1. Pull up the county inmate lookup on any phone or laptop.
2. Enter a first and last name. No luck? Try adding a middle name, using a birth surname, or changing the spelling.
3. Write down the booking or ID number if one shows. Reading it to staff speeds things up.
4. Run the name again on VINELink. Pick New York and check the listed status and location.
5. Nothing yet? Dial VINE's statewide number, 888-846-3469, or the jail, 585-243-7180.

Police reports and records requests belong with the Sheriff's Records Division at 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7140.

An empty result usually has a simple reason:

• Handed a ticket. For most charges short of the most serious felonies, police can issue an appearance ticket, a paper telling them which day to come to court, and let them leave (CPL 150.20).
• Not booked yet. Officers may still be processing them, or a town justice hasn't arraigned them yet.
• Already out. Lots of people leave their first hearing on their own word or with conditions.
• Somewhere else. They might be in custody in a nearby county, with DOCCS, with federal marshals or with ICE.
• Younger than 18. Kids are placed in youth detention, not with adults.
• Name trouble. Nicknames, hyphens and double last names throw searches off.

Phone the jail at 585-243-7180, or the Sheriff's Office at 585-243-7100 when deputies did the arrest.

Adults picked up here normally stay on Court Street. If the arrest was close to a border, or the person has open cases in another county, check these neighbors too:

• Monroe County Jail, 130 Plymouth Avenue South, Rochester, NY 14614, 585-753-4300
• Ontario County Jail, 3045 County Complex Drive, Canandaigua, NY 14424, 585-394-4560
• Steuben County Jail, 7007 Rumsey Street Extension, Bath, NY 14810, 607-622-3901
• Allegany County Jail, county offices at 7 Court Street, Belmont, NY 14813; visit line 585-268-9428
• Wyoming County Jail, 151 North Main Street, Warsaw, NY 14569, 585-786-8808
• Genesee County Jail, 3839 West Main Street Road, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-343-0838

Groveland Correctional Facility, 7000 Sonyea Road, Sonyea, NY 14556, 585-658-2871, sits inside county lines but belongs to the state. Look for people there with the DOCCS search, not the county one. It appears in our New York state prisons guide.

Expect names and custody facts, not faces. Under the state's records law, giving out booking photos counts as an unwarranted privacy intrusion, except where police show a specific law enforcement need (Public Officers Law § 89(2)(b)(viii)).

• You can still file a records request with the Sheriff's Records Division, 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7140.
• Pictures taken by immigration agents are sought on ICE's records request page.
• Booking pictures from U.S. cases rarely get released, though the U.S. Marshals may post one while chasing a fugitive.

New York's sheriffs use VINE, a free service that watches county jail records statewide. Register at 888-846-3469 or online through VINELink.

• Once you're signed up, a recorded call reaches you whenever the person's status shifts.
• Those calls repeat until you key in your PIN, or for 48 hours.
• Sign-ups stay private; the person inside isn't told your name.
• VINELink can text or email you too.
• Alerts don't start by themselves. Everyone who wants them must sign up.

Prison releases and parole board news come through a separate DOCCS victim notification form. For today's status, the jail at 585-243-7180 can tell you.

Frequently, no. New York's 2020 reform forces judges to free most people accused of misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies. They go home on a promise or with conditions such as reporting in (CPL 510.10(3)).

Cash bail or holding without bail is only possible for the "qualifying offenses" named in the law. Violent felonies are one example.

• The release ruling comes at arraignment, normally a day or less after the arrest.
• Each bail order spells out at least three acceptable payment forms.
• County Pre-Trial Services, inside Probation, watches over many people released on conditions: 6 Court Street, Room 101, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7916.

The jail, 585-243-7180, can say whether bail exists and the amount. Payment types, places to pay and refunds are in our bail guide.

Booked charges can be read to you by the jail at 585-243-7180. Once the first hearing is over, the court clerk holds the official list. Prosecutors decide what's finally charged: District Attorney's Office, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7020.

Offenses in New York come in three levels:

• Violation: not counted as a crime; at most 15 days behind bars.
• Misdemeanor: a lesser crime; the longest sentence is 364 days, served locally.
• Felony: a major crime, classes A through E, that can bring state prison.

The State Senate's law site lets anyone read the statutes for free. Search for the Penal Law section shown on the paperwork.

