Local arrests are held at the regional jail, so its list is the one that counts. Here are the steps:

1. Open the JailTracker page on any device.
2. Type in the surname. Too many matches? Add the first name as well.
3. Tap the best match and read the details shown.
4. Jot down the booking number. Letters and deposits need it.

No luck? Phone 540-245-5420. The lobby at 350 Technology Drive, Staunton, VA 24401, never closes.

Empty results have a handful of causes:

• Still being processed. Intake takes a while.
• A police station. A city or town officer may keep the person there for a while before the jail takes them.
• Back home. They may have gone free on a written promise, a ticket or a bond.
• Another place. They could be in a different locality's jail, or in state hands.
• A different spelling. Try an alias or an old married name.

Staff can look through the jail's own files. Phone 540-245-5420 and spell the surname for them, along with the birthday.

Every adult goes to Middle River Regional Jail, 350 Technology Drive, Staunton, VA 24401, 540-245-5420. The building is in the city of Staunton, a short drive from the courthouse in Verona. A regional jail authority runs it for five places:

• Augusta County
• Staunton
• Waynesboro
• Rockingham County
• Harrisonburg

There is just one building, rated for 396 beds, and a magistrate keeps a desk inside it. Ask the staff which housing unit a person is in. If the arrest happened in some other county or city, phone that Sheriff or police office, since the person may sit there briefly.

When you open a row in the jail's search, look for a picture beside the booking details. To be sure, call the jail. Virginia law orders police and sheriffs to release the photo taken of an adult at intake (Va. Code § 2.2-3706). The one reason to refuse is a felony investigation still under way.

Ask the arresting agency for mugshots. For arrests by deputies, ask the Sheriff's Office, 127 Lee Highway, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5333. Pictures of children stay private.

• To get ICE booking photos, send ICE a public records request through its online records page.
• Federal photos stay private. One exception: the U.S. Marshals Service may release a photo to help catch a fugitive.

VINE is a free alert service. If a person is released or moved from any local or regional lockup or from a state prison, it can phone, text or email you. Register through VINELink or dial 800-467-4943, which answers around the clock.

Alerts can arrive late, so peek at the jail search now and then.

A magistrate rules on bail shortly after booking, day or night. The local office is at 127 Lee Highway, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5015, and another desk sits inside Middle River Regional Jail. The choices are:

• send the person home on a promise to come back,
• an unsecured bond, with no payment due up front,
• a secured bond, which needs cash, land or a bondsman's help, or
• no bond at all.

The state licenses bondsmen. A bondsman takes a fee that runs from ten to fifteen percent, and it is never refunded. If bail is not met, the person goes in front of a district court judge when the court next opens, and that judge can revisit the amount. To learn where and how a bond is paid, phone the jail at 540-245-5420. Our bail page and Virginia bail law summary go deeper.

Jail staff can tell you the charge. For the court file, try the state's free case lookup. It reaches district court criminal and traffic files, Circuit Court files and adult cases from the juvenile and family court. Child cases are kept out of it.

Court clerks will search by name and birthday if you call:

• General District Court, 100 Dick Huff Lane, Suite 1070, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5300
• Circuit Court, 100 Dick Huff Lane, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5321

The prosecutor, called the Commonwealth's Attorney, decides how the case moves ahead. Reach that office at 540-245-5313.

People who can't pay for counsel need to tell the magistrate, or the court at the first appearance. A sworn money statement follows, and the judge rules on eligibility.

The Staunton Public Defender Office, 26 Byers Street, Staunton, VA 24401, 540-332-7845, serves this part of the Valley. If a conflict keeps that office out of the case, the judge picks a private attorney who takes court appointments. Families may also hire their own.

Visits take place over video screens at the jail. The public can no longer book a face-to-face meeting. The steps are:

• One visit of 15 minutes each week costs nothing.
• Register on SmartJailMail at least a day ahead.
• Carry a photo ID.

Details shift, so ring 540-245-5420 before leaving home. Our visitation help page adds more.

A kiosk in the lobby at 350 Technology Drive, Staunton, VA 24401, takes deposits. The Accounts page on the jail's website names other options. A money order may be brought to that street address with "Inmate Accounts" written on it. Cash must never be mailed.

Keep the legal name and booking number close. Questions go to 540-245-5420. Two guides here give details: one on deposit methods and one on commissary buying. Commissary orders here run through SecurePak.

