Northern State Prison

The New Jersey Department of Corrections maintains a searchable public database of all of the inmates they have in custody.

The prison that an inmate is assigned to depends on factors such as security classification, remaining time of their sentence, gang affiliation, and location of their residence.

New Jersey's first prison with the Department of Corrections, the Penitentiary House, was established in 1798.  The state currently has 9 correctional facilities, 11 Residential Community Release Programs, and 1 Assessment Center, overseen by 8,000 staff members. The number of inmates in custody fluctuates, however as of the end of 2023, they number just over 20,000, with no inmates on death row, as there is no longer a death penalty. There are tens of thousands more on parole and supervised release, with 16,000 of them on parole.

The following will explain the instructions, tricks and hacks you can use to find any inmate in custody with the New Jersey Department of Corrections.

New Jersey Department of Corrections Inmate Search Instructions

The New Jersey DOC provides every bit of information you want to know about any inmate in their system. 

To look up an inmate, you don't even need to know the spelling of their name.

• You can list all inmates whose last name begin with any letter by entering that letter in the last name field.
• You can list all inmates whose first name begin with any letter by entering that letter in the first name field.
• You can list all inmates whose last name has any consecutive sequence of letters of any length in their last name (example: ab, ac, ade, se, etc.)
• In addition there are multiple variables that you can enter to look up any or all inmates. See the full list below this first image of the Search Disclaimer.

1. Look up any inmate by their SBI Number.

2. Look up an inmate by first name, or first initial or by any combination of letters.

3. Look up an inmate by last name, or first initial or by any combination of letters.

4. Look up any or all inmates by Sex.

5. Look up any or all inmates by Hair Color.

6. Look up any or all inmates by Eye Color.

7. Look up any or all inmates by Race.

8. Look up any or all inmates by Ethnicity.

9. Look up any or all inmates by County of Commitment.

10. Look up any or all inmates by Current Facility Location.

11. Look up any or all inmates by Dates of Birth.

12. Look up any or all inmates by Age.

Results of your New Jersey Inmate Search

The results of your inmate search will look something like the image below.

You will first be able to see the following:

• Up to 250 of the results of inmates (former and current) who match the criteria of your search, including those on Supervised Release.

Final Results of your New Jersey Inmate Search

The results of your inmate search will look something like the image below.

You will first be able to see the following:

• Name
• GDC ID Number
• Mugshot
• Physical description
• Date of Birth
• Scars, Marks, Tattoos
• Criminal Offense
• Admission date
• Release Date
• Facility
• Status
• Aliases
• Prior prison history
• Prior convictions, case numbers and date

Northern State Prison uses the services of JPAY for you to send money to an inmate's trust fund / commissary account. 

You can send money to an inmate/offender's commissary/spendable account through the Send Money page.
There are several ways to send money to an inmate/offender.

1. Online payments
2. Over the phone by calling 800-574-5729
3. MoneyGram
4. If you wish to send cash you can use MoneyGram. MoneyGram has many convenient locations nationwide.
   The following establishments will always have MoneyGram services:
   Walmart
   7-11
   CVS Pharmacy

You will need:
Inmate's Correctional ID number and last name
The facility name or receive code.
You can visit the MoneyGram website to find locations near you.

        5. Money Order - Inmate's Name must be on the Money Order. Fill out and send this form > (English form, Spanish form)

        6. Lobby Kiosk
            You can use a debit or credit card in the lobby kiosk to send funds to an inmate/offender.

Northern State Prison Inmate Visitation Information and Schedules

All visits to Northern State Prison are by appointment only and must be scheduled with the facility 48 hours in advance. 

To make an appointment and view the visitation hours, go to this page, then click on HOW DO I SCHEDULE A VISIT?

All visitors must first undergo a background check.  When you call for an appointment, ask them how you can arrange your criminal background check.

When you go to visit, make sure you bring a photo ID, such as:

 - a current photo driver’s license or MVC non-driver identification card,
 - a current photo Welfare or Medicaid card,
 - an employment photo ID, or
 - a current passport.

Dress respectfully. A good a thumb is dress as if you going to meet someone's grandmother for the first time.

Facility dress codes prohibits:

- skin-tight or transparent garments or those that expose undergarments or private body parts,
- exposed shoulders or midriffs,
- tube tops, tank tops, halter tops or low-cut shirts,
- hooded sweatshirts,
- bottoms that end more than three inches above the knee,
- low-rise shorts, skirts and pants,
- military-style clothing or those similar to items worn by incarcerated persons or NJDOC custody staff,
- flip-flops and steel-toed boots,
- clothing with inappropriate messages is strictly prohibited,
- some visitors wearing clothing deemed inappropriate may be given an alternative garment to wear during the duration of their visit.
- no clothing items resembling any healthcare style uniforms, such as scrubs or lab coats.

