Clicking on any of the Alabama facilities below will direct you to an information page with Inmate Search, Visitation, Mail, Phone, Email, Most Wanted and FAQ for families and friends.
Alabama runs its own state prison system through the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC). The state’s prison history goes back to 1839, when lawmakers authorized the first penitentiary at Wetumpka, but the modern Department of Corrections was established by statute on February 3, 1983. Today ADOC operates 14 major prisons at maximum, medium and minimum security, along with work release centers and community work centers that help people prepare for life after prison. About 21,000 people were in ADOC custody in 2025.
ADOC holds adults convicted of felonies and sentenced to more than a year, from drug and property crimes to murder, with sentences up to life without parole. Alabama also has a death row of more than 150 people. Men are held mainly at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, where all executions take place, and at Donaldson Correctional Facility near Bessemer; women are held at Julia Tutwiler Prison in Wetumpka. In 2024 Alabama became the first state to carry out an execution using nitrogen gas.
After sentencing, a person usually waits in the county jail until ADOC has room to take them. Men are then sent to Kilby Correctional Facility in Mt. Meigs, near Montgomery, ADOC’s intake and classification center. Women go to the receiving unit at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. During intake, staff complete medical and mental health screenings, testing and a security classification, then assign the person to a permanent prison. That process can take several weeks, so check the inmate search often.
Use the ADOC Inmate Search to look up someone by name or AIS number (Alabama’s inmate ID). The results show the person’s current facility. Write down the AIS number; you’ll need it for mail, money, phone accounts and visitor applications.
Alabama is in the middle of the biggest prison building project in its history. The Gov. Kay Ivey Correctional Complex in Elmore County will hold 4,000 men plus a 720-bed medical and mental health unit, at a cost of about $1.25 billion. It was scheduled to open in October 2026, though ADOC warned in July 2026 that the date could slip. A second 4,000-bed men’s prison is planned in Escambia County. Both are meant to replace older, crowded prisons. The U.S. Department of Justice found in 2019 that violence in Alabama’s men’s prisons violated the Constitution and sued the state in 2020.
The Alabama Department of Youth Services (DYS), created in 1973, takes custody of young people a juvenile court has committed to the state. DYS runs three state campuses: Mt. Meigs near Montgomery, its most secure facility for older youth; Vacca in Birmingham, a secure campus for younger youth ages 12 to 16; and Autauga in Prattville, a short-term program of three to six months. It also contracts with private providers for community-based treatment programs. Together they care for about 450 young people a day. Before a court decides a case, youth are usually held in one of Alabama’s 12 county and regional juvenile detention centers.
Juvenile records are confidential, so there is no public online search for youth in DYS custody. Parents and guardians should call DYS or the detention center directly.
To search for an inmate or juvenile, or to learn how to visit, call, write or send money to someone in the Alabama Department of Corrections or Department of Youth Services, choose a facility from the list below.