Work through it like this:

1. Open the Person in Custody Lookup.
2. Enter the Book and Case number or NYSID if you have one. Otherwise, use the full name, spelled the way police would have typed it.
3. Read the housing line. "WF" or the facility's full name tells you the person is in this jail.
4. Write down the Book and Case number. Visits, mail, bail and property all ask for it.
5. Jot down three more items: the courthouse, the next hearing date and any bail figure.

No computer handy? 311 can read the same custody facts to you over the phone, day or night.

Several things can keep a name out of the results:

• Still with police. 311 says someone arrested fewer than 72 hours ago may not have reached DOC. By phone, NYPD shares just two facts: is your loved one in its custody, and in what courthouse will arraignment happen. Dial 311 or 212-639-9675. Each borough's booking desk can help too. Call the one that covers the arrest:
  • Bronx Central Booking, 215 East 161st Street, Bronx, NY 10451, 718-618-2400 (also the Bronx court's arraignment line)
  • Brooklyn Central Booking, 120 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, 718-875-6319
  • Manhattan Central Booking, 100 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013, 212-347-2801
  • Queens Central Booking, 125-01 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens, NY 11415, 718-268-4523
  • Staten Island Central Booking, 26 Central Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301, 718-876-8493
  Ask for the arrest number. Pass it along to the borough's arraignment clerk, and you can learn the court time and room.
• Intake paperwork. A Book and Case number comes during Rikers intake. Until then, searches can come up blank.
• Released at arraignment. People let go by the judge walk out of the courtroom and never enter DOC custody.
• Moved to another system. State prisons answer at 518-457-8126. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is 202-307-3198, and the U.S. Marshals are 212-331-7200. ICE's New York office is 212-436-9315.

For a problem with a DOC record, reach DOC's Constituent and Grievance Services office at 718-546-1500, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

DOC moves people between buildings when their needs change. Here is each place it uses:

• Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC), 10-10 Hazen Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370: where every newly arrived man is processed. Mental observation housing too.
• George R. Vierno Center (GRVC), 09-09 Hazen Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370: men before trial or after a city sentence. It has mental observation units. Its PACE unit treats serious mental illness.
• Otis Bantum Correctional Center (OBCC), 16-00 Hazen Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370: men, in both dorms and cells. A Special Management Unit sits inside.
• Robert N. Davoren Complex (RNDC), 11-11 Hazen Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370: men, including young adults 18 to 21.
• Rose M. Singer Center (RMSC), 19-19 Hazen Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370: women, from intake through sentence. Transgender, intersex, gender non-conforming and non-binary people can live in its Special Considerations Unit.
• RESH, on RMSC grounds: men placed in restrictive housing over rule findings. It keeps its own clinic, intake and visit room.
• WF: one-person cells, some forming the Communicable Disease Unit.
• Bellevue Hospital Prison Ward, 462 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10016, and Elmhurst Hospital Prison Ward, 79-01 Broadway, Queens, NY 11370: locked hospital units for patients who need a hospital bed.
• Bellevue Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit, 462 1st Avenue, New York, NY 10016: 104 beds, opened April 2026. Its patients have serious health conditions but do not need hospital admission.
• Under 18: ACS holds youth at Crossroads, 17 Bristol Street, Brooklyn, NY 11212, or Horizon, 560 Brook Avenue, Bronx, NY 10455.

The North Infirmary Command closed for good in June 2026, so nobody is held there now.

Health is usually the reason. At Rikers intake, Correctional Health Services (CHS) nurses and doctors examine each new arrival. They check for diseases that spread, long-term conditions and mental health needs. Then they suggest housing based on clinical need and risk. Choices range from a hospital trip or medical isolation to a treatment unit or regular housing.

WF's single cells let staff keep a contagious patient apart. Not every cell is medical, though. DOC also houses people outside the disease unit here, and sometimes uses those cells for security reasons. A January 2026 Board of Correction count listed 686 people at WF; by July 13, 2026, the figure was 637.

A stay here does not change the court case. If health matters to release, give the defense lawyer the details so a judge hears them. Once bail is paid or the case ends, the stay is over.

Police first bring the person to the precinct covering the arrest spot, for fingerprints, photos and a warrant check. Legal Aid says the move to central booking usually follows within four to six hours. Queens Central Booking sits in the criminal courthouse, 125-01 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens, NY 11415, 718-268-4523. NYPD staff there take more photos, collect DNA when the law requires it and do a medical screening.

Arraignment runs daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., the only borough that stops at 11 p.m. The clerk answers at 718-298-0792. If the judge sets bail that is not paid, DOC takes custody in the courthouse pens. Next comes a DOC bus ride to Rikers, with men going to EMTC and women to RMSC. CHS screening there decides whether WF fits.

The path starts at the precinct, then heads to Manhattan Central Booking inside the criminal courthouse at 100 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013, 212-347-2801. A Criminal Justice Agency worker may ask questions that help the judge decide on release. Nurses from a city screening unit are posted in central booking around the clock.

Judges arraign new arrests every day from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. For a case question, ring 646-386-4511. When the person is held, Correction staff assume custody in the court pens, then drive them to Rikers intake. Hospital cases can instead go to the Bellevue ward.