No loud, belligerent or sexual behavior is allowed, and that includes excessive touching and/or kissing.

If you are confirmed as an ex-offender or current parolee and did not disclose this information prior to being approved as a visitor, your visit will not be allowed.

Northern State Prison uses Jpay for IRemote Inmate Visitation

Register here. (You are already registered if you signed up with Jpay for 'Phone' or 'Email').

Steps: 
1.  Sign up for Visitation
2. Find your inmate.
3. Purchase a book of Jpay ‘stamps’.
4. Schedule a Visit or send a Videogram.

Things you CAN do:
1.  You CAN ONLY do remote visits from the Jpay website, or with the Jpay app. (links below).
2. You CAN deposit money to your inmate, and they can use the credit on their end.
3. You CAN send a :30 second Videogram. (Jail staff will review for appropriateness) 

Things you CANNOT do:
- You CANNOT send a videogram or have a visit that would normally be rejected by the facility staff.

Other Things:
- If your Videogram is rejected you will be notified of the reason, but you will NOT get a refund.

What is the cost of visiting by video?

Typically $3.50 for 15 minutes. 

Other message costs:

• Send a text Message - 1 stamp
• Purchase a reply for your inmate - 1 stamp
• Attach up to 5 photos - 1 stamp each photo
• Share up to 5 eCards - 1 stamp each eCard
• Send just a photo with no text - 1 stamp
• Send a 30 second VideoGram - 3 stamps

What can your inmate do with digital 'stamps'?

• Reply to your Videogram with a message if you attach a return stamp.
• Receive transferred stamps you share with them (no cost to transfer)
• When available, they can purchase their own stamps from their Inmate Debit Account

Contact Information and Help:
eMessaging FAQ  
eMessaging Signup & Helpful Information  
Online Customer Service Support 
Phone Support: 800-574-5729
iphone app
Android app

There are three Ways to Communicate with an Inmate in the Northern State Prison by Phone

To get started you must first open an account with GTL Connect Network (aka Viapath Technologies)

• Advance Pay - This phone account allows you to prepay so that your inmate can call you (and only you) whenever he/she wants and the cost of each call is deducted from your balance. You can even be notified by text when your balance gets low. You still have the option of accepting or rejecting each call.
• Pin Debit  -  This option allows you to fund an inmate's commissary account and lets him pay for phone calls to you and others with the money. You will have no control over who your inmate calls.
• Voicemail  -  You can leave a secure voicemail without having to contact the facility. When you call the local phone number for a facility offering Inmate Voicemail (call Customer Service at 877-650-4249 to get the local voicemail number for Northern State Prison, you will be informed of the cost for leaving a message. To leave your message, simply select the inmate by ID number. Then, record your voicemail.

How to deposit money for Inmate Communications:

• Online
• By phone by calling 877-650-4249
• Deposit by cash, visa or mc debit and credit cards in the Northern State Prison lobby kiosk
• By mail... Check or Money Order made out to:
  AdvancePay Service Department
  P.O. Box 911722
  Denver, CO 80291-1722
• Cash deposits to ConnectNetwork are also available at 26,000 retail locations nationwide including Walmart, ACE, Kmart, Kroger, and more. You’ll start the payment process online in your ConnectNetwork account, then complete your transaction with cash at a participating local retail store. Plus, many of these stores are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Find a retail store near you.
• Rate for inmate calls is $0.04384 per minute.
  All calls are subject to recording and/or monitoring, except for legal, AIDS hotline and Ombudsperson calls.
  Inmates have an approved calling list of 10 telephone numbers, excluding any legal telephone numbers.
  For security reasons, calls to business or non-traditional telephone service numbers are not permitted.
• Inmate calling limit of $35.00 per day, and $200.00 per month.

Northern State Prison Inmate Mail Guidelines

Postcards
The Northern State Prison allows inmates to receive pre-metered postcards like the type purchased from the post office. They may also allow certain photo postcards as long as they have not been tampered with or contain images that may be considered to be obscene or violent in nature. It is best to only use blue or black ink. Always include your name and return address.

Envelopes
The Northern State Prison also allows envelopes to be mailed to inmates. It is best to only use blue or black ink.

Postcards and envelopes MUST HAVE the sender's full name and return address on the envelope. 

