A phone browser works fine for this:

1. Load the official inmate lookup on your screen.
2. Enter the last name, and after it the first. Lots of hits for a common name? Narrow it with a birth date or an age, where the form allows.
3. Choose the matching record. Look at 2 things: custody status and the facility listed.
4. Copy down any booking or ID number. With that number, staff pull a file quicker, and letters need the Inmate ID # on the envelope.
5. Still in doubt, the Warden's office answers at 814-723-2486. A second county line, 814-723-7553, is shared with the Sheriff.

PA SAVIN, reached through VINELink, also reports custody across Pennsylvania's county jails and state prisons.

An empty result almost never means someone disappeared. Common reasons:

• Booking not finished. Intake means fingerprints, a picture and paperwork, and the listing waits for all of it. The county budget lists a Central Booking unit, so ask the prison how far along intake is.
• Sitting at a station. City officers may briefly hold someone at their department, 318 West Third Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-2700.
• Released already. A district judge may have let the person go at arraignment, or bail got paid.
• Transferred. State prison, the U.S. Marshals or a different county could have them now.
• Typed differently. Try a middle name, maiden name, nickname or alternate spelling.
• Under 18. Teens go into juvenile detention, which adult records leave out.

To settle it, dial 814-723-2486.

Just one jail serves the county, at 407 Market St., Warren, PA 16365. Its Department of Corrections rating is 139 beds. During August 2025 the daily count averaged about 99, with 18 women in that month's tally, so both men and women live here. Staff place each person in one of these spots:

• B-Block, C-Block, D-Block or E-Block
• 2-Dorm or 3-Dorm
• RHU MIN or RHU MAX
• an isolation cell (B, C, D or E side, or cells 136 and 137)
• Detox

Unit assignments are up to the prison, and staff can tell you where your person landed. A Lieutenant also serves as work release coordinator, so questions about work release go to that same office number.

Arrests close to a county border sometimes end up at one of these instead:

• Erie County Prison, 1618 Ash Street, Erie, PA 16503, 814-451-7500
• Crawford County Correctional Facility, 2100 Independence Drive, Saegertown, PA 16433, 814-763-1190
• Venango County Prison, 1186 Elk Street, Franklin, PA 16323, 814-432-9629
• McKean County Jail, 17013 Route 6, Smethport, PA 16749, 814-887-2333

Pennsylvania has no single answer here. Each county decides, and recent court rulings have shifted things, so a photo might be released or might not. Reporters and other people can ask the Warden's office at 814-723-2486, or ask the police department behind the arrest.

• ICE photos: use ICE's records request form.
• Federal agencies tend to keep photos to themselves, though the Marshals Service may put out a fugitive's picture.

PCCD pays for PA SAVIN, so families use it free. It follows state parolees too, along with anyone in a county jail or state prison. Register at VINELink, in its phone app, or by calling 866-972-7284 (TTY 866-847-1298).

• Notices come by phone, text or email, whichever you choose, after a release, a transfer or an escape.
• People staff the phones day and night.
• Signing up is confidential, and nobody tells the person held.
• For people in state prison or on state parole, more choices are on a victim advocate page run by the state.

Nobody gets enrolled automatically, so register yourself if you want updates.

A magisterial district judge (MDJ) decides release at the preliminary arraignment. That usually happens within hours of booking. Nights and weekends, an on-call MDJ handles it, often over video from the prison. Under Pa. Const. art. I, § 14, nearly every accused person may be bailed, and Pa.R.Crim.P. 524 lists 5 release types, running from a written promise to appear all the way to money bail.

• Weekday payments go to the 3 MDJ offices or to the Clerk of Courts, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3440.
• MDJ counters accept cash, a check or a money order.
• To post after hours, phone the prison, 814-723-2486, and ask what to do.

Read about bail amounts, refunds and bond agents on our bail page.

After police file a complaint, charges appear free on the UJS Web Portal. Pick Warren as the county and search a name, or enter the docket number. Each count on the docket sheet shows a grade:

• F1, F2, F3: felonies, F1 being worst
• M1, M2, M3: misdemeanors
• S: summary offenses, the lowest level

Counts can change. Once a case clears the preliminary hearing, prosecutors file a document known as the information, and it may add or remove charges. Reach the District Attorney at 204 4th Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3460.

