The census is the Sheriff's own list of everyone held today. Four quick steps:

1. Pull up the Inmate Census in any web browser.
2. Hunt for the last name. On a long list, the browser's "Find on page" tool jumps right to it.
3. Jot down the pod listed beside the name. Visiting days are set pod by pod.
4. Phone 503-366-4630 for the booking number, the charges and any security amount.

A note on the page says the list is there to keep the public safe. It also warns that harassing anyone on it can lead to charges.

Several things can explain a missing name:

• Still in booking. A very recent arrest may not be finished yet.
• Already out. Plenty of minor charges end with release on a signed promise to return.
• Book and release. People a judge orders to be booked come in Mondays from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and most leave within about an hour.
• Held elsewhere. An arrest on another county's warrant can mean a stay in that county's jail.
• Spelled another way. Try other spellings, the middle name, a nickname or a past surname.

Jail staff at 503-366-4630 can settle it fast. They can confirm a booking, a release or a transfer.

For adults, the county has one jail, at 901 Port Avenue, Saint Helens, OR 97051. Youth go to a juvenile center in Longview, Washington, never to this jail.

If police across the county line made the arrest, check that county's jail:

• Clatsop County Jail, 1190 SE 19th Street, Warrenton, OR 97146, Sheriff's Office 503-325-8635
• Washington County Jail, 215 SW Adams Avenue, Hillsboro, OR 97123, 503-846-2600 (24 hours)
• Multnomah County Detention Center, 1120 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204, 503-988-3689
• Inverness Jail, 11540 NE Inverness Drive, Portland, OR 97220, 503-988-5060

Probably not. HB 3273, a 2021 Oregon law, keeps most booking photos private. Police may release one only in a few cases: the person shown asks, the victim asks, a party to the case asks, police need it to catch a fugitive, or a conviction follows.

Websites that charge to pull a mugshot have 30 days to do it and can bill no more than $50. A dismissed or never-filed case gets removal within 7 days, free. Media questions go to the Sheriff's Office at 503-366-4611.

To ask ICE for a photo, file a request at ICE's FOIA records page. Federal mugshots are not normally released, except that the U.S. Marshals may share one while searching for a fugitive.

In Oregon, the VINE-style alert system goes by VISOR. The state Department of Corrections offers it at no cost.

• Look a person up by full or partial name, State ID or County ID. Results show if they are held in county or state custody.
• Pick how you want to hear: phone call, email or text, for a release, transfer, escape or death.
• You can register with an account or skip it, and the person inside is never told.
• Staff answer any hour of the day at 855-691-6246.

Victims should not rely on these alerts as their only safety plan.

Oregon law leans toward release on a promise to come back. Under the district's standing order, many minor charges with no one injured let the jail free a person soon after booking. Charges tied to family violence, sex crimes, Measure 11 and Class A felonies are kept for a judge. That judge rules at arraignment, due within 36 hours of custody, though Saturdays, Sundays and holidays stretch the clock (ORS 135.010).

When security is set, families usually pay a deposit of one tenth of it, at least $25 (ORS 135.265). Pay at the Sheriff's Office, 901 Port Avenue, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-366-4611, or the court counter, 230 Strand Street, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-397-2327. Both take cash and cards. Oregon has no bail bond companies. The full steps are on our security and release page.

Jail staff at 503-366-4630 know the booking charges and can share them.

Those first charges can shift. Filing decisions belong to the District Attorney's Office, at 230 Strand Street, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-397-0300.

After the case is filed in circuit court, enter the name in OJD Records and Calendar Search. The free tool shows each charge and every event logged so far. Clerks at 503-397-2327 can help by phone too.

The request comes at arraignment, when the person asks the judge for appointed counsel. Next they fill out an Affidavit of Eligibility about income and property. A court screener reviews it. Most people owe a $20 application fee, which a judge can waive. Being broke never leaves anyone without a lawyer.

