The Sheriff built this lookup, and it reaches both buildings. Follow along:

1. Go to the Sheriff's jail search from any device with a browser.
2. Press Agree on the notice screen.
3. Start with the surname and add the given name after it. A nickname is worth a second try.
4. Click the entry. It shows charges, bond and the next hearing.
5. Copy the Global Subject Number. Staff, the mail room and the video system each ask for it.

Stuck? Phone Jail Information at 704-869-6868, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A blank screen seldom means bad news. Common reasons:

• Booking is still underway. Staff take prints and photos and check health first.
• They already left. A no-cash bond may have been granted, or a family member may have covered a secured one.
• Spelling. Try a middle name, a hyphen or an older surname.
• A different custodian. The person could be with a nearby jail, federal agents or the state prison system.
• Age. Teens are handled outside the adult jail.

Weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., dial 704-869-6868. Nights, weekends and holidays, dial the supervisor line at 704-869-6869.

Two Sheriff buildings hold adults. One search covers both.

• Gaston County Jail, 425 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gastonia, NC 28052, 704-869-6800. Opened in 1999 with 488 beds. Home to men facing trial or serving sentences, plus federal pretrial prisoners under a U.S. Marshals contract. Medical staff work there around the clock.
• Gaston County Jail Annex, 176 beds. Women and men both live here, whether facing trial or serving time. It also runs weekend sentences, court-ordered work release and federal work release. Ask the main number for its door.

For an arrest just over the line, also search the jail lists for Mecklenburg, Cleveland and Lincoln counties.

Ask the Sheriff's Office at 704-869-6800 whether a mugshot exists for your person. Do not count on pictures from the search itself. Under state law, booking pictures are not plainly open to everyone, so each agency picks what it hands out.

Still, an arrest record can list age, home address, the charge, and the place and time officers made the stop. For a picture, ask whichever agency did the arresting.

• Pictures from ICE come only through a filing on ICE's records request page.
• Federal mugshots stay closed. Only the U.S. Marshals Service may free one, as with a runaway suspect.

VINE costs you nothing. Once a name is tracked, VINE can text, call or email when that inmate is released or transferred. Enroll through VINELink or phone 877-627-2826, any hour.

A notice may reach you a bit late. For the freshest news, reload the Sheriff's search or call 704-869-6868 on a weekday.

Soon after booking, a magistrate chooses how the person may leave, and this happens around the clock. Four paths exist: a bond that costs nothing now, a handoff to a trusted supervisor, a secured bond, or an ankle monitor at home paired with a secured bond. A bare promise to show up ended on December 1, 2025.

A judge alone rules on the gravest charges, like murder, rape and kidnapping. After a domestic violence arrest, jail time can last 48 hours before a judge acts. Anyone kept in custody is brought to a judge of the District Court in no more than 72 hours. That judge can change the terms.

Before paying, ask the jail at 704-869-6869 what it accepts. Bondsmen may collect 15 percent at most, and that cost never comes back. Verify a bondsman with the state lookup tool. Our bail page lays out the steps; for the legal backdrop see JE's state bail rules.

Each Sheriff entry names the charges. The court file adds detail. Type a name into the state's online court portal for the counts, hearing dates and what happened in the case.

The Clerk of Superior Court runs the records room for criminal cases, in an office that sits inside the courthouse at 325 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Suite 1004, Gastonia, NC 28052, and its phone is 704-852-3100. Know how the name is spelled and bring a date of birth.

The District Attorney chooses which charges to pursue. The courthouse line can point you to that office.

On the day of the first hearing, the person requests court-appointed counsel and completes a sworn income form, the affidavit of indigency. The judge then decides who qualifies. Repayment may be ordered afterward.

The Public Defender Office is at 325 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Suite 3122, Gastonia, NC 28052, 704-852-3220. Statewide help comes from Indigent Defense Services, 919-354-7200. You may also pay a private attorney yourself.

All visits use video. Guests may use a screen at the jail or connect from home. The Sheriff sets these rules:

• A session runs 25 minutes, and each inmate gets one per week.
• Book the day before, or as far as two weeks out.
• Main jail slots: Monday to Thursday, 1:05 to 3:35 p.m. and 5:05 to 8:00 p.m. Annex slots: 1:05 to 9:05 p.m.
• Remote sessions need $7.50 in a prepaid ICSolutions account. That firm's number is 888-506-8407.
• Onsite guests show a photo ID.

Times shift, so confirm at 704-869-6868. More tips sit in our visitation guide.