After the precinct, your loved one waits at Staten Island Central Booking, inside the Staten Island Criminal Court, 26 Central Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301. Booking can be reached at 718-876-8493. The court's own line is 718-675-8558.

This borough has shorter hours: weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is no DOC jail on the island. Anyone held after arraignment rides to Rikers for intake, and WF is one place they may end up.

A Bronx arrest moves from the precinct to Bronx Central Booking at the criminal courthouse, 215 East 161st Street, Bronx, NY 10451. While there, the person is guarded, fed and checked medically until the case is called.

Arraignments go from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days. One number, 718-618-2400, reaches booking and also serves as the arraignment and ticket information line. A 2024 city budget plan gave the Bronx DOC's largest court-pen staff. Those pens hold people a judge has ordered kept. From those pens the bus heads to Rikers intake.

Brooklyn Central Booking shares the courthouse at 120 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201, 718-875-6319. People wait there, after the precinct step, until a judge sees them. Arraignments run daily from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Call 347-404-9400 for the clerk. A Brooklyn DOC bail window works in the same building, Room 101C on the first floor, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day. If bail is not paid there, DOC moves the person from the court pens to Rikers. After the CHS exam, a contagious illness or a need for a single cell can bring them to WF.

NYPD takes the booking photo at the precinct. New York's records law treats handing out arrest photos as an unfair invasion of privacy, unless release serves a police purpose (Public Officers Law § 89(2)(b)(viii)). So a photo request goes to the arresting precinct, and it can be refused. The defense lawyer can also ask.

Federal agencies rarely hand out booking photos; a fugitive's picture from the U.S. Marshals is the usual exception. ICE records requests start at ice.gov/foia. If a case is dismissed, state law usually seals it, and the photos are destroyed or returned.

DOC's VINE line shows whether a person is still held and where. It also phones you on a change. Dial 888-846-3469 at any hour; the call costs nothing. Have the NYSID handy. Without it, give three facts out of four: arrest date, birth date, last name, first name.

Next you set a secret four-number PIN and say which phone should get alerts. Every quarter hour or so, it looks at DOC's records again. When your loved one is released or moved, VINE rings you, trying again over as long as four days until you enter the PIN. Its reach is DOC custody alone. Youth centers, state or federal prisons and police cells fall outside it.

Most people never need bail. In 2024, New York City judges released 62% without conditions and 22% under non-money terms. They set bail for 15% and remanded 1%.

When bail is set, DOC takes it in person. The Rikers Central Cashier and the window at 125 White Street, New York, NY 10013, both work around the clock. Court windows in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens keep shorter hours. Carry photo ID and a Book and Case number (a NYSID works too). Forms of payment, refunds and bondsmen are covered on our bail page.

The custody lookup lists the charges, though some are shortened codes. At arraignment the complaint is read aloud, and defense counsel receives the paperwork. Open cases with a coming court date also appear on WebCrims, the courts' free case search. You may also phone the Criminal Court Information Line, 646-386-4900, weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Charges often change. A grand jury can add or drop counts, and the DA can lower a felony to a misdemeanor.

Someone who cannot pay gets a free lawyer at arraignment. Each borough uses its own defender groups:

• Queens: Queens Defenders, 844-783-3673.
• Manhattan: the Neighborhood Defender Service, 212-876-5500, and New York County Defender Services, 212-803-5100.
• Staten Island: Legal Aid, 347-422-5333.
• The Bronx: The Bronx Defenders, 718-838-7878.
• Brooklyn: Brooklyn Defender Services, 718-254-0700.

Legal Aid works in every borough as well. To hire privately, the City Bar Legal Referral Service answers at 212-626-7373 (Spanish, 212-626-7374).

In-person visits happen on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Sign in at Rikers Island Central Visits during these windows only: 1 to 6 p.m. midweek, and 7 a.m. to noon on weekends. DOC sets which days you may come by the person's last name, so check the schedule first.

Visitors 16 and up show photo ID, such as a driver license, passport or IDNYC. No more than three people come per visit: a pair of grown-ups holding one lap child, or a single grown-up with two children, one small enough for a lap. Dogs sniff visitors at the Visit Control Building. If your loved one is in the disease unit, call 311 before you travel.

Video visits from home run on Fridays, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. You request three dates for the next week and wait for an email confirming one. Disability help: 718-546-0861. Full rules are on our visitation page.

Mail a money order or cashier's check; DOC no longer accepts cash in the mail. The money goes into the person's fund account, which pays for commissary items. Food and toiletries come only through commissary, so do not mail them. Deposit choices sit on our money page, and the store list on our commissary page.

Every phone call from a city jail is free, from a tablet or a housing-unit phone alike. DOC gives out Securus tablets at no charge. Besides calls, they carry radio, notices, e-books, legal research and classes. Our phone page explains calling, and our email page covers messages.

