1. Go to the Sheriff's inmate lookup.
2. Search the person's name. No hits? Try fewer letters or a nickname.
3. Check that the birth date or age matches, since names repeat.
4. For a second source, search VINE for New York. Pick the person's record to see custody status and the facility.
5. Call the jail at 518-295-2264 to confirm. Know the person's full name and birthday before you dial.

The jail holds up to 69 people. It also takes in prisoners sent over from other county jails, so a search can show someone arrested elsewhere. After hours, the Sheriff's dispatch desk answers non-emergency calls around the clock at 518-295-8114.

A blank search doesn't always mean bad news. Common reasons:

• They went home. For many minor charges, officers write an appearance ticket and skip the jail. Others are let go at arraignment.
• They are still with the arresting officers. Booking takes time after a State Police or village police arrest.
• Another county has them, often because the warrant came from there.
• They are a minor. Teens who are held get placed in juvenile detention, never in this adult jail.
• The charge is federal or immigration-related, so a different agency holds them.

Beware of old web pages. From 2011 to 2020 the county's inmates were housed in another county's jail, and the Depot Lane address is long gone. Today's jail is in Howes Cave.

Call 518-295-2264, or dispatch at 518-295-8114 after hours. For a State Police arrest, try Troop G's Zone 3 office at 518-630-1700.

That happens when the arrest, or the warrant behind it, began across the county line. Each nearby Sheriff runs a jail of its own:

• Albany County Correctional Facility, 840 Old Albany Shaker Road, Albany, NY 12211, 518-869-2600
• Delaware County Jail, 280 Phoebe Lane, Suite 1, Delhi, NY 13753, 607-832-5555
• Greene County Jail, 45 Haverly Memorial Drive, Coxsackie, NY 12051, 518-943-3300
• Montgomery County jail, 200 Clark Drive, Fultonville, NY 12072, 518-853-5555
• Otsego County Jail, 172 County Highway 33 West, Cooperstown, NY 13326, 607-547-4252
• Schenectady County Correctional Facility, 320 Veeder Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12307, 518-388-4300

VINE searches all of them at once. A person on probation or parole who breaks the rules may also be held where that supervision is based.

Probably not. A state privacy rule says police usually should not hand out booking pictures. The exception is when releasing one serves a real law enforcement need (Public Officers Law § 89(2)(b)(viii)).

• News outlets may ask the Sheriff's Office at 518-295-2266.
• Photos held by immigration authorities can be sought through an ICE records request.
• Federal agencies guard their booking photos too, though Marshals may share a picture of a wanted fugitive.

Sign up with VINE for release and transfer alerts.

1. Pull up the person's record on VINELink.
2. Register, and say whether you want a phone call, an email or a text.
3. Write down the PIN you're given. A phone alert repeats its call until you enter that PIN, for up to 48 hours.

No computer? Call VINE at 888-846-3469. The person is never told who signed up.

The Sheriff also has a free mobile app for iPhone and Android, shared at the Sheriff's app link. It can be used to make deposits. If the person is later sent to a state prison, DOCCS can separately alert you before a parole hearing or a release date.

Odds favor release. The state's bail reform started January 1, 2020, then got reworked three more times: mid-2020, 2022 and 2023. On most misdemeanor and nonviolent felony charges, a judge must let the person go, on their own promise or with set conditions (CPL 510.10(3)). Money bail, or remand without any, is reserved for charges the law lists as "qualifying offenses" (CPL 510.10(4), 530.20).

If bail is set, the order must name at least three forms. A low-deposit or no-deposit bond has to be one of them (CPL 520.10). Bail is taken in person at the jail. It can be paid from anywhere through AllPaid too, at 877-392-2455 or online, using pay location code 1861, for a fee.

Our bail and release page covers amounts, bond agents, holds and refunds.

A felony is the serious kind of charge and can bring state prison. Misdemeanors are lighter, and the jail term for one tops out just short of a year, at 364 days. A violation is a petty offense, not a crime.

• The jail can read you the charge: 518-295-2264.
• The arraigning court, usually a town justice, has the paperwork. Find its number on our court page.
• The defense lawyer gets the complaint and, later, the evidence.
• The District Attorney, Harvey E. Stoddard Public Safety Facility, 157 Steadman Way, Howes Cave, NY 12092, 518-295-2272, can answer general questions on weekdays.

WebCrims, the state's case search, lists only courts outside this county, chiefly in New York City and the two Long Island counties. Here, a phone call is the reliable route.