Funds buy food, soap and similar goods. Use the kiosk in the lobby at 425 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gastonia, NC 28052, or the one in the Annex lobby. Online, the Sheriff points families to team3.inmatecanteen.com.

Bring the Global Subject Number. For help, call 704-869-6800. Our deposit guide and store guide say more. Skip cash in envelopes.

Outside firms run the contact tools. ICSolutions handles video visits, and the Sheriff's visit page sends families to Getting Out for messages. Ask Jail Information, 704-869-6868, which tool fits and what it costs.

Assume someone may listen to every call or read every message, and keep case details for the defense attorney. Read more in the jail phone calls guide and the inmate email guide.

Never send letters to the jail's street. Write it this way:

Gaston County Jail
Inmate Name, Inmate Identifier
P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, MD 21131

The identifier is the Global Subject Number. Put your whole name on the return address. Mail that is not from a lawyer gets scanned to the inmate's tablet. Our mail guide lists the do's and don'ts. Questions go to 704-869-6868.

Whatever came in on the person's body waits in storage until release day. Ask on a weekday at 704-869-6868 how drop-off or pickup works. Bring photo ID to the lobby of the Sheriff's Office, 425 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gastonia, NC 28052.

A medical unit runs day and night inside the jail. If your person needs a prescription or care, dial 704-869-6869 now. Know each drug's name, the amount taken, and the prescriber.

Inside, the person may also file a sick-call form. A life-threatening emergency calls for 911. Mention any mental health fear the moment someone answers.

Sheriff's deputies, 704-869-6800, and town police officers serve warrants anywhere in the county, so call the one that covers the person's home. Either office can tell you if a warrant carries the person's name. To look into a case, ring the clerk's criminal division at 704-852-3100, or try the state eCourts portal. To settle a warrant, first talk to a lawyer, then phone the courtroom that issued the order. The clerk is found at 325 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Suite 1004, Gastonia, NC 28052.

One courthouse holds both trial courts: 325 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gastonia, NC 28052. Dial 704-852-3100 for the clerk. Misdemeanors, traffic tickets and the first felony hearings go to District Court. Trials for felonies happen in Superior Court, and only after an indictment.

Open the state's court date finder or the court records portal. Our court page explains the road ahead.

The Charlotte division of the Western District covers this area. The courthouse is at 401 West Trade Street, Room 1200, Charlotte, NC 28202, and the clerk answers at 704-350-7400.

1. A judge weighs jail versus release at the first federal hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals house pretrial prisoners, sometimes in the main jail. Ask them where at 704-350-8000.
3. The Federal Public Defender, 129 West Trade Street, Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28202, 704-374-0720, serves people who cannot pay.
4. After the judge hands down a sentence, use the federal prison locator.

ICE can send the jail Form I-247A (8 CFR 287.7(d)) plus an administrative warrant. A North Carolina judicial official may then order the jail to keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, until ICE arrives.

1. Try the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Fill in a name and the country of birth. An A-number works on its own.
2. If it finds nothing, read ICE's field office list to find the office for North Carolina.
3. Hire an immigration lawyer quickly, since a criminal defense lawyer may not cover this.

The jail, at 704-869-6868, can tell you if a detainer is on file.

Once a person is sentenced to prison, the state's Department of Adult Correction takes charge. Its public offender lookup takes a name or an offender number and shows prison, probation and parole. County jails are absent from it. The main line is 919-733-2126.

A few sentences are served in a local jail, like some misdemeanors over 90 days and drunk driving terms. Rules on visits and mail at each prison are collected on JE's state prison page.

A youth's case belongs in District Court, with its records kept sealed from the public. Call the courthouse, 325 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gastonia, NC 28052, 704-852-3100, and ask for juvenile court.

Secure custody requires a hearing within 5 calendar days, which nobody can skip. A youth is held at the detention center nearest home, not the adult jail. The Department of Public Safety lists them on its juvenile detention page.

The Sheriff's Office, 704-869-6800, 425 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Gastonia, NC 28052, patrols outside town limits. Arrests in these places end at the county jail:

• Gastonia, Belmont, Mount Holly, Cramerton, Lowell and McAdenville
• Ranlo, Bessemer City, Cherryville, Dallas and Stanley
• High Shoals, Spencer Mountain and the Gaston part of Kings Mountain

The booking record names the arresting agency. For a town police number, ask the Sheriff's line.

The State Highway Patrol serves the county from Troop D, District I, in Gastonia, 704-853-5373.