This lookup draws on a statewide custody network that includes county jails, so it reaches people held in Smethport. Here is the routine:

1. Open the inmate lookup on any phone or computer.
2. Type the given name and surname exactly as a driver's license shows them.
3. Scan the matches for the right age and facility.
4. Read the custody status, which says held or released.
5. Jot down any ID number listed. Staff locate records faster with it.

Zero matches? Phone 814-887-2333 and ask for booking.

• Booking is still underway. Prints, photos and forms take a while, and records update after that.
• They're at the Bradford booking center. A late arrest may still be waiting for a video hearing at the Bradford City Police Department, 18 Kennedy Street, Bradford, PA 16701, 814-368-6133.
• Released already. An MDJ may have let them go on a signed promise or on bail.
• Moved elsewhere. Custody may have shifted to federal officers, a state prison or another county.
• Name spelled differently. Repeat the search with a nickname, middle name or maiden name.
• Younger than 18. Minors are placed in juvenile detention instead.

Jail staff at 814-887-2333 know more than any database.

One jail and two booking centers serve the county, and each does a different job:

• McKean County Jail, 17013 Route 6, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-2333. The only adult jail in the county. It houses people awaiting trial, people held overnight for a morning arraignment and people serving sentences whose maximum is under 2 years. Booking also happens here. State inspectors list 111 beds. Do not be surprised to find a Potter prisoner here too: women from next door, and a few men, are sent over.
• Bradford City Police Department, 18 Kennedy Street, Bradford, PA 16701, 814-368-6133. The other booking center. Officers fingerprint and photograph arrestees here, and late arrests meet a judge by video. Anyone not released moves on to the jail.

State Police cases have prints and photos taken at the Lewis Run station, 130 Airport Road, Lewis Run, PA 16738, 814-368-9230. Arrests close to a county line may land in a neighbor's jail:

• Elk County Prison, 225 Center Street, Ridgway, PA 15853, 814-776-5342
• Potter County Jail, 102 East 2nd Street, Coudersport, PA 16915, 814-274-9730
• Warren County Prison, 814-723-2486

FCI McKean, near Lewis Run, is a federal prison, separate from this county system.

Photos are snapped during booking at the jail or the Bradford center. Whether one reaches the public depends on county practice and recent Pennsylvania court decisions, so families shouldn't plan on seeing it.

Journalists and the public may ask the jail at 814-887-2333 or the arresting police department. The District Attorney's CrimeWatch site keeps an arrests page as well. As for federal cases, booking photos are rarely shared, with one exception: Marshals Service officers may circulate a photo during a fugitive hunt. Photos taken by ICE can be requested on its records request page.

PA SAVIN is free. It watches custody at county jails, at state prisons and for state parolees. Setting it up takes a few minutes:

• Find the person on VINELink, or phone 866-972-7284 (TTY 866-847-1298). Live operators help day or night.
• Choose alerts by phone call, text, email or the app.
• Notices go out for releases, transfers and escapes.
• Your registration stays hidden from the person being tracked.

Automated alerts may trail real events. For an exact release time, confirm with the jail at 814-887-2333.

An MDJ fixes bail during the preliminary arraignment. Outside court hours, that happens by video from the jail or from the Bradford booking center. Key points:

• Bail is a right for nearly everyone. Denial requires a charge carrying life or death, or proof that no condition keeps the public safe (Pa. Const. art. I, § 14).
• Options run from a signed promise, to promise plus conditions, to unsecured bail, to nominal bail, to money bail (Pa.R.Crim.P. 524).
• For money bail, some cases allow a 10 percent cash deposit.
• A depositor may owe the entire amount after a missed hearing.

Step-by-step payment, bondsman and refund help sits on our bail page.

At the first hearing, the defendant receives the criminal complaint, which lists every charge. Once filed, the charges show up on the free UJS case search. Enter a first name, last name and county to find them.

Charge grades use letters. F stands for felony, M for misdemeanor and S for summary. A number from 1 to 3 follows, and 1 is the heaviest. New filings sometimes post with a delay.

Final charging decisions rest with the District Attorney's Office, 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-3312.

Behind bars, the defendant writes on a request slip that staff then fax to the Public Defender's Office, 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-3316.

• Relatives can speed things up by gathering income papers: pay stubs, a tax return, SSI records or an Access card.
• No income proof means no approval.
• Applicants sign a sworn financial statement (16 P.S. § 9960.1).
• Criminal cases only. Custody and divorce fall outside the office's work.

The county's public defender application page lists required papers. Hiring private counsel remains an option throughout the case.

Face-to-face visits run Tuesdays and Saturdays, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. and 5:30 to 8:00 p.m.

• Before the drive, phone 814-887-2333 about visitor approval, ID and time limits.
• Paid video visits from home are available. Register online, save the username and password, and then pick a slot.
• A short list of items may be dropped off: brand-new white underclothing still in its package, a watch valued under $50 and a wedding ring.

First-time visitors can read our visitation tips.

Officers won't accept money from visitors. Funds go in at the lobby kiosk or online. The Sheriff's Office page also links a web deposit service and the phone provider's friends and family program.

• Have the Inmate ID number and full name ready before you start.
• Never tuck cash into a letter.

Limits and current choices come from the jail at 814-887-2333. Our deposit guide and our commissary page show what the balance buys.

Scanned letters are delivered to people inside on tablets. Phone 814-887-2333 to hear how calling works, what it costs and whether messaging is offered.

Assume a stranger could replay any call placed from the jail. Discuss the case only face to face with the lawyer. Our inmate calling guide and our messaging and email guide describe how these accounts tend to work.

