Six quick steps will tell you a lot:

1. Open the Sheriff's inmate lookup.
2. Next, go to VINELink and pick New York if asked.
3. Type the last name and first name. No luck? Try other spellings, a nickname or both last names.
4. Look at the facility and status on any match. "In custody" means the person is still held.
5. Jot down any ID number shown, since jail staff may ask for it.
6. Call the jail at 518-869-2600 to confirm, and ask about bail and the court date.

No computer? VINE also takes custody questions by phone at 888-846-3469.

Don't panic. A missing name often has a simple reason:

• Still being booked. Booking takes time, and new entries may lag behind.
• Sent home with a ticket. On most low-level charges, police give an appearance ticket and release the person from the station (CPL 150.20).
• Already released. Many people go home right after the arraignment.
• At court or with police. The person may still be with the arresting officers or waiting to see a judge.
• A different spelling. Try a hyphenated name, a middle name or a maiden name.
• Held elsewhere. A federal, state prison or out-of-county case means a different lookup.

Call the jail at 518-869-2600. If the arrest was in the capital city, you can also reach the Albany Police Department, 165 Henry Johnson Boulevard, Albany, NY 12210, at 518-438-4000. For a Sheriff's arrest, the non-emergency Communication Center is 518-765-2351.

Yes, if the arrest or warrant came from a neighboring county. Each of these jails is run by its own sheriff:

• Rensselaer County Jail: 4000 Main Street, Troy, NY 12180, 518-266-1900
• Schenectady County Jail: 320 Veeder Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12307, 518-388-4300
• Saratoga County Jail: 6010 County Farm Road, Ballston Spa, NY 12020, 518-885-2480
• Schoharie County Jail: 157 Steadman Way, Howes Cave, NY 12092, 518-295-2264
• Greene County Jail: 45 Haverly Memorial Drive, Coxsackie, NY 12051, 518-943-3300
• Columbia County Jail: 85 Industrial Tract, Hudson, NY 12534, 518-828-3324

Teens aged 16 and 17 are never sent to an adult jail. Their placement is the Capital District Juvenile Secure Detention Facility, a regional center for four counties.

The county lookup and VINE are built to show custody, meaning whether a person is held and where. Questions about a booking photo go to the Sheriff's Office at 518-487-5440.

New York law keeps booking photos private. One may be shared only for a specific police purpose (Public Officers Law § 89(2)(b)(viii)). Reporters can make their request through the Sheriff's Office too.

• Photos from ICE: file a request with the agency's records request page.
• Federal photos: normally withheld. Only the U.S. Marshals Service might put one out, for instance while searching for a fugitive.

VINE can warn you when custody changes. The county's corrections page points families to it.

1. Find the person on VINELink.
2. Choose to register for alerts by phone call, text or email.
3. Pick a PIN for phone alerts.

A release or transfer sets off an automatic phone call. The calls repeat for up to two days, stopping once you key in your PIN. Your sign-up stays private from the person held. To register by phone, dial 888-846-3469. For someone in state prison, DOCCS also runs its own victim notification program.

Since New York's bail reform began on January 1, 2020, release without money has been the rule for most charges. A judge at the arraignment, usually held within about a day, picks one of four outcomes:

• release on the person's written promise to return;
• release with conditions, such as check-ins with the county's pretrial supervision program;
• bail, allowed only for "qualifying offenses" listed in the law (CPL 510.10(4));
• remand, meaning no release, allowed only for some qualifying felonies.

If bail is set, it can be paid at the jail, the court or the county treasurer (CPL 520.15). Call the jail at 518-869-2600 for the amount and any other holds. Our bail guide covers payment forms, bond agents and refunds.

Charges are read aloud at the arraignment, so the defense lawyer will know them that day. You can also learn them these ways:

• Ask the jail at 518-869-2600. Give the full name and birth date.
• Call the court clerk with the docket number from the release or bail papers.
• Search WebCrims, which covers some courts and shows only open cases that still have a court date ahead.
• For felonies after indictment, phone the County Court clerk at 6 Lodge Street, Room 113, Albany, NY 12207, 518-285-8777.

Felonies are the serious crimes, graded A down to E, and they can bring state prison time. Misdemeanors are lesser crimes, punished by local jail time that tops out at 364 days. A violation is not a crime at all.

Anyone too poor to hire a lawyer gets one from the court for free. That lawyer should be at the arraignment (Executive Law § 832(4)). Being locked up counts toward qualifying.

