The Roanoke County Sheriff's Office runs this search, and the same office runs the jail that books Salem arrests. Here is the routine from start to finish:

1. Visit the inmate search using a browser.
2. Enter a surname first; a given name trims a long list.
3. You may also filter by booking number, by a range of booking dates or by in-custody status, which hides anyone already gone.
4. Click the best match to read its booking details and first charge. Later edits to a charge are kept in the court file.
5. Jot down the booking number, because staff can open the file fast once you read it aloud.

The regional jail answers its own line, 540-378-3700. Ask whether it holds the person. The VINE answer further down offers one more check.

Zero results often turn up during the first hours. Here are the likely reasons:

• Paperwork under way. Fingerprinting and forms take time before a name shows.
• Sent home already. Sometimes an officer hands over a summons and no jail stay follows. A magistrate can also let the person walk out on a written pledge or a bond.
• Held somewhere else. The regional jail or a neighboring locality may have them.
• Name variations. Try nicknames like Bob for Robert, a middle name the person goes by or a surname from marriage.
• Minor. Anyone under 18 goes elsewhere than the adult cells.

The jail docket line, 540-283-3162, can search the name for you. The magistrate's office is another option: 401 East Main Street, Room 171, Salem, VA 24153, 540-387-6092.

Salem runs no jail of its own. Three places are worth a call:

• Roanoke County-Salem Jail, 401 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-283-3145. The county describes it as temporary supervised housing, a fit for fresh bookings and people awaiting a hearing. It stands inside Salem, near the courthouses.
• Western Virginia Regional Jail, 5885 West River Road, Salem, VA 24153, 540-378-3700. The jail's quick links name five localities: Franklin County, Montgomery County, Roanoke County, Roanoke city and Salem. Other JE pages say it takes longer stays. Most guests visit by video.
• Roanoke City Adult Detention Center, 324 Campbell Avenue SW, Roanoke, VA 24016, 540-853-6777. The Roanoke City Sheriff's Office runs it. It matters mainly if the arrest took place in Roanoke.

A person with a state prison sentence may wait in a local jail until a bed opens. The prison answer below has details.

Click any name in the inmate search and look for a picture on the record. When there is none, you may still ask for one. Under Va. Code § 2.2-3706, law enforcement agencies release adult photos shot at intake. The exception covers cases where release could damage an active felony probe.

• For a city arrest, phone the Salem Police Department, 36 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3078.
• For a jail booking photo, phone the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office, 401 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-283-3102.
• Booking photos of minors remain sealed.
• Photos held by ICE come through a separate route, the ICE records page.
• Nobody outside government can get a federal mugshot, with one carve-out: the U.S. Marshals Service sometimes shares a picture of someone on the run.

Yes, through VINE. The service is free. It follows people through local jails, regional jails and state prisons, shows the place a person is held today, and lets you choose phone, text or email updates that go out after each status change.

• Search by name at VINELink and sign up for alerts.
• Or phone 800-467-4943, a line that answers day and night.

Think of alerts as a backup. Keep checking the jail search, and phone the jail if you need news right now.

The first call on bail belongs to a magistrate, and that office never closes. It is at 401 East Main Street, Room 171, Salem, VA 24153, 540-387-6092. There are three main choices:

• Recognizance. The person simply promises to return for court.
• Unsecured bond. No cash up front, but a set amount is owed if the person misses court.
• Secured bond. Money, land value or a bondsman stands behind the promise.

Va. Code § 19.2-120 favors release. Refusal needs probable cause that the accused would flee or endanger others. Judges and magistrates sometimes add rules: staying away from the accuser, being home by a set hour, urine tests or a GPS ankle band.

Every bondsman premium lands between 10 and 15 percent, is due at the start and is never refunded. Those who stay locked up appear before a judge as soon as court is next in session, at the General District Court, 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3044. For exact steps on paying a bond here, call the jail at 540-283-3145. Our bail overview and the state bail laws guide go deeper.

The jail search lists the first charge from booking. After that, the court file is the better source.

• The state's Online Case Information System covers three kinds of files: district court traffic and criminal dockets, family-court criminal dockets for adults, and every Circuit Court docket. Files about children are kept out.
• Phone the General District Court clerk, 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3044. The office is open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
• If a grand jury returns an indictment on a serious charge, the case file moves to the Circuit Court clerk in that same building, 540-375-3067.
• The Commonwealth's Attorney decides how to prosecute: 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3041.

Confirm the name's spelling and the birth date ahead of any call.

Salem has no public defender office. If jail time is possible and money is short, the judge names a lawyer from a court list (Va. Code § 19.2-159). Here is how it goes:

1. At the first appearance in court, the defendant asks for appointed counsel. A magistrate can take the request too.
2. The defendant signs a statement under oath that lists income and bills. The court clerk, 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3044, can supply the form.
3. The judge reads the answers, decides who qualifies and picks the attorney.

A family can pay for a private lawyer instead. Whoever the lawyer is, avoid case details on jail phone lines, since those calls may be recorded.

Each jail runs visits its own way, so check the one that holds your person. Our visiting guide adds general tips.

• Roanoke County-Salem Jail. Photo ID is required, and a search is possible. A child must arrive with a parent or guardian. No food or drinks. Hours are on the county's visitation schedule, or phone 540-283-3145.
• Western Virginia Regional Jail. Most guests connect by video or remote link. Visits in person are limited to professionals and to people the Superintendent approves. Read the jail's visitation page or phone 540-378-3700.

Rules can shift on short notice, so call ahead.

An account balance can buy store items and pay for calls. Please never put cash in the mail.

