Work down this list. It rarely takes more than a few minutes.

1. Pull up the inmate lookup. Type the surname first, then narrow with a given name when too many results show.
2. Write down whatever the result shows. Jail staff also use a number they call the "ID Number," so ask for it when you call.
3. No luck? Search VINELink using the name and birth date. It tracks custody status and the holding location.
4. Still nothing? Call the facility at 845-638-5600, with the legal name spelled out and a birthday handy.

Spell the name exactly as it would be on a license. Hyphenated and two-part last names are a common reason a search comes up empty.

An empty search is common in the first hours. Likely explanations:

• Waiting at a station house. Town and village departments hold people until the arraignment, which tends to happen within about a day.
• Sent home with a ticket. For many lower charges, police hand out an appearance ticket instead of jailing anyone.
• Released by the judge. In New York, the arraignment ends with most defendants walking out, either on their word or under court rules.
• Moved. The person may have gone to state prison, federal custody or ICE.
• Under 18. Youths follow separate rules and may be placed elsewhere.

The arresting department knows where a fresh arrest went. For anyone already booked at the jail, the information line is 845-638-5600.

Rockland keeps its own prisoners at the facility on New Hempstead Road. Still, an arrest just over a county line leads to that county's jail. Check these neighbors:

• Orange County Correctional Facility, 110 Wells Farm Road, Goshen, NY 10924, 845-291-7713
• Westchester County Jail, Grasslands Campus, Valhalla, NY 10595, 914-231-1000. Westchester's Department of Correction runs it, not a sheriff.

An arrest across the line in New Jersey goes to a jail in that state. Before arraignment, a person can also sit in a town or village police lockup in Rockland for several hours. Ask the arresting department.

Usually not. New York keeps police booking photos private in most cases. Police may share one only for a real law enforcement need, like finding someone who ran (Public Officers Law § 89(2)(b)(viii)).

• News outlets seeking an image should direct the request to the Sheriff's Office at 845-638-5400.
• Immigration booking pictures are sought through the ICE records request page.
• As a rule, mug shots taken by federal agents stay sealed. A rare exception: the U.S. Marshals Service can publish one when a fugitive is loose.

VINE is New York's free notification service. Register on VINELink for email or text alerts, or dial 888-846-3469 any hour. Besides alerts, VINE shows whether someone is in custody and where. Signing up is never automatic, and the person held is not told that you registered.

• The Sheriff's Office offers a free app for iPhone and Android, linked from its corrections page.
• For someone already in state prison, the DOCCS victim notification program also reports parole hearings and release dates.

Release days can change quickly after a court date, so a call to 845-638-5600 is the most current check.

New York's bail reform began January 1, 2020, and the 2020, 2022 and 2023 changes kept its core idea. Facing a typical misdemeanor or a nonviolent felony, a judge has no choice but to free the person, by recognizance or with conditions (CPL 510.10(3)). Money bail or remand applies only to the qualifying offenses in CPL 510.10(4). When bail is set, at least three forms must be allowed, including a partially secured or unsecured bond (CPL 520.10).

• Checks must be certified bank checks written out to "The Sheriff of Rockland County"; personal checks and other types are refused. Bring two IDs, one with a photo.
• Ask staff at 845-638-5600 about any other payment before going.
• A bail agent's fee is capped by Insurance Law § 6804.

Our bail and release page covers forms of bail, refunds and bail agents in detail.

Start with the jail. Staff on the information line, 845-638-5600, can share the charge on file and name the court in charge of it. The court that held the arraignment has the charging papers, called the accusatory instrument.

Felony cases with a future court date show on WebCrims, which lists the charges. The District Attorney's Office decides the final charges and can be reached at 1 South Main Street, Suite 500, New City, NY 10956, 845-638-5001.

A free lawyer is offered at the arraignment to anyone who can't afford one. In Rockland that lawyer comes from the Public Defender's Office, 11 New Hempstead Road, New City, NY 10956, 845-638-5660, open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Its general inbox, InfoPD@co.rockland.ny.us, also takes questions from relatives.

State standards presume eligibility for anyone who is locked up, though a judge confirms it. Private lawyers can see clients at the jail during legal visit hours:

• 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
• 6:15 to 7:00 p.m.
• 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.

