The county owns this tool, and a search takes about a minute:

1. Go to the jail lookup page.
2. Put the surname in the box, and add a first name when many people share that surname.
3. Open the matching entry and study its booking details.
4. Copy any booking number you see and have it ready when you call.
5. Nothing listed? Spelling tricks: nickname, middle name, former surname.

When the screen gives no answer, 509-773-3666 reaches the jail office, which can say right away.

Many things can explain a blank result, and most are harmless:

• Booking is under way. Fingerprints, photos and a medical screening take time.
• A police holding room. Town police may first keep a person in their own station, then drive them to Goldendale.
• Back on the street. A release can come from a citation, a posted bond or a judge's decision.
• A different lockup. A west-end city arrest may be housed in Stevenson, and a tribal arrest may be housed in Toppenish.
• Another agency took over. State or federal officers may now hold the person.
• A minor. Adults and minors are housed apart, so a child will not be listed.

Dial 509-773-3666. The Sheriff's Office, open weekdays, can also name the arresting agency at 509-773-4455.

Three kinds of facilities may hold a person arrested around here:

• Main adult jail. The Klickitat County Department of Corrections sits at 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 223, Goldendale, WA 98620, 509-773-3666. It is the county's own jail, and felony arrests go there.
• Contract beds for some city cases. A few misdemeanor arrests from White Salmon and Bingen may be housed at the Skamania County Jail, 200 Vancouver Ave., Stevenson, WA 98648, 509-427-9490. This deal can change, so confirm it with the Sheriff's Office, 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 108, Goldendale, WA 98620.
• Tribal jail. The Yakama Nation Correction and Rehabilitation Facility, 1020 Fort Road, Toppenish, WA 98948, 509-865-8911, holds people under tribal authority.

No city in the county runs a jail. The county's pages name no work release center or minimum-security annex, so check with the jail about any work program. Federal and ICE holds get their own answers below.

To learn what its lookup displays, call 509-773-3666. State law shapes the answer: in Washington, a jail's booking photo is confidential (RCW 70.48.100). Officers may still use it to work a case. A conviction for a sex offense is the one case where the photo can be shared.

To request a photo of an arrested person, go to whichever department took the person in. The Sheriff's Office answers at 509-773-4455. Bingen-White Salmon Police, 142 E. Jewett Blvd, White Salmon, WA 98672, can be reached at 509-493-2660.

• For an ICE photo, use this ICE records form page.
• Federal booking pictures are not given out. The U.S. Marshals Service alone may publish a fugitive's picture.

You can sign up for notices. Washington runs VINE, a free service staffed by automated lines all day and night. It watches every jail in the state and the state prisons, and its data refreshes through the day.

• Register on VINELink or phone 877-846-3492.
• The county also runs a page about release notices.
• VINE skips youth detention, and it carries no hearing dates.

The court's first move is to free the person on personal recognizance, a written pledge to return. They may attach conditions such as a no-contact order, reporting or a bond. A judge must look at ability to pay, and a cash-only requirement is not allowed.

• By the next court day, most people stand before a judge.
• Some domestic violence arrests come with a hold: the person stays inside until bail, recognizance or a court order lets them out.
• Money for bail goes to the jail at any hour, or to the court itself. The county accepts cash or a bond and turns away personal checks and cards.
• Bond agents must hold a state license. Look the agent up through the Department of Licensing and demand all fees on paper.

For more detail, open the bail page. Statewide rules sit on the Washington bail laws page.

Start by asking the jail at 509-773-3666. After a case is filed, court files carry the formal charge.

• Type the name into Washington's free court search, which shows which court has the file.
• Lesser charges: East District Court, 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 107, Goldendale, WA 98620, 509-773-4670. For White Salmon and Bingen, West District Court, 501 NE Washington Street, White Salmon, WA 98672, 509-493-1190.
• Felonies: the County Clerk answers at 509-773-5744.
• The Prosecuting Attorney decides the final charges, from 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 106, Goldendale, WA 98620, 509-773-5838.

When a person cannot afford counsel, the court appoints someone. Ask the judge at the first hearing, then expect a brief screening. State law lets a person qualify through public benefits, through earnings that do not exceed 125 percent of the national poverty guideline, or through proof that a private lawyer would cost too much (RCW 10.101.010).

In this county, felony defendants are usually assigned contract lawyers, and district court defendants get lawyers from court lists. To learn who has a case, call Superior Court at 509-773-5755, or the district court on the case. Hiring a private lawyer is always allowed. The state Office of Public Defense explains more.

Nobody visits in person here. Families use video through inmatesales.com, a service the county names on its own jail pages. That company answers questions at 859-334-0959.

• Every visit, call and message gets recorded.
• Never discuss the case itself.
• Call 509-773-3666 to hear the current rules before making plans.

Our visitation guide adds general advice.

A jail account covers snacks and personal items. The county sends families to accesscorrections.com, and 866-345-1884 is the number for help with a deposit.

A money order also works. Make it out to Klickitat County Department of Corrections and write the person's name on it. Leave cash out of the envelope. Our deposit guide and commissary guide give extra help.

