave questions about the arrest for the defense attorney, since visits other than with lawyers are recorded. More help: the phone guide and the messaging guide.

Address every letter like this:

Inmate's name and ID number
Ocean County Jail
PO Box 2191, Toms River, NJ 08754

Other county offices use that same box, so the jail's name must be on the envelope.

• Use plain white paper and pen ink only.
• No greeting cards, stickers, or crayon or colored pencil drawings.
• Mailed photos are sent back to you.
• The inmate gets a photocopy of the letter and envelope, not the original envelope.
• Books must be soft-cover and come straight from the publisher with a packing slip or invoice. Sellers like Amazon are not allowed.
• The jail supplies newspapers. Never put cash in a letter.

There is no limit on how much mail a person can get, but all of it may be searched. Our mail guide has more ideas.

Booking staff list everything a person brings in. Call 732-929-2043 before release day to learn how and when clothes, keys and leftover account money come back, and whether someone else can pick them up.

• Bring a photo ID. Ask if the inmate must sign a note naming you.
• Tablet balances are refunded through the provider at 866-516-0115. A former inmate can call that number to get a check mailed.

Health care at the jail is provided under a county contract. Its medical program holds national accreditation from NCCHC, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. A state inspection in June 2026 found the jail in full compliance with state rules.

• Phone 732-929-2043 quickly about any illness or needed prescription. Have the prescription name, the amount and the prescriber's phone ready.
• Inmates can ask for counseling, social services or drug and alcohol help with an Inmate Request Form. Volunteer AA and NA meetings are held too.
• The same main line takes reports for Internal Affairs and for sexual abuse concerns under PREA.

Dial 911 for a true emergency. If you think they may hurt themselves, tell the officer who answers right away.

Sheriff's officers serve Superior Court warrants across the county, and each town's police serve warrants from their own court. To ask about a name, phone the Sheriff's Field Services Unit at 732-929-2050 or visit the Sheriff's Office, 120 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754. The Sheriff shows local fugitives on a most wanted page, and the State Police post people sought statewide on New Jersey's Most Wanted. Town warrants can be checked with the court clerk or the Municipal Court Case Search. The safe way to clear one is to surrender with a lawyer at the jail, 114 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754, or to ask that court for a new date. Superior Court warrants are handled through the Criminal office, Justice Complex, 120 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-504-0700, extension 64320.

Hearing dates depend on which court holds the file.

• Indictable charges: the Superior Court Criminal office, Justice Complex, 120 Hooper Avenue, Floor 2, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-504-0700, extension 64320. Cases are also on Promis/Gavel public access.
• Town charges and tickets: the court of the town whose officer wrote the complaint. Look up the case with the complaint number on the Municipal Court Case Search.
• Town unknown? Judiciary Customer Services can help at 609-421-6100.

Our court guide lists all 33 town courts with their phone numbers.

A federal case from here goes to Trenton's federal courthouse, named for Clarkson S. Fisher, at 402 East State Street, Room 2020, Trenton, NJ 08608, 609-989-2065.

1. Expect a first hearing before a magistrate judge within a day or so.
2. A detention hearing decides if they stay locked up until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
3. While charges are pending, the U.S. Marshals hold the person, frequently in a county jail under contract. Call the Trenton office at 609-989-2069 to ask where. It is at 402 East State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608-1507.
4. After sentencing, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by name or register number.

If immigration officers want the person, this is the usual order:

1. Immigration agents send the jail a hold request on Form I-247A.
2. The jail may be asked to hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Next, ICE sends officers to take the person.
4. Detainees are placed by the ICE Newark Field Office, 970 Broad St., Floor 11, Newark, NJ 07102, 973-776-3274. The Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility, 625 Evans Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07201, 908-282-5700, is one center used.
5. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

Step 2 is narrower in New Jersey. An order from the state Attorney General, the Immigrant Trust Directive, allows that extra hold only for someone who faces, or was once convicted of, a charge on its Appendix A list; whose record holds an indictable conviction from any of the last five years; or who faces a final deportation order from a federal judge. That hold ends by 11:59 p.m. the same day. The person must also get written notice of what ICE asked for.

Sentenced to state prison? Expect a wait at the Hooper Avenue jail first. New Jersey Department of Corrections officers then bring the person to a state reception center, where staff screen them and score a custody level, and later to a prison that fits.

• Search the department's Offender Information page after the move.
• Read about each prison on our state prisons page for New Jersey.
• Department headquarters: Whittlesey Road, PO Box 863, Trenton, NJ 08625, 609-292-4036.