• Most cases go to the Public Defender's Office, 112 State Street, 2nd Floor, Albany, NY 12207, 518-447-7150.
• If that office has a conflict, the Alternate Public Defender or a lawyer from the county's Assigned Counsel Program takes over.
• Federal charges get a lawyer from the Federal Public Defender, 54 State Street, Suite 310, Albany, NY 12207, 518-436-1850.

Family members can call the defender's office with the person's name and court date.

A minimum of two hours of visiting time each week is guaranteed to each person in a New York county jail. Each visit lasts at least 30 minutes, and the jail must publish a schedule that allows at least two visits weekly (9 NYCRR 7008.3).

• A person may ask for a non-contact visit within 24 hours of arriving (9 NYCRR 7008.4).
• Visitors need proof of identity, and the person inside must agree to the visit.
• Visitors under 18 may need a parent or guardian, or written permission.
• Staff may search visitors and anything they bring.

Ask the jail at 518-869-2600 for current visit days, sign-up steps and any video visit choices. Our visitation page walks through booking and what to expect.

Account funds let the person buy items from the jail store and pay for some services. To learn the deposit choices that work right now, including any lobby, online or mail options, call the jail at 518-869-2600 before you send anything.

• Put the person's full name, plus any ID number, on every deposit.
• Keep every receipt and confirmation number.
• Never mail cash.

Our guide to inmate deposits compares common ways to send money, while our commissary page covers what the store sells.

New York lets every person make phone calls when they are admitted to a jail, and staff must tell them about that right (9 NYCRR 7002.8). At admission each person also gets written rules that cover phone use (9 NYCRR 7002.9). Rates and providers are set by each county.

• Ask the jail at 518-869-2600 which phone, message and tablet services it uses.
• Ask how to set up an account so calls can reach your number.
• Ask what the calls cost and whether they are recorded.

Our jail phone page and inmate email page explain the setup steps.

People in New York jails may write to anyone, with no limit on how much mail comes or goes (9 NYCRR 7004.1). Before you write, call the jail at 518-869-2600. Ask for the mailing address for personal letters and the number to put after the person's name.

• Staff may open personal mail to check for contraband. Reading it takes a written order with reasons (9 NYCRR 7004.3).
• Mail from an attorney or a court is unsealed only while the person watches (9 NYCRR 7004.4).
• People with no money get paper and postage for at least two one-ounce letters a week (9 NYCRR 7004.2).
• Sign each letter and put where you live in the corner of the envelope.

Our inmate mail page explains photos, books and other rules.

Belongings collected during booking, like wallets, phones, keys and street clothes, stay in the jail's care. To pick something up before release, call the jail at 518-869-2600 first.

• Ask if a signed form from the person, naming you, is needed for pickup.
• Ask the pickup days and hours.
• Bring a government photo ID that matches the name on the form.

Leftover account money is handled separately. Ask how it is paid back at release, and see our account money guide.

Officers who hold someone in custody must attend to their medical and mental health needs (Civil Rights Law § 28). For a true emergency, dial 911.

1. Call the jail at 518-869-2600. Share the health problem and any medicines the person takes.
2. Have the doctor or pharmacy send records if staff ask for them.
3. Tell the defense lawyer, who can raise urgent needs with the judge.

New York's HALT law also limits solitary confinement in county jails. Except in narrow cases, solitary is off limits for anyone age 21 and under or 55 and up, for pregnant people, and for people with disabilities. Concerns about conditions can be sent to the New York State Commission of Correction, 80 S. Swan Street, Albany, NY 12210, 518-485-2346.

Sheriff's deputies, 518-487-5440, and city, town and village police carry out warrants here. The state's list of wanted people is on the New York State Police Wanted and Missing page. A phone call to the clerk where the case is filed, or to the Sheriff's Office, will answer whether one is open. Bench warrants for missed dates come from the judge on that case. To clear one, the person and a lawyer should appear at that court, or call the clerk for a new date. For felonies, that is County Court, 6 Lodge Street, Room 113, Albany, NY 12207, 518-285-8777.

Look first at the appearance ticket, release order or bail receipt, since each one lists the next date. If you don't have those papers, try these:

• WebCrims shows upcoming dates for open cases in the courts it covers. Closed cases and cases with no future date are left off.
• Call the court that has the case. Cohoes City Court is at 97 Mohawk Street, Cohoes, NY 12047, 518-453-5501. Watervliet City Court is at 2 Fifteenth Street, Watervliet, NY 12189, 518-453-5550.
• Ask the defense lawyer, who gets every date.

Every courthouse, with its address and phone, appears in our court guide.