Everyone held is entitled to two visits weekly, counting Saturday through Friday. The day and time depend on the group:

• Group A, last names A to N: Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday 8:00 to 10:30 a.m.; Monday and Friday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.
• Group B, adolescents and minors: Saturday and Wednesday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.; Monday 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• Group C, last names O to Z: Sunday 8:00 to 10:30 a.m.; Tuesday and Thursday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.; Friday 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
• Group D, protective custody and administrative segregation: Sunday 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.; Monday and Friday 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.; Tuesday 8:00 to 10:30 a.m.

Arrive before 8:00 a.m. for a 7:30 slot, before 9:30 a.m. for an 8:00 or 8:30 slot, and before 1:20 p.m. for a 12:30 slot. Bring a current driver's license, state ID or government employee photo ID, or a U.S. birth certificate plus a school or work photo ID, with matching addresses. Visitors under 18 arrive with a parent or legal guardian, who brings the child's original birth certificate. A live order of protection between the two people rules out the visit. Skip orange clothing, hoods, tank tops and leggings. Read our visitation guide for more.

Deposits and commissary orders go through the jail's contracted service, reachable by phone at 866-345-1884. Keep the person's legal name and ID Number in front of you.

Funds on the account cover store items like snacks and soap. They can't be used toward bail. For other ways to deposit, ask the jail at 845-638-5600. Our guide to inmate deposits and our commissary guide explain how these accounts usually work. Mailed cash is a bad idea every time.

State jail rules guarantee phone calls at admission, and staff have to explain that right (9 NYCRR 7002.8). Later calls go through the jail's phone provider; open a family account by dialing 800-844-6591.

To ask about rates, tablets, video visits or electronic messages, phone the facility at 845-638-5600. Anything about the charges is best saved for the defense lawyer, in private. Our jail calling guide and inmate messaging guide have more tips.

Letters go to a post office box upstate, not to the building in New City. Address them like this:

Rockland County Correctional Center
Person's first and last name, and ID Number
PO Box 162, Clifton Park, NY 12065

• Reading material has to arrive directly from the publisher or a bookstore; the lobby won't accept it from visitors.
• The front desk accepts only court clothes, as an exchange, and wire-free bras for women.
• Staff may open incoming letters to look for contraband. Legal mail is opened only with the person present (9 NYCRR 7004.4).

Our jail mail guide lists items that are often refused.

Items taken at booking stay in storage until release. To pick them up for someone else, or to drop off court clothes, contact the facility at 55 New Hempstead Road, New City, NY 10956, 845-638-5600.

Good questions to ask: what hours property is handed out, whether the person signs a release form, and how any account balance gets refunded. Carry photo ID. Clothing for court is taken at the front desk only as an exchange.

Call the jail right away at 845-638-5600. List each prescription with its dose, plus a number for the doctor who wrote it. If mental health is the worry, say that clearly at the start.

Officers who hold someone in custody carry a legal duty over that person's medical and psychiatric needs (Civil Rights Law § 28). The HALT Act restricts solitary confinement and generally keeps out young adults through age 21, people 55 and up, pregnant people and anyone with a disability. Complaints about jail conditions go to the New York State Commission of Correction, 80 S. Swan Street, Albany, NY 12210, 518-485-2346. For a life-threatening emergency, dial 911 without waiting.

Town and village police serve warrants in their areas, and the Sheriff's Police Division assists countywide at 845-638-5401. New York State Police wanted people appear on the state's wanted and missing list. Local warrants can be checked by phoning the issuing court or that same division. Courts generally must warn the person or their lawyer 48 hours ahead before signing a bench warrant over a missed date (CPL 510.50). Resolving it means calling a lawyer first, then walking into the issuing court together or getting a fresh date from its clerk. Felony warrants come out of County Court at 1 South Main Street, New City, NY 10956, 845-483-8310.

Dates live with whichever court took the case. Here are the phone lines:

• Felony cases: County Court, 1 South Main Street, New City, NY 10956, 845-483-8310. Active cases also appear on WebCrims.
• Clarkstown Justice Court, 20 Maple Avenue, New City, NY 10956, 845-639-5960
• Haverstraw's town court, One Rosman Road, Garnerville, NY 10923, 845-947-0020
• Orangetown Justice Court, 26 W. Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, 845-359-5100
• Ramapo Justice Court, 237 Route 59, Suffern, NY 10901, 845-357-5100
• Stony Point Justice Court, 6 Patriot Hills Drive, Stony Point, NY 10980, 845-786-2506

Village court cases go through that village's clerk. Our court guide lists every village court and explains each step.