Youth are never booked into the adult jail. Family Court Juvenile Intake must approve detention, and held youth stay at the county Juvenile Detention Center, 165 Sunset Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754, 732-288-7708.

• Parents are told the weekend visiting times.
• Residents get set nights for phone calls, based on their behavior level.
• Families don't need to send money.
• Medical questions: 732-288-7710. Social services: 732-288-7717.
• For hearing times, call the Family Division juvenile line, 732-504-0700, extension 64110.

Most arrests here are made by town police. Find the town below. The numbers are non-emergency lines, so call 911 in an emergency.

North: Jackson to Mantoloking

• Jackson Township Police, 102 Jackson Drive, Jackson, NJ 08527, 732-928-1111
• Lakewood Police, 231 Third Street, Lakewood, NJ 08701, 732-363-0200
• Plumsted Township Police, 2 Cedar Street, New Egypt, NJ 08533, 609-758-3738
• Brick Township Police, 401 Chambers Bridge Road, Brick, NJ 08723, 732-262-1100
• Point Pleasant Borough Police, 2233 Bridge Avenue, Point Pleasant, NJ 08742, 732-892-0060
• Point Pleasant Beach Police, 416 New Jersey Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ 08742, 732-892-0500
• Bay Head Police, 81 Bridge Avenue, Bay Head, NJ 08742, 732-892-0632
• Mantoloking Police, 1303 Bay Avenue, Mantoloking, NJ 08738, 732-892-0832

Central mainland and the bay towns

• Toms River Police, 255 Oak Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-349-0150
• South Toms River Police, 144 Mill Street, South Toms River, NJ 08757, 732-349-0313
• Island Heights Police, P.O. Box 177, Island Heights, NJ 08732, 732-270-3006
• Ocean Gate Borough Police, 801 Ocean Gate Avenue, Ocean Gate, NJ 08740, 732-269-2468
• Pine Beach Police, 599 Pennsylvania Avenue, Pine Beach, NJ 08741, 732-341-2616
• Beachwood Police, 1600 Pinewald Road, Beachwood, NJ 08722, 732-341-1249
• Berkeley Township Police, 631 Pinewald-Keswick Road, Bayville, NJ 08721, 732-341-6600
• Manchester Township Police, 1 Colonial Drive, Manchester, NJ 08759, 732-657-6111
• Lakehurst Police, 530 Union Avenue, Lakehurst, NJ 08733, 732-657-7811

Barrier peninsula

• Lavallette Police, 1300 Grand Central Avenue, Lavallette, NJ 08735, 732-793-4800
• Seaside Heights Police, 116 Sherman Avenue, Seaside Heights, NJ 08751, 732-793-1800
• Seaside Park Police, 1 Municipal Plaza, Seaside Park, NJ 08752, 732-793-8000

South: Lacey to Tuckerton

• Lacey Township Police, 808 West Lacey Road, Forked River, NJ 08731, 609-693-6636
• Ocean Township Police, 50 Railroad Avenue, Waretown, NJ 08758, 609-693-4007
• Barnegat Township Police, 900 West Bay Avenue, Barnegat, NJ 08005, 609-698-5000
• Stafford Township Police, 260 East Bay Avenue, Manahawkin, NJ 08050, 609-597-8581
• Little Egg Harbor Township Police, 665 Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087, 609-296-3666
• Tuckerton Borough Police, 445 South Green Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087, 609-296-9417

Long Beach Island

• Long Beach Township Police, 6805 Long Beach Boulevard, Brant Beach, NJ 08008, 609-494-3322. Barnegat Light has no force of its own and contracts with this department.
• Harvey Cedars Police, 7606 Long Beach Boulevard, Harvey Cedars, NJ 08008, 609-494-3036
• Ship Bottom Borough Police, 1621 Long Beach Boulevard, Ship Bottom, NJ 08008, 609-494-1518
• Surf City Police, 813 Long Beach Boulevard, Surf City, NJ 08008, 609-494-8121
• Beach Haven Police, 300 Engleside Avenue, Beach Haven, NJ 08008, 609-492-0505

Countywide and state agencies

• Sheriff's Office, 120 Hooper Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08754, 732-929-2044
• Sheriff's 911 Communications, non-emergency line, 138 Chestnut Street, Toms River, NJ 08753, 732-349-2010
• New Jersey State Police headquarters, P.O. Box 7068, West Trenton, NJ 08628, 609-882-2000

Eagleswood has no town police and is patrolled by the New Jersey State Police. The nearest Troop C station is Tuckerton Station, 383 E. Main St., Tuckerton, NJ 08087, 609-296-3132. Call the station to confirm it covers your call.