People who can't afford a lawyer can get one from the Public Defender's Office in the courthouse, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3435.

1. Print out the public defender application. Answer everything, because incomplete forms come back.
2. Someone behind bars skips the household income part, which only applies to people not in custody.
3. The office needs it in hand 5 or more days ahead of the preliminary hearing date.
4. Attach whatever court papers the person was handed.

The office checks income against federal poverty limits. Hiring a private lawyer is fine too, and an attorney books visits by phoning the prison office.

Visiting happens in person on Market Street, with each housing unit given its own time slot. The prison's rules:

• You must already appear on that person's approved visitor list.
• Check in 10 minutes early and show photo ID.
• A minor visitor comes with a parent or guardian and must be the inmate's child, stepchild or grandchild.
• Former inmates of this prison wait 1 full year after release before visiting.
• No phones, cameras, smoking or foul language. Dress modestly. Staff can pat down a visitor suspected of carrying contraband.

Weekly slots (Wednesday has none):

• Monday: 3-Dorm bunks 407 to 412, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.
• Tuesday: B-Block, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.
• Thursday: B, C and E isolation cells, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
• Friday: RHU MIN, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.; isolation cell 137, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m.
• Saturday: RHU MAX, 8 to 9 a.m.; cell 136, 9 to 10 a.m.; Detox, 10 to 11 a.m.; D isolation, 11 a.m. to noon; D-Block, 1 to 4 p.m.; E-Block, 4 to 5 p.m. and 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
• Sunday: C-Block, 8 to 11 a.m.; 2-Dorm, 1 to 5 p.m.; 3-Dorm bunks 401 to 406, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

An emergency can cut a visit short. More pointers sit in our visiting guide.

There are 2 ways to add money. Online, open an account on the deposit company's site, choose this facility and pay with a credit card. In person, use the lobby kiosk at 407 Market St., Warren, PA 16365, which takes cash or credit cards.

That balance buys commissary, tablet items and calls. Questions about limits, or a deposit that never showed, go to 814-723-2486.

Clothing follows a separate rule. During the first 14 days only, a person may get 3 pairs of white socks, 3 white T-shirts with no pocket, 3 pairs of white underwear and 3 white bras without wire, ordered only from the prison's online canteen ordering site. From day 15 on, clothes come through commissary alone. Deposits are explained further in our money guide. Snacks, hygiene items and the like are in a separate commissary guide.

Calls go through a prepaid phone service. Relatives can fund a prepaid account, and the person inside can use a debit phone account. That service's Customer Care line, 888-506-8407, is staffed 24 hours. Prepaid phone money pays for calls and nothing else.

Tablets are in use too. Scanned letters arrive on them, and tablet purchases come out of the inmate account. For what else they offer, ask at 814-723-2486.

Assume calls get recorded, and save case talk for visits with the attorney. For deeper reading, try our jail phone guide, and for electronic notes, our messaging page.

Personal letters skip the prison entirely. A scanning company in Arkansas receives them, uploads each page to the person's tablet and destroys the paper. Write your full name and full address as the return address, then address the envelope exactly this way:

Warren County Jail, Inmate Name & Inmate ID #, PO Box 16060, Jonesboro, AR 72403

• Letters have no limit, either way.
• Originals get shredded, so hold on to any photo you can't replace.
• Books must ship directly from a publisher or distributor.
• Rejected: stickers, stamps, Polaroids, food, anything metal, anything over 8.5 by 11 inches, and sexually explicit or hateful content.

Attorneys sending legal mail should phone 814-723-2486 for the correct address. General tips are in our mail guide.

Wallets, keys, phones and similar booking property get stored until release day. To arrange a pickup, or to find out how leftover account money gets paid back, phone 814-723-2486 in the daytime. Carry photo ID to 407 Market St., Warren, PA 16365, and phone ahead to learn if the person must sign you in as the pickup.

Leave clothing at home. New clothes only come through the online canteen site in the first 14 days, and through commissary afterward.