Federal cases from Rockland land at the Southern District of New York courthouse in White Plains, 300 Quarropas Street, White Plains, NY 10601, 914-390-4100.

1. Release or detention gets argued at a hearing early in the case, and the judge rules (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Pretrial federal prisoners are in U.S. Marshals Service custody, frequently inside a county jail. Ask the district office at 500 Pearl Street, Suite 400, New York, NY 10007, 646-563-9800, where they are.
3. Follow the case on the PACER Case Locator.
4. Post-sentence, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator works with a name or register number, and it updates as people move.

Most cases follow this pattern:

1. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, serves the jail with a Form I-247A detainer.
2. Under it, staff are asked to hold the person for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Agents working out of the New York City Field Office, 26 Federal Plaza, 9th Floor, Suite 9-110, New York, NY 10278, 212-436-9315, collect the person.
4. ICE can transfer people upstate, including to the Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, with a detainee information line at 585-344-6500.
5. Plug in the A-number, or a name with the home country, on the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

State law narrows the jail's role. Holding a person purely over a civil immigration issue is beyond a local officer's power in New York, as the Second Department held in People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco back in 2018. Executive Law § 170-k ended all 287(g) agreements in 2026. Civil Rights Law § 28 blocks civil immigration arrests at courthouses without a judicial warrant.

Sentenced to state time, a person stays on New Hempstead Road until the state collects them, no later than ten business days after the county marks them ready. Classification at a reception center comes first.

• Search the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup by last name or DIN.
• Our New York state prisons pages cover visiting and mail at each prison.
• DOCCS staff can help locate someone at 518-457-5000 on business days.

New York's Raise the Age law labels 16- and 17-year-olds facing felony charges as adolescent offenders. They may not be held with adults and go to a specialized juvenile detention setting instead. The jail's visiting schedule keeps a separate group for adolescents and minors. Younger children are handled in Family Court.

Parents trying to locate a teen, or learn the hearing date, can call Probation at 845-638-5544, or Family Court at 1 South Main Street, Suite 300, New City, NY 10956, 845-483-8210. A list of state juvenile detention sites is on the OCFS detention page.

Some 357,397 people called the county home on July 1, 2025, by Census Bureau count. It relies on eight local departments, backed by the Sheriff and State Police.

County and state

• Rockland County Sheriff's Office, 55 New Hempstead Road, New City, NY 10956, 845-638-5400. Its Police Division, 845-638-5401, patrols county roads, parks, buildings and Rockland Community College.
• Sheriff's Communications Division (911 dispatch), 35 Firemens Memorial Drive, Pomona, NY 10970, 845-364-8600
• New York State Police, Troop F, 55 Crystal Run Road, Middletown, NY 10941, 845-344-5300. Its Haverstraw station in Pomona answers at 845-364-0200.

Town departments

• Clarkstown Police, 20 Maple Avenue, New City, NY 10956, 845-639-5800
• Haverstraw Town Police, 101 West Ramapo Road, Garnerville, NY 10923, 845-354-1500
• Orangetown Police, 26 Orangeburg Road, Orangeburg, NY 10962, 845-359-3700
• Ramapo Police, through Town Hall, 237 Route 59, Suffern, NY 10901, non-emergency 845-357-2400
• Stony Point Police, 74 East Main Street, Stony Point, NY 10980, 845-786-2422

Village departments

• Spring Valley Police, 200 North Main Street, Spring Valley, NY 10977, 845-356-7400
• Suffern Police, 61 Washington Avenue, Suffern, NY 10901, 845-357-2300
• Piermont Police, 478 Piermont Avenue, Piermont, NY 10968, 845-359-0240

Villages with no force of their own

• Nyack: Orangetown and Clarkstown police split coverage by location.
• Grand View-on-Hudson: Orangetown police.
• Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Haverstraw Village, Hillburn, Kaser, Montebello, New Hempstead, New Square, Pomona, Sloatsburg, Upper Nyack, Wesley Hills and West Haverstraw: a town police department patrols each one. Call the Sheriff's Police Division to learn which force covers the village.