Anyone who can't afford counsel gets one at the first hearing, even before the income forms are done.

• Public Defender, Government Center, 6 Court Street, Room 109, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7028. Fill out the county's online application, or send it by mail or fax, or drop it in the office's window slot.
• Conflict Defender, 6 Court Street, Room B-11, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7987. It takes over whenever the Public Defender's office can't ethically represent someone.

A family can also pay a private attorney. Lawyers and clergy may see a client at the jail at any sensible hour with ID, without an appointment or a spot on the visitor list.

Each person may have two hour-long visits per week, but only one on any day. Visits happen Tuesday to Friday in hourly blocks from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the blocks depend on the housing unit.

• Setting one up: email jailvisit@co.livingston.ny.us with your full name and middle initial, birth date, address and phone. A reply usually comes within a day. No email? Call 585-243-7180 and follow the menu. Drop-ins aren't refused during normal visit times.
• How many: up to two visitors together.
• Visitor list: the person inside may keep one, but doesn't have to. People on it are cleared ahead of time. Others need the person's okay and should come early.
• Arriving: sign in with the lobby deputy, show ID, walk through a metal detector, and you may be searched.
• Kids: visitors 17 and younger need a parent or legal guardian along.
• Clothing and items: skip low-cut tops, bare stomachs, short shorts and short skirts. Lock up coats, hats and bags. Leave phones, smartwatches, bottles and drinks behind.
• Touching: a handshake, kiss or brief hug when you meet and leave. Hands stay on the table.

The shift supervisor may permit a first visit within a day of booking. Open pastoral visits take place Thursdays, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. More general tips are in our visitation guide.

Money on the books mostly pays for commissary, like snacks and soap. The jail picks the deposit methods and limits, so ring 585-243-7180 to learn today's options and what to include. Keep the full name and booking number nearby.

Common ways to send funds are compared in our inmate money guide. Our commissary guide shows typical items for sale. Never mail loose cash.

Under state rules, a newcomer to the jail may place phone calls, and officers have to say so out loud (9 NYCRR 7002.8). Everyone also gets written jail rules at intake, and phone service is part of them (9 NYCRR 7002.9).

The phone company and prices are a local choice. Call 585-243-7180 to learn how to accept calls, whether tablets or video visits exist, and what they cost. Save case details for the defense lawyer, since jail calls can be recorded. Background reading: the jail calling guide and the guide to messaging inmates on our site.

Call 585-243-7180 before you write to confirm the mailing address and whether a booking or ID number belongs on the envelope. These state rules then cover letters:

• People inside can send and get as many letters as they like (9 NYCRR 7004.1).
• Staff may open personal envelopes to search them for banned items. Before anyone reads one, the jail's top administrator must sign a written order giving the reasons (9 NYCRR 7004.3).
• Legal envelopes, from a lawyer or a judge, are unsealed only with the recipient watching (9 NYCRR 7004.4).
• Someone with no money is given free paper and postage covering at least two one-ounce letters every week (9 NYCRR 7004.2).

Write the full legal name, include your return address, and leave cash out. Our inmate mail guide covers more do's and don'ts.

Wallets, phones, keys and similar items collected at intake are kept until the person leaves. Before collecting them on someone's behalf, phone 585-243-7180 first. Check which hours pickups happen, whether the owner has to sign off in writing, and which ID to bring to 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454. Ask as well how any unspent commissary balance gets refunded.

Under Civil Rights Law § 28, any officer with a prisoner in custody has to tend to that prisoner's medical and mental health needs. If a family member takes medicine or is sick, tell the jail at 585-243-7180 quickly. Share drug names, doses, and the doctor's contact details.

• The state HALT law limits solitary. Long cell time, over 17 hours a day, is generally banned for people 21 and under or 55 and over.
• The same limit covers anyone pregnant or with a disability.
• For an emergency, call 911.
• Worried about a mental health emergency? Say that clearly on the phone.

Ask about warrants at the Sheriff's Office, 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7100; deputies, troopers or village officers may arrest on one. Statewide fugitives appear on the New York State Police wanted list. To check quietly, call the court that would have signed it. Felony warrants usually come out of County Court; reach its clerk at 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920. To clear one, hire or get assigned a lawyer, then turn yourself in at that court with them, or request a fresh court date. The Public Defender, 585-243-7028, represents people who can't pay.