When sending mail to your inmate, format it in the following manner:
Inmate Name, Inmate ID Number,
Housing Unit (if known)
Northern State Prison
168 Frontage Rd
Newark, NJ 07114

Legal Mail

Send all Legal Mail to this Address:
Inmate Name, Inmate ID Number,
Housing Unit (if known)
Northern State Prison
168 Frontage Rd
Newark, NJ 07114

Newspapers
Newspapers may also be mailed to an inmate as long as they are shipped directly from the publisher.

Magazines
News, special interest or sports magazines may also be mailed to an inmate as long as they are shipped directly from the publisher. Any magazines that contain profanity, weapons, pornography or other content that is adult in nature will be confiscated by the jail staff and will NOT be delivered to the inmate.

List of Unauthorized Publications

Books
The Northern State Prison allows books to be mailed directly to the jail from a reputable source such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. You can order them directly from your computer and have them shipped to the inmate at the address noted.
Books must NOT contain images or content that are considered excessively violent, pornographic or obscene. Any book that does not meet the Northern State Prison standards will be disposed of. 
Hard cover books will not be accepted by the jail due to their potential to be used as a weapon.

All newspapers, magazines and books are to be shipped to:
Inmate Name, Inmate ID Number,
Housing Unit (if known)
Northern State Prison
168 Frontage Rd
Newark, NJ 07114

Northern State Prison Inmate Commissary Information

Commissary is a term the NJDOC uses for the service from which inmates are allowed to purchase items.

The commissary provides a variety of personal hygiene products, over- the-counter medications, food and snack items, clothing, underwear, writing materials, footwear, religious items and various approved electronics. Items may vary at each correctional facility, depending on the custody status and gender of the inmate.

Inmates at the Northern State Prison are limited to spending $300 per month on commissary items.  They use the money that is deposited for them in their Jpay Inmate Trust Account, or with money thay earn at their prison job.

Northern State Prison uses the services of JPAY for you to send money to an inmate's trust fund / commissary account. 

You can send money to an inmate/offender's commissary/spendable account through the Send Money page.
There are several ways to send money to an inmate/offender.

1. Online payments
2. Over the phone by calling 800-574-5729
3. MoneyGram
4. If you wish to send cash you can use MoneyGram. MoneyGram has many convenient locations nationwide.
   The following establishments will always have MoneyGram services:
   Walmart
   7-11
   CVS Pharmacy

You will need:
Inmate's Correctional ID number and last name
The facility name or receive code.
You can visit the MoneyGram website to find locations near you.

        5. Money Order - Inmate's Name must be on the Money Order. Fill out and send this form > (English form, Spanish form)

        6. Lobby Kiosk
            You can use a debit or credit card in the lobby kiosk to send funds to an inmate/offender.

Northern State Prison uses Jpay for Inmate Email.

Register here. (You are already registered if you signed up with Jpay for 'Phone' or 'Remote Visitation').

Steps: 
1.  Sign up for eMessaging
2. Find your inmate.
3. Purchase a book of Jpay ‘stamps’.
4. Type & Send message.

Things you CAN do:
1.  You CAN ONLY send messages from the Jpay website, or with the Jpay app. (links below).
2. You CAN deposit money to your inmate, and they can use the credit on their end.
4. Each time you send a message, you CAN pay for them to reply.
5. You CAN send photos. (Jail staff will review for appropriateness) 

Things you CANNOT do:
1.  You CANNOT use your own personal email to send messages.
2. You CANNOT send any message or photo that would normally be rejected by regular mail.

Other Things:
1.  Photos must be .jpg, .jpeg or .png.
2. eMessages and photos must meet the jail’s standards for regular mail.
3. If your eMessage or Photo is rejected you will be notified of the reason, but you will NOT get a refund.

What is the cost of sending inmate messages?

• Send a text Message - 1 stamp
• Purchase a reply for your inmate - 1 stamp
• Attach up to 5 photos - 1 stamp each photo
• Share up to 5 eCards - 1 stamp each eCard
• Send just a photo with no text - 1 stamp
• Send a 30 second VideoGram - 3 stamps

What can your inmate do with digital 'stamps'?

• Reply to your eMessage if you attach a return stamp
• Receive transferred stamps you share with them (no cost to transfer)
• When available, they can purchase their own stamps from their Inmate Debit Account

Contact Information and Help:
eMessaging FAQ  
eMessaging Signup & Helpful Information  
Online Customer Service Support 
Phone Support: 800-574-5729
iphone app
Android app

Northern State Prison now offers Jpay Tablets to their inmates.

