Contrary to what some may think, getting arrested and put in jail is actually a very common situation. And it does not have to be for a very serious reason, such as harming someone. People get arrested and have to spend one night in jail even for small incidents, such as traffic offenses.
If you can’t get a hold of a friend or member of your family, and you have checked the local hospitals with no results, the local police and jails should be the next step in your search. And if you don’t want to call every police office in your area to find out if someone was incarcerated, there is an easier way to get this information.
Thankfully, the internet comes to our aid once again and makes it much simpler to find out if someone is either into custody or incarcerated by performing an inmate search.
Resources you can use
At this point, there are two ways you can look for an inmate online. The first one is to do a direct jail search using resources provided by the county or local authorities.
Check the county’s official website and see if they provide an online database of inmates being held in county jail. Usually, the information you need is the persons’ first and last name, but checking other details such as date of birth can ensure you found the right person and not someone with the same name. If your county does not provide an inmate database, you can check for court records, but remember that some of this information takes a few days to be made public.
Another option is to use a third-party website that provides online inmate search services. Again, you will need the person’s name, and the database will reveal a list of every inmate that matches the details provided. In some cases, to narrow down your search, you will have to provide the county as well. For example, if you live in Connecticut, a simple CT inmate search will tell you if a friend or family member is being kept in local or county jail.
What is there to do now?
When they get arrested, people are allowed to make one phone call. If you are the person your loved one should have called but did not, keep in mind that it may be either because they called their lawyer or because they were ashamed to admit what happened to them.
The important thing to do now is to stay calm and do all you can to help your friend. Maybe they got into a minor altercation at a pub, or maybe they got their eyes of the road for a second and damaged someone’s property. Just because someone is in jail, it does not mean they killed someone or robbed a bank.
Talk to the DA’s office and see if you can get any important information, such as if the car was impounded and they need someone to pick it up, or if the person has already appeared in front of a judge. This usually happens 24048 hours after their arrest.