Anyone can open the roster; the jail buys the software behind it. Here is the routine:

1. Go to the jail's inmate roster using any device.
2. Put in the surname. If dozens of people share it, add the given name.
3. Read the row for custody status and location.
4. If nothing shows, test a nickname or another spelling.
5. Write down what the row says, then phone the jail to confirm.

If the roster will not load, phone 804-333-6419. The front office is staffed Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

No match is not always bad news. Common reasons include:

• Booking is not done. The paperwork and fingerprints take time.
• A police lockup came first. The person may sit at a station before transport to the jail.
• Released. A magistrate may have approved a bond or accepted the person's own pledge to show up later, or a relative may have paid.
• Sent home with a ticket. Some people receive a paper summons and are never booked.
• Another jail. An arrest made across the line in a neighboring locality sends the person to that locality's jail.
• A state hold. The person may be in the Department of Corrections system.

Ask the jail, 804-333-6419, to check by name and birth date.

The county does not run a lockup of its own. Its adult inmates stay at the Northern Neck Regional Jail, 3908 Richmond Road, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-6419. The jail sits in Warsaw, the county seat, so a family does not need to travel to another town.

A regional jail is run by a board of several localities. This one serves Richmond County, Westmoreland County, Northumberland County, Gloucester County and the Town of Warsaw. It opened in 1995 and has room for 460 people.

• Main jail building: holds pretrial and sentenced adults from the member localities.
• Annex, women's unit or work release: the jail's own website names none. Phone the jail to ask where a woman, a low-risk inmate or a work-release inmate would sleep.
• Magistrate's office: located inside the same building. It is where bail is decided.

Someone arrested outside the area goes to that area's jail. Find those on our Virginia jails list. Later answers explain federal, ICE and state prison custody.

The roster focuses on custody status and location. Open a row and check if it carries a mugshot. If you want one and the roster has none, contact the arresting agency.

Virginia's public records law lets you request adult booking photos taken at intake from the police or the sheriff. If handing over a photo would get in the way of an active felony probe, the agency may refuse (Va. Code § 2.2-3706). Minors' photos are always kept private.

• Sheriff's Office, 106 Wallace Street, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-3611
• Warsaw Police Department, 804-333-3737
• For ICE booking photos, use the online FOIA page at ICE.
• Federal agencies keep their booking photos private, except that the U.S. Marshals Service may release one in a fugitive search.

VINE costs nothing. You pick phone, text or email, and VINE reaches you when the person is let go or moved among local, regional or state facilities. It also shows custody status and location.

• Search at VINELink.
• Or call 800-467-4943, any hour of the day or night.
• Sign up for alerts on the person's name. They are not automatic.

You can also check the jail's roster each day. Alerts can lag, so the surest way to confirm a release is to phone the jail.

The first bail call belongs to a magistrate, shortly after booking. This office is in the jail building at 3908 Richmond Road, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-6023. Walk-in hours are short, so video links to other magistrates in the district handle the remaining hours.

Three outcomes are common. The person promises in writing to return, signs a bond that costs nothing now, or puts up a bond covered by cash, land or a bail agent's backing. Release is the starting point under Va. Code § 19.2-120; refusal needs probable cause of flight from the court date or of danger to others. Conditions can include distance from the complainant or random drug screens.

• A person who is not released appears before a judge the next day the court meets. That judge looks at bail again and offers counsel.
• By law a bondsman asks for a premium of 10 to 15 percent, paid once and never handed back.
• To learn when and where a bond can be paid, call the jail at 804-333-6419.

For more, read our bail page, or see the Virginia bail laws page for state rules.

Jail staff, 804-333-6419, can give the charge entered at booking. Once the case reaches a court, its file holds more detail.

• Virginia's courts run the Online Case Information System. Cases in the system come from General District Court (traffic and criminal), adult criminal files in JDR, and every Circuit Court. Child cases never show.
• General and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts, 201 Court Circle, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-4616
• Circuit Court clerk, 101 Court Circle, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-3781
• Commonwealth's Attorney, who prosecutes: 116 Wallace Street, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-3573

Before calling a clerk, write down the person's name and birthday.

At that first hearing, a judge informs the person that counsel is a right. No state public defender office covers this county. If money is the problem, the judge names a private attorney off the state's approved roster (Va. Code § 19.2-159).

1. The person explains that paying for an attorney is not possible.
2. A sworn statement of income and savings is filled in.
3. The judge decides who qualifies.

The district court clerk can explain the form. Call 804-333-4616. Relatives may also pay a lawyer they pick themselves.

All visits are done by video, with none in person. Connect from your own device, or sit at a lobby kiosk at the jail, 3908 Richmond Road, Warsaw, VA 22572. The jail uses Securus for the video service.

• Book your visit at least 24 hours ahead.
• Wait for the jail to approve it.
• Log in a few minutes early.

Questions go to the jail at 804-333-6419. Our visiting guide answers more questions.

The jail points families to JailATM. You can deposit online or by phone. A kiosk in the jail lobby, 3908 Richmond Road, Warsaw, VA 22572, takes cash or a card.

