The roster is a document, so you scroll it instead of typing into a search box. Here is a quick routine:

1. Open the roster page and choose the file dated today.
2. Once the PDF loads, open its search tool (Ctrl and F on a laptop, the menu on a phone).
3. Enter just the surname and move through each match.
4. Copy down whatever the row shows next to the name, such as booking date and charge.
5. Glance at the date on top of the file. It tells you how old the information is.

Still lost? The jail desk at 509-684-4707 will search for you.

A blank result can mislead you, since the person may still be held. Check these possibilities:

• Too fresh. The file was cut before the booking happened.
• Cited and sent home. Officers in this courthouse jail often write a ticket for lesser crimes instead of booking, because beds run short.
• Already out. Maybe a judge ordered release, someone paid a bond, or a signed promise to appear freed the person.
• Sent elsewhere. Think of a lockup in another county, a police station, a federal agency or the state.
• Odd spelling. Test the legal first name, a short form and any past surname.

Read the desk at 509-684-4707 the legal name and birth date, and staff will search their own records.

The main facility is the Stevens County Jail, 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114, 509-684-4707. It is the adult lockup for men and women, and it shares a roof with the courtrooms.

When beds run out, a few inmates are driven to the Ferry County Jail in Republic. The Colville desk can tell you if that happened and which number to dial there.

Someone picked up near a county border may sit in a neighbor's cell. Look at the pages for the Pend Oreille jail, the Spokane County Jail and the Lincoln jail, each with its own street address and number.

Arrests on the Spokane Reservation may begin in tribal court. At Wellpinit, WA 99040 (Agency Square, Building 268), the Spokane Tribal Court at 509-258-7717 can say where such a person is held.

The roster page gives no sign of booking photos, so expect names and charges, not faces. Under RCW 70.48.100, Washington keeps a jail's booking pictures confidential. Police may use them in an investigation. Someone convicted of a sex offense is the exception, and that photo may be released.

If you need a photo, ask the arresting agency. Arrested by a deputy? The Sheriff's Office answers at 509-684-5296.

• ICE keeps its own photos. Use its public records request form to request one.
• Federal agencies keep their booking photos private. Only the U.S. Marshals Service may release a photo, when doing so helps catch someone who ran.

Washington's VINE program can. The sheriffs' and police chiefs' association runs it, it costs nothing, and it works day and night. It refreshes every 15 to 30 minutes and tracks city and county jails plus state prisons.

• Register on VINELink or dial 877-846-3492.
• Youth detention is outside VINE, and so is any court information.

When you need today's answer, the jail desk at 509-684-4707 is faster.

Court rules in this state start with letting a person go home just by promising to come back. A judge adds conditions or a bond only after seeing a real danger of no-shows, witness trouble or violence, and must weigh the person's money. Demanding cash alone is not allowed.

• The hearing: held at 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114, normally before the courthouse closes on the next court day.
• Domestic violence cases: no one walks out before a judge or a court order allows it, and a no-contact order often comes along.
• Bail denied outright: very rare, and only after a hearing.
• Paying: the Sheriff's jail page has a bail payment link. Ring 509-684-4707 for the amount, the holding court and accepted forms of payment.
• Bonding companies: the state licenses them. Look up a license or call 360-664-6611, and insist on written fees.

For amounts and paperwork, see our bail page. For the law, see Washington's bail laws.

Start by asking the jail desk at 509-684-4707. After a case is opened, the free statewide court search lists it and names the court holding the papers.

• Lesser crimes: District Court, Room 213, 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114, 509-684-5249.
• Felonies: Room 206, the County Clerk, in that building, 509-684-7575.
• The office that writes up charges: the Prosecuting Attorney, 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114, 509-684-7500.

Once the first hearing starts, the person tells the judge, "I need a lawyer," and completes a short income and bills form. After reading it, the judge decides whether to appoint one. A person can qualify by receiving certain public aid, by taking home no more than 1.25 times the federal poverty income, or by being unable to afford the likely cost.

The local public defense office works from the courthouse, 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114. Call 509-684-3024 for its hours and the right room. A family may hire its own attorney at any stage. The state's public defense office has background.

Regular family visits happen on a screen. Only lawyers, clergy and medical or mental health workers visit face to face.

• The person must already have been arraigned and cannot be in punishment lockup.
• Free sessions use a kiosk in the jail's entry area. Reserve 30 minutes on the jail's video booking site no later than 24 hours before, and check in 15 minutes early.
• Days follow housing: worker wing on Wednesday, women on Thursday, South on Friday, North on Saturday, West on Sunday.
• You can also pay for a video session from home on the same site.

If you do not know the wing, ring 509-684-4707. More tips are in our visit guide.

