The Sheriff's website points families to a tool shared across Virginia. This routine works best:

1. Pull up the custody lookup on whatever device you have.
2. Put in last name, then first name, as written on an ID card.
3. A long list of hits calls for a birth year to shrink it.
4. Check the status line for held-or-released and the site.
5. Copy any booking or ID number, which helps staff pull the file fast.

Still stuck? Dial 703-746-5000 before 6 p.m.

Blank results show up often during the first day. Consider these causes:

• Paperwork in progress. Fingerprints and records take time.
• At a precinct. A person can sit in a police station cell for a short stretch before the ride to Mill Road.
• Given a summons. Some people go home with a paper telling them when to show up.
• Already out. A magistrate may have approved a signed promise or posted bond.
• Elsewhere. The person might sit in a different jurisdiction's cell or in state hands.
• Name trouble. Try nicknames, double last names or a name from a marriage.

Evenings and nights, use the after-hours number 703-746-5050. During the day, call 703-746-5000.

The city runs a single adult jail, named for William G. Truesdale and located at 2001 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314. Our detention bureau page lists more facts, and the main line is 703-746-5000.

• About 300 people are counted inside, by the Sheriff.
• Pretrial defendants and people with short local sentences live there.
• State inmates and federal inmates are housed there as well.
• No annex, work release unit or regional jail turned up in the city's records.

If the arrest happened in another locality, that locality's own jail has the person. Look through our Virginia jail directory. Minors are taken elsewhere, as the youth answer explains.

The city's lookup does not say that it carries mugshots, so plan to ask for one. Under Virginia's open records act, police and sheriffs must hand over adult photos shot at intake, except when sharing would hurt a felony probe still underway. Children's pictures stay private.

• Request an adult photo from the Sheriff at 703-746-4114 or from city police at 703-746-4444.
• A photo kept by ICE must be requested at its records request page.
• No federal booking photos are given out. The one exception is a fugitive photo the U.S. Marshals Service may choose to share.

VINE costs nothing. It pings you by call, message or email once a person is let out or sent to a new place. It works for local and regional jails and for the state prison system, and it also shows custody status.

• Sign up on the VINELink site.
• Or phone 800-467-4943, which answers around the clock.

The Sheriff's office points families toward this service. A call to the jail still helps when you need a human answer.

After booking, a magistrate sets the terms, at any hour. The magistrate's office is in the Public Safety Center, 2001 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-746-4515. Choices include a signed promise to come back, a bond with nothing due up front, or a bond backed by cash, land equity or a bondsman.

• Release is the rule unless probable cause points to flight or real danger (Va. Code § 19.2-120).
• Terms can add curfews, drug screens, ankle monitors or a ban on contacting the accuser (Va. Code § 19.2-123).
• If a bondsman posts it, the state caps the fee between 10 and 15 percent, and nothing comes back.

A judge reviews the terms the next day court sits, and a motion to change them must be heard within three business days. Ask the jail how to pay. Details are in our bail guide, with the law itself on the Virginia bail statutes page.

The jail can read you the charge at 703-746-5000. Once a court opens the case, Virginia's court records search shows traffic and criminal matters from General District Court and adult criminal matters from family court. It leaves out juvenile files.

Felony files in Circuit Court are handled by that clerk, 703-746-4044. Bring the birthday along.

The city's prosecutor, the Commonwealth's Attorney, works at 520 King Street, Suite 301, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-746-4100. That office chooses the final charges.

A person without money for counsel can raise it with the magistrate or when they first appear in court. The judge looks over a form on income and assets, signed under oath, and then decides (Va. Code § 19.2-159).

• The city's public defender office is at 132 North Royal Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-746-4477.
• If a conflict keeps that office out, the judge picks a private attorney from the Indigent Defense Commission's roster.
• You can retain your own lawyer at any time.

Before counsel arrives, the person should ask for one and avoid discussing the facts.

Family visits run over secure video. The Sheriff explains how on its family visitation page, and our visiting guide adds tips.

Phone 703-746-5000 to learn the schedule, who may book and which ID is needed. Policies change, so confirm first.

Deposits pay for snacks, soap and phone time. The Sheriff takes money orders at the Visitor Center around the clock, and online deposits run through Access Corrections for a fee.