  
Jpay is the same company that handles money deposits, video visitations, email and texting and digital letters.

The tablets can be rented on a monthly basis and while not directly connected to the internet, the inmates can use them for the following activities:

• Phone Calls - Inmates may make calls directly from their tablet allowing for more privacy. The rates are the same as the phones in the unit, and the calls are still recorded and monitored.
• eMessaging - Communicate via a text based message or picture. Fee based system.
• Education - Free educational platform and course catalog that provides thousands of educational resources.
• Self Help -Inmates have daily access to mental health and addiction recovery programming.
• Music - Top-40, Hip-Hop, Country, Rock, Gospel, and more.
• Law Library -  Legal research with up-to-date case information.
• eBooks - Thousands of available titles.
• Religion - Religious resources for spiritual guidance.
• Games - Inmates can play their favorite games. Available through monthly subscriptions
• Facility Services - Digital access to submitted forms, requests, facility documents, and notifications from staff.

Here's how it works:

• Register here.  It is recommended you use Chrome or Firefox.
• Pay for the subscription.
• You get charged the 1st of each month. 
• You get charged a full month even if it's only used for a partial month.
• No activation or early termination fees.
• Your inmate will receive their tablet in 3-5 business days, after you pay.

Questions:

• By phone - 800-574-5729

Once an inmate is convicted and sentenced for a violation of that state’s felony laws (and their sentence is more than one year in length), they are moved from the City or County Jail and sent to a State Prison in New Jersey. If the violation they are convicted of is a federal crime, they will be sent to a Federal Prison, but will not necessarily be doing their time in New Jersey.

New Jersey State Prisons are operated and maintained by the state government and are used to confine and rehabilitate criminals. State prisons are funded by state tax money. The fund is used to provide food and clothes to inmates and to hire employees to keep the prison running. Inmates in state prison enjoy certain privileges such as TV use and recreation, both indoor and outdoor. The number of privileges allowed depends on the security level of the prison, the inmate and the overall needs of the prison on a specific day.

New Jersey has minimum, medium and maximum security prisons. The Corrections Department in New Jersey also maintains low (or no) security residential settings and camps where inmates assist in state property maintenance and duties such as fighting fires. Almost all prisons provide ‘jobs’ where an inmate can earn a small hourly wage and even learn a trade. Some prisons even contract with call centers and handle phone calls on issues related to their state government. Criminals who have committed a violent crime or killed someone are likely housed in a maximum security prison. If the inmate in these prisons behave, they are also eligible to recreate and/or work as well.

In New Jersey Prisons rehabilitation is the stated goal but the reality is that they exist to punish inmates for their crimes and keep them from hurting or harming innocent people on the outside who follow the laws and live and act responsibly. The fact is that most prison systems are underfunded, overcrowded and are not able to spend time and money rehabilitating offenders. This is not the fault of the people hired to work in prisons, they are just victims of the lack of resources due to budgeting constraints.

State Inmate

Most states have Department of Corrections websites that allow you to type in a felon's first and last name and pull up inmates in that state.

If you need to find a sentenced inmate serving time in a state other than New Jersey, go here. To find an inmate in New Jersey, just scroll to the top of the page and click on the Inmate Search button.

Once you locate them click next to the inmate's name or on the link provided and it will show you which prison the inmate is housed in. If the inmate is no longer incarcerated, but is on parole/probation or discharged, it will tell you that as well. In addition, many state prison inmate pages show recent mug shots.

Federal Inmate

The federal prison system has its own inmate locator called the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator.

Type in the inmate's name and it will tell you where he or she is incarcerated and their projected release date. It also lists released federal prison inmates and the date they were released.

Federal inmates who are moved from one prison to another will show as "No longer in federal custody" on the system until they reach their next federal prison destination. This movement can take a few days to several months to complete, so keep checking back to find out where the inmate was taken.

ICE Inmates

The ICE Detainee Lookup allows friends, family members and interested parties to locate illegal and/or undocumented immigrants that are in the United States without permission.

Has the Inmate been recently arrested?... Try a County Jail

In many cases, the person you are looking for has either not been convicted or sentenced or has been sentenced and is awaiting transport to a State or Federal Prison and is still incarcerated in a City or County Jail.

To locate that person, go here to first find the State, and then the County where they were originally arrested or have been transported to. From there you can begin your search in our databases that contain the names and information of millions of inmates.

Jailexchange.com has all information on every jail and prison in the United States.