• Felonies once indicted: County Court clerk, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Misdemeanors, violations and fresh felony arrests: whichever town or village justice the ticket names. The county's town court calendar gives each court's session time.
• Cases for kids: Family Court, 585-371-3919.

Defense lawyers know every date as well. Find every town and village justice, with street address and number, in our court guide.

U.S. cases from here go to the Rochester courthouse, the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building, 100 State Street, Rochester, NY 14614, 585-613-4000.

1. Soon after arrest, a federal magistrate holds a detention hearing to choose jail or release before trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Pretrial federal prisoners stay in Marshals custody, sometimes in county jails that rent beds to them. This county's jail has had such a deal. The Marshals' district office, 2 Niagara Square, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-348-5300, can say where someone is.
3. Case papers are on PACER, which charges a few cents per page.
4. After sentencing, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator with a name or register number.

1. To ask a jail to keep someone, ICE sends Form I-247A, called a detainer.
2. The detainer requests that the jail keep someone up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE then collects them. The Buffalo field office, 130 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-843-7600, handles pickups. Many from this area get housed at ICE's own Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500; its detainee line is staffed 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
4. The ICE Online Detainee Locator searches by A-number, or with a name and the country someone was born in.

New York restricts local cooperation. People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco, a 2018 appellate decision, found that state law gives sheriffs and police no authority to make civil immigration arrests. Under Executive Law § 170-k, 287(g) contracts became void on August 25, 2026. Civil Rights Law § 28 also bars civil arrests of people walking into court, waiting in a courtroom, or traveling back, without a judge's signed warrant or order.

Anyone sentenced to over a year for a felony serves it with DOCCS, the state prison agency. Use the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup:

• The DIN, a state ID number, gives the quickest match and stays fixed for one sentence.
• Or enter the exact last name with birth year.
• The site goes offline nightly near 11:45 p.m.
• Prefer the phone? DOCCS takes calls on weekdays at 518-457-5000.
• Parolees can be checked in the DOCCS parolee lookup.

Once sentenced to prison, a person remains on Court Street until DOCCS sends a van to move them to a reception center, then on to a prison. Our New York state prisons guide explains visits and letters at each site.

No one under 18 is kept in the adult jail. If detention is needed, teens are sent to a secure center built for youth.

• Officers must contact a parent right after taking a child in (Family Court Act § 305.2).
• A detained child's first Family Court appearance must happen inside 72 hours, or sooner when a session falls earlier (Family Court Act § 307.3).
• Older teens facing felonies begin in the Youth Part. Most other cases run through Probation and Family Court.

To learn a teen's location and court date, call county Probation's Juvenile Services, 6 Court Street, Room 101, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7190.

Roughly 61,438 residents call the county home, per the Census Bureau's July 1, 2025 figure. Arrests here come from these agencies:

• Sheriff's Office, 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7100. Its road patrol covers all 17 towns and 9 villages.
• New York State Police, Troop E: a station at 5831 Groveland Station Road, Mount Morris, NY 14510, and a Lima station (mail: P.O. Box 543, Lima, NY 14485), both 585-468-3800. Troop headquarters: 1569 Rochester Road, Canandaigua, NY 14425, 585-398-4100.
• Avon Police Department (village), 74 Genesee Street, Avon, NY 14414, 585-226-3720
• Caledonia Police Department (village), 3095 Main Street, Caledonia, NY 14423, 585-538-6200
• Dansville Police Department (village), 14 Clara Barton Street, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-3385
• Geneseo Police Department (village), Main Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-2420
• Mount Morris Police Department (village), 117 Main Street, Mount Morris, NY 14510, 585-658-4160, extension 2
• Nunda Police Department (village and town), 1 Mill Street, Nunda, NY 14517, 585-468-2515
• SUNY Geneseo University Police, Schrader Hall, Room 19, One College Circle, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-245-5651; round-the-clock line 585-245-5222

Communities without their own force depend on deputies and troopers. That includes the towns of Avon, Caledonia, Conesus, Groveland, Leicester, Lima, Livonia, Mount Morris, North Dansville, Ossian, Portage, Sparta, Springwater, West Sparta and York, the town around the county seat, and the villages of Leicester, Lima and Livonia.