The Sheriff's Office posts the roster. Here is the route:

1. Go to the jail roster from any device.
2. A notice shows first. Read it and select Continue.
3. Look down the Release Calendar for the last name.
4. Still nothing? The Completed Release tab lists anyone let go during the last day.
5. An asterisk beside a name tells you there is more than one charge.
6. Copy down the ID number listed with the person. Mail needs it.

To check on someone right now, ring 360-748-9241. That line never closes.

A blank search may have a harmless explanation:

• Booking is not done. Fresh arrests take a while to show up.
• They already left. A cite-and-release, a signed promise to return, a bond or a judge's order can all end a stay quickly.
• Somewhere else. Possibilities include another county's jail, a tribal lockup, state custody, or an immigration or federal facility.
• Spelling. Test a middle name, nickname or maiden name.
• Age. A teen is held at a youth center, never in the adult cells.

Booking staff pick up at 360-748-9241 day and night.

The Lewis County Jail, 28 SW Chehalis Avenue, Chehalis, WA 98532, is run by the Sheriff's Corrections Bureau. It holds both men and women, some waiting on court dates and others serving short sentences. Call 360-748-9241 any hour, or reach the weekday office, Jail Administration, at 360-740-2714.

Other possibilities:

• The tribal jail in Oakville, in Grays Harbor County, 360-709-1603. Centralia police may use it for bookings.
• Thurston County's jail. A contract lets the Chehalis jail take that county's overflow, so a Thurston arrest only rarely ends in Chehalis.

An arrest near the county border could mean the next county's jail. Ask the Sheriff's Office, 360-748-9286, for guidance.

State law (RCW 70.48.100) keeps jail booking photos confidential. Detectives can still use them, and the law lets photos of convicted sex offenders go public. So most Washington rosters carry no mugshots. Calls about a photo belong with the arresting department. A Sheriff's arrest goes through 360-748-9286.

• ICE photos come only by a Freedom of Information request, made at the agency's records page.
• In federal cases the booking photo stays with the government, though the U.S. Marshals Service sometimes releases one when hunting a fugitive.

Washington VINE sends these alerts at no cost. Sheriffs and police chiefs across the state (through WASPC) operate it. All city jails, all county jails and the state prison system report into it. Alerts can arrive by phone, text or email, and the lookup also names the place a person is held. Fresh data arrives roughly twice an hour.

• Register through VINELink on the web, or by phone at 877-846-3492, which answers around the clock.
• VINE skips juvenile detention and has no court information.
• Jail staff won't predict release times. Most people go out between 5:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., and the Completed Release tab shows who just did.

Release on personal recognizance, meaning the person's own pledge to return, is where judges in this state start. A judge may attach strings, such as no-contact orders, check-ins or monitoring, but only after seeing a real risk, and must pick the lightest ones that will do. Ability to pay matters too, and a cash deposit may not top 10 percent of a bond.

• Expect the first judge visit on the next business day, before the courthouse shuts.
• Domestic violence arrests carry a mandatory hold. Only a judge's order, bail or a signed promise to appear ends it (RCW 10.31.100).
• The court names the bail amount. The jail collects the cash and forwards it.
• A kiosk accepts $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills at all hours, in the main lobby by day and the release lobby after hours.
• Bonds from approved companies are welcome. The Sheriff's bail information page has the list.
• If you pay after 7 a.m., release tends to come near 11 a.m. or from 3 to 5 p.m. Payment after 4:30 p.m. means release after 8 p.m.

The state Department of Licensing licenses bail bond agents, so check the license and keep every fee in writing. Our bail page goes deeper on payment, and the state bail laws page lays out the law.

Police write the first charge, and the Prosecuting Attorney decides what gets filed. These offices can tell you more:

• County Clerk, Law & Justice Center, 2nd Floor, 345 W. Main Street, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-2704, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Superior Court files are kept here.
• District Court, Law and Justice Center, 3rd Floor, 345 W. Main Street, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-1203, for county misdemeanors.
• Prosecuting Attorney, 345 W. Main Street, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-1240.

The state's no-cost court case search checks city, district and superior courts and points to the one holding the file.

Tell the judge you need a lawyer at your first appearance. You will then be screened. In Washington, people may qualify through certain public aid, an income no higher than 125 percent of the poverty line, or simply being unable to cover a lawyer's likely fee (RCW 10.101.010).

• Lewis County Public Defense, 351 NW North Street, Room 210, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-3346, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Its attorneys cover Superior, District and Juvenile Court. Chehalis and Centralia Municipal Courts arrange their own, so ask each court clerk.
• A financial statement is filled in at the first appearance or while in custody.

Families can always hire a private attorney too.

Visitors set up an online account with HOMEWAV, the service the jail uses. Approval can take up to three days, but only business days are counted. Bring a photo ID and a clear front-facing photo of yourself.

• Video: daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the last start at 9:40 p.m. The price is $0.30 a minute for up to 20 minutes, paid by card.
• Free lobby time: one 15-minute visit per week for each person inside, first come, first served. Bring ID. Nobody under 18 can enter.
• Paid lobby screens for people with no internet: Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
• Children and teens join by video only.

For account trouble, call HOMEWAV at 844-394-6639. Our visiting guide has extra advice.

Send a money order to the jail at 28 SW Chehalis Avenue, Chehalis, WA 98532, and print MONEY ORDER on the envelope. Personal checks are refused. Cash should never be mailed.