Every person who qualifies gets a lawyer at arraignment for free (Executive Law § 832(4)). Being locked up counts toward qualifying. Here, free lawyers come through the Assigned Counsel Program, run by the Office of Legal Defense of Indigents. That office sits at 284 Main Street, Schoharie, NY 12157, 518-295-8740, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

1. Speak up and request counsel when the judge first sees the case.
2. Fill out the criminal case application from the Legal Defense of Indigents page.
3. Send it by mail, by email to indigent.defense@co.schoharie.ny.us, or bring it in.

New arrivals get one free call at admission, which they can use to reach family or arrange help.

Visits happen on weekends only, in four time slots:

• 8:45 to 9:45 a.m.
• 10:00 to 11:00 a.m.
• 6:15 to 7:15 p.m.
• 8:15 to 9:15 p.m.

Each person inside gets one hour on Saturday and one on Sunday. To book, the visitor calls 518-295-2264 between 8:00 a.m. and noon on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday before. Slots go first come, first served, and the person inside can't book for you.

• Arrive 30 minutes early to sign in. Late visitors are turned away.
• Show unexpired photo ID, like a DMV license or non-driver card, armed forces ID or a passport, and give a street address.
• Two visitors at most, and a baby counts as one.
• Kids under 18 must be escorted by a parent or legal guardian. That adult shows the child's birth certificate, an original or certified copy. Any other adult needs a notarized waiver filed ahead of time.
• No hoods, tank tops, see-through or revealing clothes, hats or coats. Leave phones, food and bags in the car or a lobby locker.
• A short hug and kiss are allowed at the start and end only.

Visitors on probation or parole need written permission from their officer. Our visitation page has more tips.

Deposits go into the person's facility fund account. They pay for commissary items, calls and other costs. There are four ways to deposit:

1. Cash at the kiosk in the jail's Visitation Lobby, 157 Steadman Way, Howes Cave, NY 12092
2. A money order by mail, with the person's first and last name
3. Online through the deposit website the jail lists
4. The Sheriff's Office mobile app

Personal checks and certified bank checks are refused. Never mail cash. A mailed money order can take up to ten business days to post. Money can't be moved from one inmate to another. If someone has $3.00 or less for ten days in a row, they get free envelopes and paper each week.

See our inmate deposit page for details, and our commissary page for care packages.

Each person gets a phone PIN at booking. Calls run from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., except during the afternoon shift-change lock-in. Each call is capped at 15 minutes. Every person also gets one free five-minute call each month. Staff record calls, though conversations with an attorney stay private.

The person inside can book a video visit on a jail tablet and pays for it. Video visits take place in the Program Room from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 3:15 to 10:00 p.m. They don't use up regular contact visits.

Staff do not pass along family messages, except for a confirmed emergency like a serious illness or a death in the family. For that, call 518-295-2264. Our jail phone page covers setting up an account.

Address every letter like this:

Inmate's first and last name
Schoharie County Correctional Facility
P.O. Box 159, Howes Cave, NY 12092

• Put your full name and return address in the top left corner, or the mail comes back.
• Use a plain store-bought envelope. Homemade or altered ones are refused.
• Don't include stamps, lottery tickets or requests for money.
• Packages come only by mail and may hold only magazines, softcover books or newspapers.
• Other items must be ordered through the jail's approved package programs and shipped straight from the seller.
• Nothing can be dropped off in the lobby, except money in the kiosk.

Letters from lawyers and courts are opened only with the person present. Our inmate mail page lists more rules.

While still inside, the person signs a Property/Clothing Accountability Invoice naming one adult who may collect their things. That adult must bring a valid ID.

• After release, there are 10 days to claim stored property.
• Personal medicine is kept by the Medical Unit for 7 days. Medicine the jail prescribed is kept 48 hours.
• Leftover account money is paid by check, handed over at release or mailed.

Call the jail at 518-295-2264 before driving out to Howes Cave to set a pickup time.

Civilian medical, dental and mental health staff work at the jail.

• A person who feels sick fills out a Nursing Sick Call Slip.
• Medicine is handed out every day.
• A Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) program helps people with substance use disorder after a medical check.
• Housing units have a Corrections Deputy posted inside at all times.
• As a standard practice, the jail does not use segregated confinement, often called solitary.

Civil Rights Law § 28 obliges whoever has someone in custody to meet both their medical and mental health needs. If you know about a health issue, call 518-295-2264 and ask for the Medical Unit. The person can file a written grievance within five days. Appeals go to the Jail Administrator and then the State Commission of Correction, 80 South Swan Street, Albany, NY 12210, 518-485-2346. Sexual abuse is never tolerated at this jail, and anyone may report it, even anonymously.