Ring 703-746-5000 to get the Visitor Center's street address and today's limits. Our deposit guide and store guide explain more. Keep cash out of the mail.

Smart Communications runs the inmate phones. The jail accepts no incoming calls for residents, so the person must dial you. To open an account or learn the rates, call Smart Communications at 888-253-5178.

Expect that calls are taped, so save the case talk for the attorney. In a true family emergency, reach the control center at 703-746-4099. Our phone calling help and email and text help go deeper.

Personal letters pass through Smart Communications in Florida. Print the address exactly:

Inmate Name #Inmate Number
Alexandria Detention Center
P.O. Box 9200
Seminole, FL 33775-9200

An attorney's legal mail goes to the Alexandria Adult Detention Center, 2001 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314. Ring 703-746-5000 about allowed items, and write your own return address. Our letter guide has more.

The inmate has to give written permission before anyone collects things. Inmate property can be reached at 703-746-5043 for the process. The jail sits at 2001 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314. Carry a photo ID.

Whatever was taken at booking generally stays in storage until release, so ask what applies to your situation.

Call 703-746-5000 to reach medical staff. Offer the name, the condition, any prescription and the doctor's name if you have it.

The person can file a sick-call request with a deputy. For danger to life, dial 911. If their state of mind worries you, tell the staff at once.

Serving warrants falls to deputies in the Sheriff's field operations bureau and by city officers. Whether one exists can be asked of the Sheriff at 703-746-4114 or city police at 703-746-4444. To look at a case, phone the General District Court criminal clerk, 703-746-4030, or try Virginia's online case lookup. A lawyer can advise on clearing it, and the court that issued the paper has to be contacted too. Stop by the clerk at the courthouse. The office is on the Second Floor at 520 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314.

One building holds every local court: the Backus Courthouse, 520 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314. Clerks answer weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

• General District, Second Floor: 703-746-4030 for crime and 703-746-4041 for traffic.
• Family and youth court, First Floor: 703-746-4141.
• Circuit clerk, Room 307: 703-746-4044.

Our hearing guide maps the stages.

For federal cases, the city falls under the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division. The building is the Bryan federal courthouse, 401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, VA 22314, and the clerk answers at 703-299-2101.

1. An early detention hearing decides between custody and release (18 U.S.C. § 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals, at the same address, 703-837-5500, are responsible for pretrial prisoners.
3. The federal defender sits at 1650 King Street, Suite 500, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-600-0800.
4. After sentencing, search the federal prison locator.

Some federal detainees stay in the Mill Road jail, so ask there as well.

The usual sequence goes like this:

1. Mill Road staff get ICE's request to keep the person, written on Form I-247A and called a detainer.
2. Federal rules let staff extend custody up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. ICE picks the person up and sends them on.
4. Check the ICE Online Detainee Locator searching under the legal name and birthplace, or under the A-number printed on immigration papers.
5. Nothing there? The ICE Washington Field Office takes calls at 14797 Murdock Street, Chantilly, VA 20151, 703-633-2100.

A February 2026 directive from the governor ended 287(g) deals, but only for state agencies. Virginia's detainer rules are in flux in 2026, so ask the jail what it follows today.

A person with a prison term goes first to a reception stop run by the Virginia Department of Corrections, which sorts people by need and picks the prison. Until a bed opens, they may stay at the city jail.

• Search a name or DOC number in the VADOC locator, refreshed daily.
• The department's main line is 804-674-3000.
• Our state prison page covers visits and mail.

No child is booked into the adult jail. Whether a child is held rests with a judge, an intake officer or a magistrate, and the case is sent to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations court, 520 King Street, First Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-746-4141.

A held youth is sent to the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center, 200 South Whiting Street, Alexandria, VA 22304, 703-751-3700. Complaints start at the Court Service Unit, 520 King Street, First Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-746-4144. Youth photos and files are not public.

No separate towns exist inside the city limits, so only a few agencies matter:

• City police, 3600 Wheeler Avenue, Alexandria, VA 22304, non-emergency 703-746-4444, covering every neighborhood.
• Sheriff's Office, 2003 Mill Road, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-746-4114, which runs the jail, guards the courthouse and serves warrants.
• Virginia State Police, Division Seven, 4977 Alliance Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, 703-803-2660, whose troopers patrol highways here.

The paperwork from the arrest names the agency. Call it to ask about the person.