Money orders for an inmate go by mail to the legal-mail box: Northern Neck Regional Jail, P.O. Box 1060, Warsaw, VA 22572. Write the person's name and jail jacket number on it. Never send cash. Our money guide and commissary guide list what the money can buy.

Calls only go out. The person in custody dials you, and you cannot call in. Fund a prepaid account with the phone company the jail uses, then register your number. The jail tapes these calls, so go over the charge with a lawyer in person instead.

For rates, tablets, texts or email, call the jail at 804-333-6419. Our phone calls guide and messaging guide explain more.

Personal letters are mailed to an outside scanning center instead of the jail. Use this format:

• The person's full name and jail jacket number
• Northern Neck Regional Jail (VA), care of Securus DMC
• Mailing address: P.O. Box 22168, Tampa, FL 33622

Write your own return address in full on the outside. A lawyer's legal mail goes to another address: P.O. Box 1060, Warsaw, VA 22572. Ask the jail what items are allowed. See our mail guide for tips.

Items the person carried in are stored and returned at release. Cash left on the account can be picked up on weekdays during business hours. Call 804-250-1750 with questions about this.

Take photo ID with you to the jail at 3908 Richmond Road, Warsaw, VA 22572. If a friend will pick things up for the person, ask the jail if they must bring a signed release.

Call the jail's main line, 804-333-6419. Ask for the medical staff, and tell them the drug, the daily amount, and the prescriber's phone if you know it. Tell them about allergies or past heart, diabetes or mental health trouble.

Inside, the person can submit a written health request as well. Call 911 for an emergency.

Deputies at the Sheriff's Office, 804-333-3611, handle county warrants. Town of Warsaw officers, 804-333-3737, handle warrants inside town limits. Ring the correct office with a full name and birthday, and staff will say what is on file. To check a case, search the state's case information system or phone the district court clerk, 804-333-4616. Before trying to clear a warrant, get legal advice. After that, deal with the court that issued it. The district clerk's office is at 201 Court Circle, Warsaw, VA 22572.

Contact the court holding the case:

• General and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Courts: 201 Court Circle, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-4616. The clerk answers from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Misdemeanors, traffic cases, felony first hearings and children's cases all begin here.
• Circuit Court: 101 Court Circle, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-3781. Felony trials, jury trials and appeals are here.

Searching the name in the state's case system also works. Our court page describes each stage.

Federal charges arising here are filed in Richmond, where the federal courthouse for this area stands at 701 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219, 804-916-2200.

1. Soon after the first appearance, the judge may hold a detention hearing and decide whether the defendant waits for trial in jail (18 U.S.C. § 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals Service oversees federal detainees until trial, and plenty of them stay in local jails. Call the Richmond Marshals at 701 East Broad Street, Suite 2800, Richmond, VA 23219, 804-545-8501.
3. When there is no money for counsel, a federal defender may be assigned: 701 East Broad Street, Room 3600, Richmond, VA 23219, 804-343-0800.
4. Following sentencing, find the person through the BOP inmate locator.

A typical case works in this order:

1. A detainer, written on Form I-247A, arrives from ICE.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail can keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. ICE agents then collect the person.
4. Search by A-number in the ICE Online Detainee Locator, or by name plus country of origin.
5. Still nothing? Try the Washington Field Office of ICE at 14797 Murdock Street, Chantilly, VA 20151, 703-633-2100. It covers Virginia and Washington, D.C.

A lawyer can say which detainer rules apply, because Virginia's law on them is shifting in 2026. In February 2026, the governor's office ordered state agencies out of their 287(g) partnerships with ICE, and the order reaches no one but state agencies.

Once a prison term is ordered, the person may remain in the Warsaw jail while VADOC finds a bed. At a state reception center they are tested and sorted, then sent to a prison that fits them.

• The VADOC inmate locator takes either a person's name or the DOC number, with fresh data every day. A few people still in local jails but under VADOC control show up too.
• The Department of Corrections main line is 804-674-3000.
• See our guide to Virginia state prisons for prison visits, mail and money.

Adult cells are off limits to children. Only a magistrate, a judge or juvenile intake staff can order a child into a juvenile detention center. Hearings happen in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations court at 201 Court Circle, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-4616. No juvenile center operates in the county.

The center for this county is the Merrimac Juvenile Detention Center, 9300 Merrimac Trail, Williamsburg, VA 23185, 757-887-0225. The 15th District Court Service Unit handles intake and keeps an office in Warsaw. Its main line in Fredericksburg is 540-372-1068. A lawyer is a child's right as well. Juvenile photos and records are not public.

Several agencies work in the area. Ask the one that made the arrest about the report and the booking photo.

• Sheriff's Office, 106 Wallace Street, Warsaw, VA 22572, 804-333-3611. It is the main police agency everywhere outside the Town of Warsaw, including Sharps, Farnham, Haynesville and Emmerton.
• Warsaw Police Department, Town of Warsaw, non-emergency 804-333-3737.
• Virginia State Police, Division One, 2434 Pine Forest Drive, Colonial Heights, VA 23834, 804-609-5500. Troopers patrol the highways here. The statewide field operations line is 804-674-2088.

No college or campus police force is listed for the county.