• Roanoke County-Salem Jail. Use cash or a credit card at the secure ATM in the main lobby, 401 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153. Checks are refused. Deposits are also possible on the Jail ATM website. Questions go to 540-283-3145.
• Western Virginia Regional Jail. The jail's site sends families to ConnectNetwork for online deposits. Its address is 5885 West River Road, Salem, VA 24153, 540-378-3700.

Our money guide covers deposit basics, and the commissary page tells you which store items an account covers.

At the Roanoke County-Salem Jail, no incoming calls are allowed. People make outgoing collect calls. To block calls from your number, phone 540-283-3145. Some people can also send texts from a tablet issued by the jail.

For the Western Virginia Regional Jail, dial 540-378-3700 and ask how families arrange calls and video. More tips: our jail phone guide, plus our email and text guide.

The county's jail page lists this format for the Roanoke County-Salem Jail:

Inmate Name and Number, Roanoke County/Salem Jail, PO Box 16120, Jonesboro, AR 72401

That box belongs to the mail service the county tells families to use. Before you send anything, phone 540-283-3145 to confirm the address and ask what items are allowed. For the regional jail, phone 540-378-3700 to get its mailing address. Add your own address to the top left of the envelope. For general tips, open the mail guide.

Items taken at booking are held in storage by the jail till release or transfer. To bring clothes or collect things, call the jail first at 540-283-3145. Check the drop-off hours, what ID is accepted and if a signed release must come before pickup.

The Roanoke County-Salem Jail is at 401 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153. For the regional jail, 5885 West River Road, Salem, VA 24153, call 540-378-3700.

Phone the jail without delay: 540-283-3145, or 540-378-3700 for the regional jail. Ask them to pass word to the health staff. Share the full name, plus any medicine, dose and doctor you know of.

Their own sick-call slip, handed to a housing-unit officer, starts the process from inside. For a true emergency, dial 911.

Salem police and the Sheriff's Office both work with warrants. Phone Salem Police, 36 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3078, or the Sheriff's Office, 540-375-3040, and ask. To look up a case, try the state case search or ask the clerk of the district court at 540-375-3044. If someone confirms a warrant, speak to an attorney before anything else. Next, reach the court that signed it and ask how to resolve the matter. Visit the clerk at 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153. Keep the spelling and birth date close at hand for each call.

Salem cases are heard at the Salem City Courthouse, 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153. Two clerk offices serve it:

• A shared clerk's office serves General District Court and the Salem JDR court, 540-375-3044, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Traffic cases, misdemeanors and bail reviews belong to this office.
• The Circuit Court clerk, 540-375-3067, handles felonies once a grand jury has indicted.

Do not confuse this with the Roanoke County courthouse, 305 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, where the General District Court clerk answers at 540-387-6168. That building is for county cases only. Your court papers show which one to visit. Our court page explains the steps from the first hearing to a verdict.

A federal case against someone from Salem starts in Roanoke, in the Western District of Virginia's Roanoke Division. Find the clerk at 210 Franklin Road SW, Suite 540, Roanoke, VA 24011, 540-857-5100.

1. A judge makes an early call on jail or release for the wait ahead (18 U.S.C. § 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals Service has charge of the person until the case is tried. Its Roanoke office is in the Reuben E. Lawson Federal Building, 210 Franklin Road Southwest, Suite 210, Roanoke, VA 24011. Call 540-857-2230 to learn where the person is.
3. A person who cannot pay may be given the Federal Public Defender, 210 First Street SW, Suite 400, Roanoke, VA 24011, 540-777-0880.
4. After the judge sentences the person, the Bureau of Prisons locator can point you to the facility.

A federal immigration hold usually unfolds like this:

1. The agency sends the jail a detainer, a written request that staff keep the person until its own officers arrive.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. Officers from ICE come to the jail and transport the person to one of their facilities.
4. The ICE Online Detainee Locator accepts a surname plus country of birth. Or call the ICE Washington Field Office, 14797 Murdock Street, Chantilly, VA 20151, 703-633-2100.

State rules on detainers are being changed this year, so ask the jail which ones apply now. In February 2026, an executive directive closed state agencies' 287(g) agreements, though it reaches no one else.

After a state sentence, a person first lands at an intake center, where staff sort them for placement. Local jails sometimes hold them until space opens up.

• Use the Virginia DOC locator and search by name or DOC number. Entries refresh daily, and some people held in local jails appear too.
• The state corrections main line is 804-674-3000.
• Our Virginia state prisons guide adds more.

Minors stay out of the adult jails. Holding a minor in detention takes a signed order. The power to sign one belongs to intake staff, magistrates and judges. After that, the file moves to the Salem JDR court, 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3044.

• Juvenile intake staff work for the 23rd District Court Service Unit (First Floor, 215 Church Avenue SW, Roanoke, VA 24011), 540-853-2565.
• The detention center for Salem youths is the Roanoke Valley Juvenile Detention Center, 498 Coyner Springs Road, Roanoke, VA 24012, 540-561-3840.

Juvenile files and photos are private, so phone these offices for news.

Several agencies work in and around Salem. The jail record names the one that made the arrest.

• Salem Police Department, 36 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, non-emergency 540-375-3078. Patrols the city.
• Salem Sheriff's Office, 2 East Calhoun Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-3040. Provides courtroom security, prisoner transport and civil papers.
• Roanoke County Police Department, 5925 Cove Road, Roanoke, VA 24019, non-emergency 540-562-3265. Patrols the county that surrounds the city.
• Roanoke County Sheriff's Office, 401 East Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-283-3102. Operates the jail.
• Virginia State Police, Division Six, 3775 West Main Street, Salem, VA 24153, 540-375-9500. Troopers work the highways, including Interstate 81.

If an arrest happened on a college campus, such as Roanoke College, ask Salem Police who made it.