Care for everyone held is the Warden's and staff's job, and the prison uses a contract pharmacy. For an illness, an injury or a medicine taken every day, phone 814-723-2486 right away. Keep the drug, dose and prescribing doctor's number handy.

True emergencies call for 911. Once someone is home, Forest-Warren Human Services, 285 Hospital Drive, Warren, PA 16365, 814-726-2100, offers forensic case management to residents who have been through the justice system.

Sheriff's deputies chase Common Pleas bench warrants. Every other warrant goes to local officers or constables. The Sheriff's Office sits in the courthouse, 204 4th Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-7553. Wanted lists online: PSP Ten Most Wanted (tips at 800-472-8477), FBI Wanted, and the Marshals' top 15 fugitives. Bench warrants also appear as events on the UJS docket, and the Clerk of Courts, 814-728-3440, can confirm one. To clear it, speak with the public defender or a private lawyer first. After that, go in to the judge whose court signed the warrant, or ask that judge for a fresh date.

Start on the person's docket at the UJS Web Portal. It lists each scheduled event and its courtroom, though new entries can lag a bit.

• Every preliminary hearing happens at Central Court inside the courthouse, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365. The notice gives the time.
• Common Pleas dates: the Clerk of Courts, 814-728-3440.
• The court calendar: Court Administration, 814-728-3530.

Our court guide describes each stage.

Federal prosecutions arising here land at the Erie Courthouse, 17 South Park Row, Erie, PA 16501, 814-464-9600, part of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

1. Soon after arrest comes a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142). The outcome decides release or jail until trial.
2. Custody before sentencing belongs to the Marshals Service, 700 Grant Street, Room 2360, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, 412-644-3351. Its staff can say what jail is housing the person.
3. After a sentence, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator, with a name or register number. It covers anyone held since 1982.

1. A detainer, on ICE Form I-247A, may be sent to the prison.
2. That form asks for a hold up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Galarza v. Szalczyk (3d Cir. 2014) treats each detainer as a request. Under it, a county jail that keeps someone past release based on nothing more than that paper may owe damages. Policies differ by jail, so ask this one at 814-723-2486.
4. Pennsylvania falls under ICE's Philadelphia Field Office, 114 N. 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. When ICE takes custody, check the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

Someone given a state sentence can stay on Market Street a while before the move. In August 2025, 9 people there carried state prison sentences.

• Everyone sentenced to state time passes through reception and classification first. Getting assigned a long-term prison may take weeks, sometimes months.
• The DOC inmate locator names where the person is now.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections central office is at 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• Each state prison's visiting rules appear in our Pennsylvania state prisons guide.

Minors aren't sent to the Market Street prison. Their cases run through Juvenile Probation, 204 Fourth Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3500, and any holding happens at a juvenile detention center. That office can name the center and the hearing date.

The UJS portal leaves juvenile records out (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301 and following). Murder charges change that. Teens of 15 and up facing one begin in adult court, and so do teens that age accused of certain violent felonies named in the statute where a deadly weapon was involved.

Not sure who arrested your person? The prison can tell you at 814-723-2486. Agencies working here:

• City of Warren Police Department, 318 West Third Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-2700. Its cases go to MDJ 37-2-01.
• Conewango Township Police Department, 4 Fireman St., Warren, PA 16365, 814-726-0725. Its cases go to MDJ 37-3-01.
• Youngsville Borough Police Department, non-emergency 814-563-3500. Its cases go to MDJ 37-4-01.
• Pennsylvania State Police, Troop E, 22001 Route 6, Warren, PA 16365, 814-728-3600. Troopers patrol each borough and township lacking a local force.
• Pennsylvania State Police, Troop C, 485 N Findley Street, Punxsutawney, PA 15767, 814-938-0510. This troop handles the slice of Mead Township between the New York line, the McKean County line and the Allegheny Reservoir.
• Sheriff's Office, 204 4th Avenue, Warren, PA 16365, 814-723-7553. Deputies serve papers and warrants, secure the courthouse and transport prisoners.
• Department of Public Safety (911 center), 100 Dillon Drive, Youngsville, PA 16371, 814-563-2220. In an emergency, dial 911.