The Corrections Department posts two files, one for people in custody now and one for past bookings. Follow these steps:

1. Open the roster page.
2. Choose the current file.
3. Look at the date printed on it.
4. Press Ctrl+F (or use "find in page") and enter the last name.
5. Copy down the booking date and charge beside the name.

New files appear Monday to Friday, except on holidays. Can't spot the name? Phone 509-524-5431.

A blank search does not mean freedom. Typical reasons:

• Still in processing. Intake steps can take hours.
• The file is old. Weekend arrests wait for the next workday.
• Quick release. An officer may have issued a ticket with a court date, or the person may have posted bail.
• Name variations. Try a nickname, maiden name or other spelling.
• A different system. A jail elsewhere, the state or a federal agency might have custody.
• A young person. Children go to juvenile detention.

Phone the jail at 509-524-5431 and ask for Booking. The free VINE lookup is another place to try.

Adults here go to one jail:

• County jail, 300 West Alder Street (main door at 5th and Alder), Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-5431. Built in 1982. It takes adults arrested by deputies and by city police from Walla Walla and College Place. Ask staff where inside the jail a person is housed.

Our court research shows that people from Columbia and Garfield counties may be housed here too. See the JE page for Columbia people housed in this jail. City officers bring their arrests to this same jail.

Arrested somewhere else? Phone that area's Sheriff or try VINE. Prison, ICE and federal custody have their own answers further down.

Washington keeps jail booking photos confidential, under RCW 70.48.100. Officers can use a photo while solving a case. If someone was convicted of a sex offense, their photo may be shared. So you will rarely see mugshots on a Washington jail list. The roster comes as files, so ask at 509-524-5431 whether a listing carries a photo.

• To ask for a photo, call whichever agency made the arrest: the Sheriff, 509-524-5400; Walla Walla police, 509-527-1960; or College Place police, 509-394-8550.
• ICE photos: ask on ICE's records request form.
• Federal mugshots go unreleased to the public. The U.S. Marshals Service alone may share a photo when a fugitive must be found.

VINE is a free alert program run by the state's sheriffs' and police chiefs' association, and it never closes.

• Register on VINELink or phone 877-846-3492.
• VINE tracks people in local jails (city or county), the state prison system, plus the Nisqually Tribal Jail. Data refreshes roughly every 15 to 30 minutes.
• Juvenile detention and court dates are outside VINE.

When someone must be picked up at the right moment, also phone the jail.

Court rules in Washington begin with letting people go on their own word, called personal recognizance. At that first hearing, a judge can set conditions, for example a stay-away order or scheduled check-ins, or can put a price on release. Those rules must be the lightest ones that work, and the judge looks at what the person can afford. A bond can't be cash-only, and a cash deposit is capped at 10 percent. Refusing bail altogether is rare and needs a hearing first.

• Family violence arrests. Custody lasts until that first hearing.
• Weekday payment. Pay the court handling the case. County Clerk: 315 W Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2780, open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. District Court: 317 W Rose St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2760.
• Night payment. The jail receives it. Call before you drive over.
• Forms of payment. Cash or a bond through a court-approved company. A hold from a warrant in another county takes cash only, at any hour.
• Bond agents. Chapter 18.185 RCW requires a state license. Verify it on the licensing lookup or phone 360-664-6611. Demand written fees.

Our local bail page has more. For statewide law, read Washington bail laws.

Call the jail office, 509-524-5431, for the booking charge. The prosecutor can alter it later.

• Type the name into the free statewide case search. It names the court that holds the file.
• For misdemeanors and traffic matters, ask District Court, 317 W Rose St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2760.
• For felonies, ask the County Clerk, 315 W Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2780.
• The Prosecuting Attorney chooses the final charge: Public Safety Building, 240 W Alder St, Suite 201, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-5445.

A person without money gets a lawyer from the court. The jailed person should ask the judge at the first hearing and will answer a few money questions. They may qualify with certain public benefits, pay of no more than 125 percent of federal poverty guidelines, or too little money to hire an attorney for what the case would cost (RCW 10.101.010).

Here, private firms under county contract do this work. The judge picks one. Find out the name through District Court, 509-524-2760, or Superior Court, 509-524-2790. Families are free to pay a private attorney. The state Office of Public Defense explains how defense works.

The jail sends families to its vendor CTEL for visit scheduling and e-messages. Go to inmatesales.com.

• Adults must show valid ID.
• Minors need a parent or guardian along.
• People under DOC community supervision cannot come in.
• Phone 509-524-5431 to confirm hours before the trip.

Rules shift. See our visiting guide for first-timer tips.

An account at the jail pays for commissary, hygiene items and phone time. Use the kiosk in the jail lobby, 300 West Alder Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362, or Access Corrections, open all hours at 866-345-1884. Have the full name ready. Funds for phone time go to CTEL.