Phone 540-245-5420 to ask how the person can contact you, the price of calls, and whether texts or messages exist. Ask if calls are taped. Avoid chatting about the case on the line, and save those details for a lawyer.

Our guides to jail phones and inmate email explain more.

Letters pass through an outside mail center. Put this on the front of the envelope:

Inmate Name, Inmate Booking#
Smart Communications / Middle River Regional Jail-VA
PO Box 9179
Seminole, FL 33775-9174

That layout comes from the jail's mail page. Ask at 540-245-5420 what items are allowed. Our mail page lists general rules.

Clothes and personal items taken at intake are kept in the jail's storage until the person goes home. Call 540-245-5420 to ask what to bring and whether a signed form is needed. The office keeps weekday hours of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., while the lobby at 350 Technology Drive, Staunton, VA 24401, stays open day and night. Carry photo ID.

Phone 540-245-5420 and ask for health services. Have each drug's name, dose and prescriber ready. A written sick-call request filed by the person also helps.

Life-threatening trouble means 911. Mention any mental health crisis as soon as someone answers.

The Sheriff's Office, 540-245-5333, serves warrants outside city and town limits. Staunton and Waynesboro city police, and the town police departments listed in the last answer, handle their own areas, so phone and ask. To check a case, ask the General District Court clerk at 540-245-5300 or the Circuit Court clerk at 540-245-5321, or search the state's case lookup. Before you deal with a warrant, speak to an attorney. Afterward, speak with the clerk at the court behind it. Both clerks work from 100 Dick Huff Lane, Verona, VA 24482.

Contact the court handling the file. All three courts share one address, the courthouse at 100 Dick Huff Lane, Verona, VA 24482:

• General District Court (misdemeanors, traffic, early felony steps), Suite 1070, 540-245-5300
• Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, Suite 2141, 540-245-5306
• Circuit Court (felony trials and appeals), 540-245-5321

The courts left Staunton for Verona in June 2026, so older letters may show the wrong place. The online case system can help too. The court guide explains the stages that follow.

Cases under federal law from here are filed in Harrisonburg, at the Western District of Virginia's courthouse, 116 N. Main Street, Room 314, Harrisonburg, VA 22802, 540-434-3181.

1. At the first hearing a federal judge chooses release or detention (18 U.S.C. § 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals Service oversees where federal detainees stay, and some are placed in local or regional jails. Its Harrisonburg office is at 116 North Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22802, 540-574-3056.
3. Once a federal sentence begins, use the BOP inmate locator, which searches by name or register number.

Here is the typical sequence:

1. Form I-247A is ICE's detainer paperwork. ICE gives it to a jail when it wants a particular person.
2. Under federal rules, ICE can request that a jail keep a person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. The ICE Online Detainee Locator accepts the name and the country of origin.
4. No match? Phone the ICE Washington Field Office, 14797 Murdock Street, Chantilly, VA 20151, 703-633-2100.

Virginia's detainer rules have been in motion during 2026, so ask the jail how it treats them. A directive dated February 2026 cancels the 287(g) deals that state agencies had with ICE. It covers state agencies only.

Following a state prison sentence, a person can remain at Middle River until the Department of Corrections has room. The VADOC locator accepts a name or a DOC ID, refreshes daily, and includes people housed in local or regional jails under state authority.

For questions, the state agency answers at 804-674-3000. We also have a page on Virginia state prisons.

A child is not placed in the adult jail. The Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, 100 Dick Huff Lane, Suite 2141, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5306, takes the case. A juvenile intake officer in the 25th court service unit, 100 Dick Huff Lane, Suite 2101, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5315, reviews the complaint.

If a child must be held, it is at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Detention Home, 300 Technology Drive, Staunton, VA 24401, 540-886-0729. A magistrate, a judge or an intake officer can sign that order.

No county police department exists here. These agencies cover the area:

• Sheriff's Office, 127 Lee Highway, Verona, VA 24482, 540-245-5333. Its deputies work the unincorporated areas, such as Fishersville, Stuarts Draft and Weyers Cave.
• Craigsville Police Department, 18 Hidy Street, Craigsville, VA 24430, 540-997-5935
• Grottoes Police Department, 601 Dogwood Avenue, Grottoes, VA 24441, 540-249-5707. Most of Grottoes lies in Rockingham County.
• Virginia State Police, Division Three, 240 Third Division Loop, Appomattox, VA 24522, 434-352-7128. Troopers patrol Interstates 64 and 81 here.

Staunton and Waynesboro run their own police. People they arrest are also booked at Middle River.