Smethport stopped taking personal mail at the jail. Letters are sent to a mail-scanning center in Arkansas, then shown to the recipient on a tablet. Match the address to the item:

• Personal letters, cards and photos: Jail ATM, McKean County Jail, Inmate ID #, P.O. Box 16120, Jonesboro, AR 72401. Add the recipient's full name and Inmate ID number.
• Legal mail, approved publications and orders shipped by a distributor: McKean County Jail, Inmate Name, 17013 Route 6, Smethport, PA 16749.
• Forms needing a signature and return, for instance custody or divorce papers, are hand-delivered to the jail, where staff inspect them.

Write a return address on each envelope and leave cash out. Our jail mail page explains typical rules.

Belongings taken at booking are kept until the person is released. Collecting them for someone? Phone 814-887-2333 to learn whether the owner must first sign a pickup form. Then show photo ID at 17013 Route 6, Smethport, PA 16749.

That same call can cover any balance still sitting on their account.

Phone the jail at 814-887-2333 without delay if your relative is ill, injured or needs medication. Be ready with the medicine's name and dose, plus the doctor's name and phone.

Every county jail in the state faces a Pennsylvania Department of Corrections inspection no less often than every 24 months, and as often as every 12 (37 Pa. Code Chapter 95). For a true emergency, dial 911, and name a mental health crisis plainly if you suspect one.

The Sheriff's deputies (814-887-3454) deliver bench warrants issued by Common Pleas. Police officers and constables serve other kinds. Lists to search: the Sheriff's warrant list, the Pennsylvania State Police Ten Most Wanted, the District Attorney's warrant page and most wanted page, the FBI's wanted section and the national U.S. Marshals top 15 fugitives list. A phone call to the Sheriff works too. Resolving a warrant means talking with a lawyer, then surrendering at the issuing court or requesting a new date there. Find the Clerk of Courts at 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-3270.

The office holding the file sets the date:

• Magisterial District Court 48-1-01, 22 Davis Street, Bradford, PA 16701, 814-368-4075
• Magisterial District Court 48-3-02, 625 East Water Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-5743
• Magisterial District Court 48-3-04, 116 Fraley Street, Kane, PA 16735, 814-837-7131
• Court of Common Pleas, through Court Administration at 814-887-3323

The free UJS docket search shows scheduled dates and rooms. Our court walkthrough explains every phase.

Federal arrests from here go before the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania at its Erie courthouse, 17 South Park Row, Erie, PA 16501, 814-464-9600.

1. A detention hearing near the case's start settles jail or home before trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Pretrial, the U.S. Marshals Service keeps custody, often at a county jail. The Pittsburgh district office, 412-644-3351, can say which one.
3. After a sentence, search by name or register number with the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

FCI McKean, 6975 Route 59, Lewis Run, PA 16738, 814-362-8900, is a Bureau of Prisons institution for federal sentences.

1. To claim someone, ICE files a detainer with the Smethport staff on Form I-247A.
2. Holding the person is then allowed for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, giving ICE time to collect them (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. A federal appeals court covering this state has ruled (Galarza v. Szalczyk, 3d Cir. 2014): detainers count as requests, and a county that relies on one alone to hold someone may be liable. Each jail therefore follows its own policy, and staff at 814-887-2333 can describe it.
4. After pickup, the ICE Philadelphia Field Office, 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164, oversees the case.
5. Run the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Start with the A-number when you know it. Without one, enter the name and the nation of birth.

State prison usually follows a sentence whose maximum reaches 2 years or more (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). Some people wait in the county jail before the move.

• Everyone entering the state system starts with reception and classification, lasting weeks or months.
• Next comes a prison matched to their security level.
• Use the DOC inmate locator, searching by inmate number or name.
• Pennsylvania Department of Corrections headquarters: 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• Our Pennsylvania prisons section covers mail and visits at each site.

Nobody under 18 is housed at the adult jail. Detained youths go to a juvenile center instead. A juvenile judge takes the matter, and its records are sealed from the public portal (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301). Certain charges move older teens into adult court: murder at age 15 to 17, or certain armed violent offenses at that age.

Juvenile Probation, 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-3365, can help parents find their child and learn the hearing time.

The complaint and the court docket both name the arresting agency. Agencies below are grouped by the district court handling their arrests:

Bradford area, Magisterial District Court 48-1-01

• Bradford City Police Department, 18 Kennedy Street, Bradford, PA 16701, 814-368-6133
• Bradford Township Police, Bradford, 814-362-4640
• Foster Township Police, Bradford, 814-362-4521
• University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Campus Police, 814-368-3211

Smethport, Port Allegany and Eldred area, Magisterial District Court 48-3-02

• Smethport Borough Police, 201 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-5817
• Port Allegany Police Department, 814-642-2604
• Otto-Eldred Regional Police, Duke Center, 814-966-3555

Kane area, Magisterial District Court 48-3-04

• Kane Borough Police, 112 Bayard Street, Kane, PA 16735, 814-837-6440

Countywide and state agencies

• McKean County Sheriff's Office, 814-887-3454, toll-free 888-836-1950
• County Detectives' Bureau, District Attorney's Office, 500 West Main Street, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-3312
• Drug Task Force tip line, 814-887-3310
• Pennsylvania State Police, Troop C, Lewis Run station, 130 Airport Road, Lewis Run, PA 16738, 814-368-9230. Places without a force of their own, such as Mt. Jewett and Lewis Run, generally depend on troopers.
• Fish and Boat Commission officers, 814-359-5250, and Game Commission officers, 570-398-4744
• County 911 Center, 17175 Route 6, Smethport, PA 16749, non-emergency 814-887-4911