• Questions about the form: call the court at 503-397-2327 and ask for the Court Verifier.
• Statewide public defense is overseen by the Oregon Public Defense Commission, 503-378-3349.
• Local defense groups listed by the court: Columbia County Indigent Defense Corporation, 503-366-1790, and Justice Alliance of Columbia County, 971-813-6245.

Oregon is short of public defenders. Under the federal Betschart order, someone jailed and still unrepresented 7 days after the first court date must usually be released on conditions.

Here the person inside schedules each public visit, then reaches the visitor by phone or mail with the time. Each person may have one visit weekly, as time and space allow.

• Pods follow separate schedules, and visits start on the hour or the half hour.
• The person inside keeps a list of five visitors at most. Kids and teens visit only with their parent or legal guardian.
• Allowed groups: one or two adults, one adult with one or two kids, or two adults with one kid.
• Public visits are off for people in disciplinary housing, people not yet classified, and anyone serving 72 hours or less.
• Show up 10 to 15 minutes early to sign in. Dress modestly, and leave bags in your car or a lobby locker.

Bringing contraband into a jail is a felony (ORS 162.185). For more, see our jail visiting guide or call 503-366-4630.

Account money lets the person buy items from the commissary. Deposits can be made three ways:

• On the web, using the deposit service the Sheriff links on the inmate services page. It takes Visa and Mastercard.
• By phone at 866-345-1884.
• In person with cash at the kiosk in the jail's front office, open 24 hours a day, every day.

Never mail cash or money orders. The jail rejects both. Our guide to inmate money covers fees and refunds.

Calls run through an outside phone company. For account setup, so the person can call you, or for billing questions, dial 800-844-6591. Oregon caps the commission a jail may take on calls at five cents a minute (ORS 169.681).

Lawyers can ask for privileged calls with a client through the Sheriff's attorney phone request form. For texting, email or tablet messages, ask the jail at 503-366-4630 what is available. Read our calling guide or our inmate email page to see how these services usually work.

Write the envelope this way:

Person's booking name
Columbia County Jail
901 Port Avenue, Saint Helens, OR 97051

• Use the exact name from booking. Adding the booking number is encouraged, though it is optional.
• Put your own name and address on the envelope.
• Photos are allowed. Food, drinks and clothing are not.
• Reading material has to ship directly from a publisher, a book club or a bookstore. Books over 9 by 12 inches, or bound with plastic or metal, get sent back.
• If mail is held back, the person can appeal in a letter within 15 days.

Our guide to jail mail has more.

Property leaves the jail by appointment only. First, the person in custody fills out a request form. It names the person picking up, how they are related and their phone number.

The pickup person must bring a valid driver's license or state ID card. Call the jail at 503-366-4630 to set the time, and ask what can be released. At release, the person can ask staff how their own items and any account balance come back.

A contracted medical team gives health care as needed and works with the county's mental health program on mental health care. Three meals a day, bedding and hygiene items are provided too.

Oregon law backs this up. Any health care fee is allowed only when care is never withheld for lack of money (ORS 169.150). State standards also call for emergency care and a personal check on each person every hour (ORS 169.076).

If you know about a health problem, such as a medicine the person takes, call the jail at 503-366-4630 and share it with staff.

The jail keeps a separate line for housing fee questions. If a bill arrives, call 503-366-4636.

Payments are made at the Sheriff's front office, 901 Port Avenue, Saint Helens, OR 97051, Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. A housing fee is separate from security, so paying one never pays the other.

County deputies handle most warrants, and town officers take some inside city limits. Ring the Sheriff's Office at 503-366-4611 and request Records/warrants to check. Wanted lists to check: the Marshals' 15 Most Wanted, the Oregon DOC Most Wanted (tips 877-831-0389) and FBI Portland. A court warrant usually states the security needed for release. For a missed court date, call the circuit court at 503-397-2327 to book a Monday 9:00 a.m. warrant appearance at 230 Strand Street, Saint Helens, OR 97051. A lawyer can arrange it. Surrendering with a lawyer beside you is another way to clear it.