Calls and messages are paid for through inmatesales.com, the vendor the county's jail pages name. Fund a phone account there, then ask jail staff how to link your number. All calls, texts and video sessions are recorded.

For rules, phone 509-773-3666. See also our phone calls guide and our texting and email guide.

Letters travel through the U.S. Postal Service. Staff open and copy each one. Use this format:

• The person's full name
• C/O Klickitat County Department of Corrections
• 205 S. Columbus Ave Rm. 223
• Goldendale, WA 98620

Include your return address on the outside. Ask at 509-773-3666 what you may enclose, such as photos. Our mail guide has more. Cash never goes in the mail.

Items a person arrived with stay in the jail's care until release. Before dropping anything off or collecting property, phone 509-773-3666 and ask which hours work and if a signed release is needed.

Medicine is taken only in its original container, with a current prescription. Bring photo ID to 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 223, Goldendale, WA 98620.

Report the problem to the jail by calling 509-773-3666. Have the full name ready, plus each medicine and its strength, and the doctor's name. Staff pass along messages only in an emergency.

Have the person write a health request slip once back inside. Dial 911 for any emergency that puts a life at risk. Mention it at once if you fear a mental health crisis.

Out in the county, deputies serve warrants. Their office can answer questions at 509-773-4455. In White Salmon and Bingen, police do it at 509-493-2660. Court files can be searched on the Washington Courts site, or you can phone a clerk. Talk to a lawyer before you surrender, and then reach the court behind the warrant. Waiting for an arrest is the worse path. The County Clerk is at 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 204, Goldendale, WA 98620, 509-773-5744.

Only the court with the file can name the date, so choose the right line:

• East District Court, 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 107, Goldendale, WA 98620: Goldendale and eastern cases. 509-773-4670.
• West District Court, 501 NE Washington Street, White Salmon, WA 98672: White Salmon and Bingen cases. 509-493-1190.
• Superior Court, 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 206, Goldendale, WA 98620: felonies. 509-773-5755.

The statewide site has a "Find My Court Date" feature, and our court page describes the hearings you may hear about. New state rules push for quicker arraignments for jailed people, so ask the clerk for that date.

This area falls under the federal court for eastern Washington. Its Yakima courthouse is the nearest, at 25 South 3rd Street, Room 201, Yakima, WA 98901, 509-573-6600. The clerk in Spokane, 920 West Riverside Avenue, Room 840, Spokane, WA 99201, 509-458-3400, can say where a particular case is.

1. In a detention hearing, a federal judge decides who waits at home and who waits in jail (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals pick the holding place until trial, and that is often a county jail that has a contract. Their Spokane office is at 920 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 200, Spokane, WA 99201, 509-842-1400.
3. Once a federal sentence begins, try the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

ICE may deliver Form I-247A, a detainer under 8 CFR 287.7(d), to the jail. The form asks the jail to hold someone up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.

1. State law, the Keep Washington Working Act, stops a jail from holding anyone only on a civil immigration warrant or an ICE detainer.
2. The same law forbids holding someone merely to learn immigration status, and the state does not permit local 287(g) agreements.
3. Try the ICE Online Detainee Locator.
4. Phone the ICE Seattle Field Office, 12500 Tukwila International Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98168, 206-277-2000.

An ICE detainee could be at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, 1623 E J St SE, Tacoma, WA 98421, 253-396-1611.

A sentenced person is moved to a Department of Corrections reception center. Until that transfer, they may remain at the Goldendale jail, so ring 509-773-3666 to ask.

• The state's incarcerated individual search gives a name, DOC number, age and housing location, without a photo.
• The Department of Corrections, 7345 Linderson Way SW, Tumwater, WA 98501, 360-725-8213, answers weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Our Washington state prisons guide has tips on seeing and writing inmates at each state prison.

Juvenile Court, a branch of Superior Court, deals with anyone under 18. Reach its office at 131 West Court Street, Goldendale, WA 98620, 509-773-3355, to learn a child's location and hearing time.

State court lists show two places where youth from here may be held: the Benton-Franklin Juvenile Justice Center, 5606 W. Canal Dr., Suite 106, Kennewick, WA 99336, 509-783-2151, and the Yakima County Juvenile Justice Center. Ask the juvenile office which one applies. Without filed charges, a judge must revisit the detention inside 72 hours, minus weekends and holidays. VINE does not track juvenile detention.

The arresting agency tells you who to call:

• Sheriff's Office, 205 S. Columbus Ave., Room 108, Goldendale, WA 98620, 509-773-4455, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dispatch for non-emergencies runs all day at 509-773-4545. It patrols the unincorporated areas and has an office at 501 NE Washington St, White Salmon, WA 98672.
• Bingen-White Salmon Police, 142 E. Jewett Blvd, White Salmon, WA 98672, main 509-493-1177, non-emergency 509-493-2660.
• Goldendale police: ask the Sheriff's dispatch line for the right office.
• Washington State Patrol: find the closest district office through wsp.wa.gov.
• Yakama Nation: tribal arrests may route through Toppenish, 509-865-8911.