These deposits are not bail. Two more guides: deposits and what the money buys. Don't put cash in an envelope.

CTEL runs the phone service families are pointed to. Fund a CTEL account, then ask the jail, 509-524-5431, about prices and whether video or text messages are an option.

To stop unwanted calls from the jail, phone 509-524-5440 in business hours. Treat each call as recorded; discuss the case with a lawyer instead. More: our phone-call guide and electronic messages guide.

Format the address like this, with the full legal name on top:

[Full name]
c/o Walla Walla County Corrections Dept.
300 W. Alder
Walla Walla, WA 99362

• List your own return address.
• Leave off stickers.
• Care packages must come from mycarepack.com.
• Skip cash.

Questions on photos or books? Ring 509-524-5431. See our mail guide too.

Items from booking are held in storage until release day. To bring or fetch items, phone 509-524-5431 and ask for Booking. Learn whether a signed release or your own ID is needed. The pickup spot is 300 West Alder Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362.

Phone 509-524-5431 and ask to be connected to health staff. Provide the name, what medicines are taken and how much, and who the doctor is. Also have the person send a written health request from inside.

A real emergency means 911. Mention any worry about self-harm clearly.

Sheriff's deputies and city police officers carry out warrants. To ask whether one exists, dial the Sheriff's Office, 509-524-5400, Walla Walla police, 509-527-1960, or College Place police, 509-394-8550. The free statewide case search finds court files; the District Court clerk can help too, 509-524-2760. Before surrendering or asking for a new date, start by seeing a lawyer, then phone the court that signed it. Felony records are kept by the County Clerk, 315 W Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2780.

Dates come from the individual court:

• District Court hears misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and first appearances for the county and its towns. 317 W Rose St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2760.
• Superior Court hears felonies. 315 W Main St, 3rd floor, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2790.
• County Clerk keeps Superior Court files. 315 W Main St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2780.

District Court's area takes in Burbank, Waitsburg, Prescott, College Place and the county seat. Someone in custody is brought before a judge inside one court day, and the clerk can give the arraignment date. Our court page explains each stage.

Cases brought in federal court from this county fall under the Eastern District of Washington. The courthouse closest to the county sits at 825 Jadwin Avenue, Room 174, Richland, WA 99352, 509-943-8170.

1. To learn which courthouse has the case, call the Spokane clerk at 920 West Riverside Avenue, Room 840, Spokane, WA 99201, 509-458-3400.
2. A detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142) comes early, and a judge picks custody or freedom until trial.
3. Marshals keep custody before trial. Their office: 920 West Riverside Avenue, Suite 200, Spokane, WA 99201, 509-842-1400.
4. Ask the clerk about a federal defender if money is short.
5. Once a sentence is imposed, the BOP inmate locator shows where the person is.

A detainer is ICE's Form I-247A (8 CFR 287.7(d)). The form asks the jail to keep someone for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.

• Washington limits what local jails do. No jail here may keep a person based solely on a detainer or civil immigration warrant. It may not hold anyone just to learn immigration status. ICE may question someone about a noncriminal matter only with signed consent. Local 287(g) agreements are also out. The statute is RCW 10.93.160, titled Keep Washington Working.
• Find a person with the ICE Online Detainee Locator, type the name along with the home country, or use the detainee's A-number.
• ICE Seattle Field Office, 12500 Tukwila International Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98168, 206-277-2000. It serves Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
• Northwest ICE Processing Center, 1623 E J St SE, Tacoma, WA 98421, 253-396-1611.

Someone sentenced to prison is sent to a state DOC intake center first. They may sit in the county jail until the transfer, so phone 509-524-5431 if you lose track.

• The DOC search shows DOC number, name, age, location and housing. It has no photo.
• Agency headquarters: 7345 Linderson Way SW, Tumwater, WA 98501, 360-725-8213, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Our guide to Washington's prisons covers visits and mail.

Young people are held apart from adults. Juvenile Court, a part of Superior Court, sits in the Juvenile Justice Center, 455 W Rose St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-2800.

• The center's detention unit also serves Columbia County and runs day and night: 509-524-2825. See its JE detention page.
• If no charge has been filed, JuCR 7.3 has a judge review the hold within 72 hours, not counting weekends or holidays, and otherwise release is required.
• VINE does not follow juvenile detention.

Look at these agencies:

• Sheriff's Office, 240 West Alder Street, First Floor, Walla Walla, WA 99362, 509-524-5400, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its deputies cover rural areas, including Waitsburg, Prescott and Burbank. Dispatch: 509-527-3265.
• City police, 54 E Moore St, Walla Walla, WA 99362, non-emergency 509-527-1960.
• College Place Police, 619 S College Ave, College Place, WA 99324, 509-394-8550.
• State Patrol: the nearest district office is listed on wsp.wa.gov.

For a campus, tribal or other agency, ask the Sheriff's Office which one covers the spot.