Most dates come from the circuit court, 230 Strand Street, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-397-2327.

• The free circuit court calendars list hearings ahead.
• Find a case by name in OJD Records and Calendar Search.
• Ask Pretrial Services at 503-986-6404 to send the defendant court reminders by text.
• City and justice courts keep separate records, so call the court named on the ticket.

For every courthouse and what happens at each hearing, see our criminal court guide.

Federal defendants belong to the U.S. Marshals Service from arrest to trial. The county jail has signed on with the Marshals to house federal prisoners. Others may be at FCI Sheridan, 27072 Ballston Road, Sheridan, OR 97378, 503-843-4442.

• Ask the Marshals where someone is held: 1000 SW Third Avenue, Room 401, Portland, OR 97204, 503-326-2209.
• The case is heard in Portland at 1000 SW Third Avenue, Suite 740, Portland, OR 97204, 503-326-8000. A judge there holds a detention hearing on pretrial release (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• After sentencing, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator by name or register number.

An immigration hold has federal steps, and Oregon adds its own limits:

1. A detainer is ICE's written request to a jail, made on Form I-247A.
2. The form asks for custody up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Under Oregon's sanctuary laws (ORS 181A.820 to 181A.829; HB 3265, 2021), an immigration hold carries no weight with city police or a county jail without a judge's signature. A detainer by itself usually won't keep someone in this jail. They also generally won't share release details for enforcement.
4. ICE can still arrest a person after release. ICE's Seattle Field Office covers Oregon, and its Portland branch sits at 4310 S Macadam Avenue, Suite 300, Portland, OR 97239, 503-326-4165.
5. Find someone ICE is holding with the ICE Online Detainee Locator, using a name and country of birth.

Prison-bound people head first to Coffee Creek Correctional Facility for intake, 24499 SW Grahams Ferry Road, Wilsonville, OR 97070. The process runs close to a month. Men then move on to another prison, and women stay put.

• Their name can be checked in the state's Oregon Offender Search.
• Call DOC with general questions at 503-945-9090.
• Our Oregon state prison list describes each one.

People on probation or parole report to Community Justice, Adult Division, 901 Port Avenue, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-397-6253. That office is separate from the jail.

The adult jail does not take anyone under 18. A youth who needs a locked bed is sent to Cowlitz County Juvenile Detention, 1725 1st Avenue, Longview, WA 98632, 360-577-3101, through a contract with the county.

The county Juvenile Department handles youth ages 12 to 17. It is in the Historic Courthouse, 230 Strand Street, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-397-0275, open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Call there to learn where a youth is staying and the date of any hearing. Juvenile cases don't appear in the state's online court search.

As of July 1, 2025, the Census estimate puts the county at about 54,091 residents. City counts come from Portland State University's certified estimates for the same date. Look for the arresting agency in this list:

• Sheriff's Office, 901 Port Avenue, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-366-4611. Deputies patrol the unincorporated county and serve Clatskanie (1,819 people) under a city contract.
• St. Helens Police Department (14,552 people), 150 S. 13th Street, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 503-397-3333
• Scappoose Police Department (8,251), 33568 E Columbia Avenue, Scappoose, OR 97056, 503-543-3114
• Vernonia Police Department (2,462), 1001 Bridge Street, Vernonia, OR 97064, 503-429-7335
• Rainier Police Department (1,950), 106 West B Street, Rainier, OR 97048, 503-556-3644
• Columbia City Police Department (1,946), City Hall, 1840 2nd Street, Columbia City, OR 97018, 503-397-4010
• Prescott (84 people): phone the Sheriff's Office and ask which agency covers the town.
• Oregon State Police: from a cell phone, dial *677. The Northern Command Center answers at 800-442-0776. Headquarters is at 3565 Trelstad Avenue SE, Salem, OR 97317, 503-378-3720.
• Columbia 9-1-1 Communications District, 58611 McNulty Way, Saint Helens, OR 97051, 24-hour line 503-397-1521. Dial 9-1-1 for emergencies.