Funds cover snacks, hygiene items and phone use, and they never count as bail. Phone 509-684-4707 to learn which deposit routes are open and the sending limits. Have the booking number and full name in hand.

Stick to the routes jail staff give you. Personal checks bounce back here, and bills slipped into an envelope are a bad idea. See our deposit tips and our commissary tips.

The flow runs one way: the person calls you. Family cannot ring a cell, and staff will not relay notes. Ask at 509-684-4707 who runs the phones, about rates and about tablet or text services.

Assume a recording exists for every call except those with a lawyer. Keep case facts for the lawyer. For more, open our phone guide and our email guide.

Write the full name and ID number first, then Stevens County Jail, then PO Box 186, Colville, WA 99114, each on its own line. Ring 509-684-4707 before you mail to learn the exact layout and whether cards, pictures or books pass inspection.

Mark the envelope with where replies should go, and never slip money in. Our letter guide lists common rules.

Clothes and gear from booking stay in jail storage until release day. For a drop-off of clothing or a pickup of stored items, call 509-684-4707 and ask about days, times and any paperwork. Show photo ID at 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114.

Phone 509-684-4707 and explain the problem, list the pills and doses, and give the doctor's phone. Back inside, the person can ask for care in writing too.

If the danger is immediate, dial 911. When you fear suicide or a breakdown, say that plainly.

Out in the county, deputies pick up people on warrants; inside Colville, Chewelah and Kettle Falls, city officers do. The Sheriff's Office takes warrant questions at 509-684-5296. To look at a case, try the state court case search or call District Court at 509-684-5249; for felonies, call the County Clerk at 509-684-7575. Next, talk with a lawyer, then call whichever court shows up on the warrant paperwork. Have any ticket or case number ready. The clerk is in Room 206, 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114.

Every courtroom is in the building at 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114, and each case sits in just one:

• District Court, Room 213, 509-684-5249. Lesser crimes from the county, plus those from the towns of Colville, Chewelah, Kettle Falls and Springdale, since those towns send cases here.
• Superior Court, Room 209, 509-684-7527. Felony trials.
• County Clerk, Room 206, 509-684-7575. The felony paper files.

Jailed defendants now get faster arraignments, so ask the clerk for yours. Our hearing guide walks through the stages.

This part of Washington belongs to the Eastern District, whose judges work out of Spokane, Yakima and Richland. Call the Spokane clerk at 509-458-3400, 920 West Riverside Avenue, Room 840, Spokane, WA 99201, to see which courthouse has the case.

1. At the opening federal hearing, a magistrate sorts out detention or home release before trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals, 920 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 200, Spokane, WA 99201, 509-842-1400, can say where a prisoner is kept.
3. For a defender, ask the court clerk.
4. Once sentenced, try the federal prison locator.

The ICE detainer is Form I-247A, issued under 8 CFR 287.7(d). It asks a jail for a hold of up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.

1. A state law known as the Keep Washington Working Act sets limits (see RCW 10.93.160). A local jail cannot keep someone just because of a civil immigration detainer. It also cannot hold a person only to find out their status.
2. ICE cannot question a person in jail about a noncriminal matter unless the person says yes in writing. Washington bars local 287(g) agreements.
3. The ICE detainee locator can show where ICE holds someone.
4. The ICE Seattle Field Office is at 12500 Tukwila International Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98168, 206-277-2000.

Prison inmates enter through a Department of Corrections reception site. Some may wait in the Colville jail before the transfer. Ask at 509-684-4707.

• Use the state's lookup tool with a surname or DOC number.
• The department answers at 7345 Linderson Way SW, Tumwater, WA 98501, 360-725-8213, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Visits and mail rules sit on our prison section for Washington.

Juvenile Court deals with every child under 18. It is a division of Superior Court at 215 S Oak St, Room 202, Colville, WA 99114, 509-684-2549, and gives out hearing dates.

A child kept in secure custody goes to Martin Hall, 201 S Pine St, Medical Lake, WA 99022, 509-565-8118. Weekends and holidays are skipped, but within 72 hours a judge must look at the hold if no charge exists, or the child is freed. VINE leaves youth detention out.

The jail's records show the arresting agency, so ask the desk at 509-684-4707. Agencies at work here:

• Sheriff's Office, 215 S Oak St, Colville, WA 99114, 509-684-5296. Deputies cover open country and small places like Marcus, Northport and Springdale. Dispatch picks up around the clock at 509-684-2555.
• Colville, Chewelah and Kettle Falls police patrol their own streets. Dispatch can connect you to the right department.
• Spokane Tribal Police work on the reservation around Wellpinit. The Tribal Court at 509-258-7717 can point you toward them.
• Washington State Patrol covers the state highways. Use the patrol's contact page to find a district office.