A federal arrest here goes to the Northern District of New York, which hears cases at the James T. Foley Courthouse, 445 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207, 518-257-1789. A federal judge rules on pretrial release at the first court date (18 U.S.C. 3142).

• The U.S. Marshals Service holds custody while the case is pending. Call its office at 445 Broadway, 2nd Floor, Albany, NY 12207, 518-472-5401, to learn where the person is housed.
• Federal prisoners also stay at the county jail in Colonie, so check there as well.
• Case papers are on PACER.
• Once sentenced, federal prisoners are placed by the Bureau of Prisons. Check the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Here is how an ICE case usually unfolds, and where to look:

1. The jail receives Form I-247A, known as an immigration detainer, from ICE.
2. Under federal rules, the request covers up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. If ICE takes custody, this area is served by the Buffalo Field Office, 130 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-843-7600. ICE holds some upstate detainees at its Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500, which gives detainee information from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
4. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

New York sets tighter limits than federal rules. A 2018 ruling in Wells v DeMarco said New York officers have no state power to make civil immigration arrests. The Attorney General tells local agencies to honor detainers only with a judge's warrant. Executive Law § 170-k voided all 287(g) agreements on August 25, 2026. Civil Rights Law § 28 bars civil immigration arrests tied to court visits unless a judge authorized them.

When a felony term runs longer than one year, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) takes custody from the county. A reception center sorts each new arrival, then DOCCS sends them to a fitting prison.

1. Open the Incarcerated Lookup.
2. Enter the DIN, or the exact last name with the year of birth.
3. Copy down the prison's name and the DIN; both go on letters and visit forms.

The lookup goes offline nightly around 11:45 p.m. Without internet, call DOCCS at 518-457-5000 during business hours. People on parole can be found with the Parolee Lookup. See our New York prisons directory for each facility.

Under Raise the Age, teens of 16 and 17 can't be held in jails for adults. Police must notify a parent right away and say where questioning will happen (Family Court Act § 305.2). A detained youth stays at the Capital District Juvenile Secure Detention Facility.

• Felony cases start in the Youth Part, and many move to Family Court.
• Misdemeanor cases go to probation intake.
• If a child is detained and no Family Court petition has been filed yet, a judge must see the child within 72 hours, or sooner if court opens before then (Family Court Act § 307.3).

For a youth's location, call the Probation Department, 60 South Pearl Street, 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12207, 518-487-5200. Family Court is at 30 Clinton Avenue, Albany, NY 12207, 518-285-8600.

The arresting agency can say where the person was taken. Use these non-emergency numbers, and dial 911 in an emergency.

Sheriff's Office

• Office of the Sheriff: 518-487-5440
• Communication Center, non-emergency: 518-765-2351
• Patrol Station: 518-655-7800
• Airport Station: 518-242-4400

Cities

• Albany Police Department: 165 Henry Johnson Boulevard, Albany, NY 12210, 518-438-4000
• Cohoes Police Department: 97 Mohawk Street, Cohoes, NY 12047, 518-237-5333
• Watervliet Police Department: 2 Fifteenth Street, Watervliet, NY 12189, 518-270-3833

Towns and villages with their own police

• Colonie Police Department: 312 Wolf Road, Latham, NY 12211, community services line 518-782-2662
• Bethlehem Police Department: 447 Delaware Avenue, Delmar, NY 12054, 518-439-9973
• Coeymans Police Department: 18 Russell Avenue, Ravena, NY 12143, 518-756-2059
• Menands Police Department: 250 Broadway, Menands, NY 12204, 518-463-1681
• Green Island Police Department: non-emergency line 518-655-7854, which does not reach a staffed front desk
• Guilderland Police Department and Altamont village police: call the Sheriff's Communication Center for help reaching them

Areas covered by the Sheriff or State Police

• Berne, Knox, New Scotland, Rensselaerville and Westerlo have no town police force. Calls there are answered by the Sheriff's patrol or the State Police.
• For the villages of Ravena, Voorheesville and Colonie, ask the Sheriff's Communication Center which agency patrols.
• State Police Troop G, Zone 1 stations at Guilderland (Willow Street, PO Box 1309, Guilderland, NY 12084), New Scotland (2019 Indian Fields Road, Feura Bush, NY 12067) and Westerlo (Town Building, County Route 401, Westerlo, NY 12193): 518-477-9333
• State Police Capital station: Concourse, Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12242, 518-474-5330
• Troop G headquarters: 760 Troy Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110, 518-783-3211

Campus police

• University at Albany Police Department: Alumni Drive, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, open around the clock, 518-442-3131