The Sheriff's deputies track down and serve warrants. Call the Sheriff's Office at 518-295-2266 to ask, or 518-295-8114 outside office hours. Two official lists help: the State Police wanted page, and Probation's wanted list showing which court issued each warrant. The court named on a warrant can also confirm it. To deal with one, line up a lawyer before anything else; Assigned Counsel is at 518-295-8740. Next, appear with your lawyer before the issuing judge, or call that judge's clerk to request a fresh court date. County Court's clerk sits at 290 Main Street, Schoharie, NY 12157, 518-453-6998.

• Felony in County Court: the clerk, 290 Main Street, Schoharie, NY 12157, 518-453-6998.
• Town or village case: the justice court where the arrest was made. Every court's number is on our criminal court page.
• Youth case: Family Court, 300 Main Street, Schoharie, NY 12157, 518-453-6982.

The jail can share the next date too, at 518-295-2264. The defense lawyer receives every notice. A skipped hearing may bring a bench warrant, but in most cases the court must first allow 48 hours to come in voluntarily (CPL 510.50).

Charges brought by federal prosecutors here land in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, Albany Division. Its courthouse, the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse, stands at 445 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207, 518-257-1789.

• A judge decides at the first appearance whether to keep the person locked up until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Pretrial federal detainees fall under the U.S. Marshals. Their Albany office, 445 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207, can say where the person is held: 518-472-5401.
• The Federal Public Defender, 54 State Street, Suite 310, Albany, NY 12207, 518-436-1850, can tell you who is representing them.
• Case papers are on PACER.

After sentencing, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

An immigration hold tends to follow these steps:

1. Paperwork arrives at Howes Cave from ICE: a Form I-247A detainer.
2. In it, ICE wants the jail to keep holding them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE officers pick the person up if the hold is honored, or arrest them somewhere else.
4. Detainees may then be moved, perhaps to the Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500. Its detainee information line runs 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
5. Look them up with the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

New York law limits how much local jails help. Under the 2018 ruling in People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco, New York law gives local deputies no authority to make civil immigration arrests. Executive Law § 170-k, adopted May 27, 2026, wiped out every 287(g) deal with ICE, with August 25, 2026 the last day any could run. Under Civil Rights Law § 28, a trip to court is safe from civil arrest, both ways and while there, without a signed judicial warrant or order. To ask whether a detainer exists, call 518-295-2264.

After a felony sentence, the person may move to a state prison run by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). They spend time at a reception center first, then go wherever DOCCS places them based on risk and needs.

1. Open the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup.
2. Have their DIN (Department Identification Number)? Enter it. Nothing finds a person faster.
3. Without a DIN, search the exact surname plus the year of birth.
4. Avoid late nights. The site goes offline for maintenance around 11:45 p.m.

For help by phone during business hours, ring DOCCS at 518-457-5000. Its central office is at 1220 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12226. Our New York state prisons page lists every prison.

Teens are not held in the Howes Cave jail. A young person who can't go home is placed in secure juvenile detention. After picking up a youngster, officers must quickly notify a parent (Family Court Act § 305.2).

• Children 12 to 15 usually go to Family Court.
• Teens aged 16 and 17 facing a felony see a Youth Part judge first.
• Older teens charged with a misdemeanor are sent to Probation's intake unit.

The Probation Department handles intake and can offer diversion to teens given a Juvenile Delinquency Appearance Ticket. To find out which center has your child, call 518-295-2274. After hours, dispatch at 518-295-8114 can reach a probation officer for urgent needs. Family Court is at 300 Main Street, Schoharie, NY 12157, 518-453-6982.

Arrests here come from just a few agencies. Anyone they hold goes to the Howes Cave jail.

• Sheriff's Office (road patrol for all 620 square miles): Harvey E. Stoddard Public Safety Facility, 157 Steadman Way, Howes Cave, NY 12092. Office line 518-295-2266; 24-hour non-emergency dispatch 518-295-8114.
• New York State Police, Troop G, Zone 3 (includes a Cobleskill station): 518-630-1700. Troop G headquarters is at 760 Troy Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110, 518-783-3211.
• Cobleskill Village Police: 518-234-2923. Village office, 378 Mineral Springs Road, Cobleskill, NY 12043.
• Schoharie Village Police: 518-295-8566. Village office, 300 Main Street, Schoharie, NY 12157.
• SUNY Cobleskill University Police (on duty 24/7, office in Johnson Hall): 106 Suffolk Circle, Cobleskill, NY 12043, non-emergency 518-255-5317.

None of the 16 towns has its own police force. Deputies on road patrol and state troopers share the work in every one:

• Blenheim, Broome, Carlisle, Cobleskill
• Conesville, Esperance, Fulton, Gilboa
• Jefferson, Middleburgh, Richmondville, Schoharie
• Seward, Sharon, Summit, Wright

The villages of Esperance, Middleburgh, Richmondville and Sharon Springs also rely on the Sheriff and State Police. In a true emergency, call 911 from any town.