For other ways to deposit and any limits, call Jail Administration at 360-740-2714 with the person's ID number nearby. Our money guide shows common deposit steps, while the commissary guide lists the items the money can pay for.

The jail runs its own phone setup. Jail Administration, 360-740-2714, can explain how an account is opened, call rates, plus any text or tablet service. Plan for recorded lines. Details of the case are for the attorney's ears.

Video visiting is its own service. Options are compared in the calling guide and in the electronic messaging guide.

Everyday letters pass through a mail center in Florida. Format the envelope this way:

Lewis County Jail
(person's name and ID number)
PO Box 9122, Seminole, FL 33775-9122

• Print both the name and the ID number on the outside. You can read the number on the roster.
• Clothing, stamps and envelopes are not allowed inside.
• Attorney letters, books, publications and money orders skip the Florida center and go to the jail at 28 SW Chehalis Avenue, Chehalis, WA 98532.

Find more advice in the letter-writing guide. Never tuck cash inside.

What a person carried in stays in the jail's storage until they go home. The lobby at 28 SW Chehalis Avenue, Chehalis, WA 98532 opens Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone Jail Administration first, 360-740-2714, and learn who may collect items, what identification to carry and whether the person must sign off.

The jail's health care comes from an outside medical company. Dial 360-748-9241 and ask for Jail Medical. Describe the problem and list every medicine, its strength and the prescribing doctor.

The jail generally does not take medicine from visitors, but Jail Medical can set up a drop-off when needed. Whoever is inside may also file a written sick-call request. In an emergency, dial 911.

Rural warrants fall to deputies. In a city or town, local officers handle them. Ask the Sheriff's Office, 360-748-9286, whether one is active. For court records, try the free Washington Courts case search or the District Court clerk, 360-740-1203. If one exists, see an attorney before doing anything. Next, ring whichever court issued the warrant and ask what steps it wants. The District Court clerk or the County Clerk can tell you which court that is, and a city clerk can do the same for city charges. The County Clerk's office is at 345 W. Main Street, 2nd Floor, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-2704.

Each case's date comes from the court that owns it. The court page on this site follows a case from start to end.

• District Court, 345 W. Main Street, 3rd Floor, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-1203. Counter hours: Monday to Thursday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m.
• County Clerk, for Superior Court felonies, 345 W. Main Street, 2nd Floor, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-2704.
• Centralia Municipal Court, 118 W. Maple Street, Centralia, WA 98531, 360-330-7667.
• Chehalis Municipal Court, 350 N. Market Boulevard, Room 105, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-345-1025.
• Napavine Municipal Court, 407 Birch Avenue SW, Napavine, WA 98565, 360-262-9231.
• Winlock Municipal Court, 323 NE 1st Street, Winlock, WA 98596, 360-785-2070. Toledo cases go here too.

The statewide "Find My Court Date" tool on the case search site also helps. Court rules now push arraignment earlier for people in custody, so ask the clerk for that date.

Tacoma hosts the federal court for this area, at 1717 Pacific Avenue, Room 3100, Tacoma, WA 98402. The clerk answers at 253-882-3800.

1. The first appearance includes a detention hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142. The judge weighs jail against release there.
2. For a federal defendant, the Marshals pick the holding jail until trial. Their Seattle office is at 700 Stewart Street, Suite 9000, Seattle, WA 98101, 206-370-8600.
3. When the sentence is final, use the BOP inmate locator to find the facility.

1. ICE mails or faxes a paper called Form I-247A to the jail. Its purpose is to get the jail to hold the person past release.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), a jail may keep someone up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. Washington's Keep Washington Working Act sets three limits for local jails (the text is RCW 10.93.160). A civil immigration warrant or detainer alone is not enough to keep a person. A jail also can't hold anyone just to learn their immigration status. No ICE interviews about noncriminal matters without the person's written consent. State law also bars local 287(g) deals.
4. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator.
5. Questions go to the Seattle Field Office, 12500 Tukwila International Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98168, 206-277-2000.
6. Detainees may be moved to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, 1623 E J St SE, Tacoma, WA 98421, 253-396-1611.

Prison sentences begin at a reception stop run by the Department of Corrections, where staff decide classification and placement. They may sit in the county jail first, so ring the jail to check.

• Enter a last name or DOC number in the Department's incarcerated individual search. You get location and housing, but no photo.
• Department headquarters: 7345 Linderson Way SW, Tumwater, WA 98501, 360-725-8213, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Our Washington state prisons guide explains visits and mail.

Juvenile Court covers every child under 18, a division of Superior Court, at 1255 SW Pacific Avenue, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-740-1178, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It includes a 21-bed youth detention center that stays staffed around the clock.

A judge has to review a child's detention within 72 hours (weekends and holidays excluded) when no charges are filed, or the child is freed. Because VINE skips youth detention, call Juvenile Court to find a child.

Ask booking staff at 360-748-9241 which agency brought the person in. These forces work in the area:

• Sheriff's Office, 345 West Main Street, Chehalis, WA 98532, 360-748-9286. Patrols the unincorporated areas and contract towns.
• City and town police in Mossyrock, Morton, Toledo, Winlock, Napavine, Chehalis and Centralia. Ask the Sheriff's Office above for any department's non-emergency number.
• Washington State Patrol, which covers I-5 and U.S. 12. The nearest district office is listed on the Patrol's contact page.