Use regular postage and set the envelope up this way:

Full name
Book and Case number
West Facility
16-06 Hazen Street
East Elmhurst, NY 11370

Packages can be mailed, or dropped off during visit hours at the package and bail reception counter next to Central Visits. Keep a box at 15 pounds or less, no bigger than 24 x 12 x 24 inches. Every box is searched. Clothing must lack pockets, hoods, strings, logos, metal and buttons. Up to 15 photos (4x6 or smaller, no Polaroids) and 10 books are allowed. Our mail page lists the rest.

Valuables of people released from Rikers are kept at the Samuel L. Perry Center, open 24/7 with no appointment. Large belongings are a different story. Book a pickup slot through 311 inside the first 30 days after your loved one walks out, with the NYSID, or else the Book and Case number, close at hand. Pickup opens at noon three business days later and stays open for three days.

Another adult may pick things up instead. While your loved one is still held, that adult needs DOC's property release form with your loved one's signature; once your loved one is out, that adult brings a notarized letter instead. The pickup desk is 718-546-8811. A release that falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday usually happens early Friday morning.

For a medical emergency, call Correctional Health Services at 347-774-7000, any hour. Give the full name, Book and Case number and what worries you. CHS, part of NYC Health + Hospitals, gives medical care in the city jails, WF's disease unit included.

Complaints about treatment go to 311, which takes them 24 hours a day. When a hospital bed is needed, DOC uses its locked wards at Bellevue and Elmhurst. Share medical records with the defense lawyer, too, since health can matter at a bail review.

In the city, NYPD officers carry out warrants. Public lists: NYPD wanted, FBI wanted; New York State Police wanted and missing; and the federal marshals' top-fifteen fugitive roster. To learn whether one person has a warrant, phone 646-386-4900 or look on WebCrims. Warrants never run out on their own. A warrant stays active until your loved one appears, ideally with a lawyer, in the courtroom whose judge signed it. Turning yourself in at any NYPD precinct is another option.

Look at the custody record for the coming hearing and its building. The docket number's two letters name the borough: QN Queens, NY Manhattan, RI Staten Island, BX the Bronx, KN Brooklyn. DOC drives people from Rikers to court; in April 2025 it delivered 98.9% of those due. Our court page names every courthouse and lays out a case from start to end.

The Southern District, for arrests in Manhattan or the Bronx, works out of 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10007, 212-805-0136. Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island matters belong to the Eastern District, 225 Cadman Plaza East, Brooklyn, NY 11201, 718-613-2600. A detention hearing comes next. There, a federal judge rules on whether your loved one goes home to wait for trial.

Before sentencing, the U.S. Marshals keep custody. Many are held at MDC Brooklyn, 80 29th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232, 718-840-4200. After sentencing, use the BOP inmate locator.

Step by step, here is how a detainer works. The first step is paper: ICE files a Form I-247A at DOC, which requests that DOC keep your loved one up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)). The state case still goes on. Once ICE has them, they may be sent to a detention center elsewhere, so search the ICE Online Detainee Locator. ICE's local office for the city: 26 Federal Plaza, 9th Floor, Suite 9-110, New York, NY 10278, 212-436-9315.

Under People ex rel. Wells v. DeMarco, New York's local officers lack authority for civil immigration arrests. Civil Rights Law § 28 requires a judicial warrant or order for a civil arrest at or near a courthouse. Since August 25, 2026, Executive Law § 170-k has made 287(g) deals void. The city adds limits in Administrative Code § 9-131, Local Laws 58 and 59 of 2014, and Local Law 228 of 2017. Ask the lawyer how a plea could touch immigration status.

Sentences longer than a year go to a state prison. The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision first runs the person through a reception center, where staff classify them and pick a prison. Search the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup by DIN or name, or call 518-457-8126. Our New York state prisons page profiles the prisons one by one.

Teens of 16 or 17 have not been held on Rikers since 2018. Young people a judge holds go to ACS detention:

• Crossroads Juvenile Center, 17 Bristol Street, Brooklyn, NY 11212, 718-240-3800. For visits, Crossroads case management: 718-688-8264.
• Horizon Juvenile Center, 560 Brook Avenue, Bronx, NY 10455, 718-292-0065. For visits, Horizon case management: 718-742-8496.

A teen's case is heard in the Youth Part of Supreme Court or in Family Court. Bail for someone under 18 is paid to ACS.

NYPD handles most arrests across the five boroughs. For any police question, call 311 or 212-639-9675, and use the NYPD precinct finder to match an address to its precinct. NYPD groups its precincts into nine patrol boroughs:

• Queens North and Queens South
• Manhattan North (151 W. 100th St., New York, NY 10025, 212-678-1851) and Manhattan South
• Staten Island: 120th Precinct, 78 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301, 718-876-8500; 121st, 970 Richmond Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10314, 718-697-8700; 122nd, 2320 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10306, 718-667-2211; 123rd, 116 Main Street, Staten Island, NY 10307, 718-948-9311
• Bronx North and Bronx South
• Brooklyn North and Brooklyn South

Transit, housing, Port Authority and court officers also make arrests; 311 can connect you to the right one. For federal arrests, the U.S. Marshals answer at 646-563-9800 (Southern District) and 718-473-3000 (Eastern District).