The state's lookup for its prisons is the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision's Incarcerated Lookup, which the state service page describes as real time information on current and certain former incarcerated individuals in all 44 DOCCS correctional facilities, taken from the department's main database at the moment of the request. It runs on a Department Identification Number, the DIN, on a New York State Identification Number, the NYSID, which is meant for criminal justice use and is never shown in a result reached another way, or on a last name alone or with a first name, middle initial, suffix and birth year. The tool is open from 12:00 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. Monday to Friday and 12:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekends, and the department answers at 518-457-8126 on weekdays from 8:30 to 5 or through its web contact form, from 1220 Washington Avenue, Building 4, Albany, NY 12226-2050.
Who is listed matters as much as how. Current incarcerated individuals and certain former ones since the early 1970s appear; youthful offenders, people whose convictions were set aside, people under Strict and Intensive Supervision Treatment, and people whose history was removed under Correction Law section 9 do not. That section requires DOCCS to remove a limited class of non violent offenders five years after they complete the maximum term or the parole or post release supervision, with the record restored if they return to prison, and it never applies to those ineligible for merit time under Correction Law section 803(1)(d), the violent felony, sex offense and certain A-1 felony convictions other than drugs, or to anyone with an offense under the Sex Offender Registration Act, who remain listed indefinitely. The page also notes Correction Law 752 and Executive Law 296(15), which bar discrimination in hiring or licensing for a prior conviction unless it bears directly on the job or poses an unreasonable risk.
- State prisons: the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup, by DIN, NYSID, or name with birth year, with the facility, custody status, crimes and every sentence and release date.
- New York City jails: the Department of Correction's Person in Custody Lookup for the Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens and Richmond counties, by NYSID, book and case number, or name with date of birth or age, also by calling 311; it does not cover police, state or federal custody.
- County jails: the State Commission of Correction links the three locators and sends every question to the agency running the facility; the jails outside the city are found on the New York county pages, Westchester for one through VINELink and its own inmate lookup.
- Mail: to a state facility with the incarcerated individual's name and DIN and a return address top left, letters and photographs only, no more than five printed pages, and packages only from vendors under Directive 4911.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New York's own systems: the New York State service page Find an Incarcerated Individual at a Correctional Facility, the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup, the DOCCS Mail and Packages page, the State Commission of Correction Incarcerated Individual Locators page, the New York City Department of Correction Person in Custody Lookup, the city Department of Correction Send Money page, the city lookup service's frequently asked questions, the Westchester County Department of Correction Visiting and Communication page, the Westchester County Phone Calls and Video Visitation page, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Reading a DOCCS record: the DIN and the dates
A DIN is assigned at admission and used through the whole incarceration whatever the facility. It has three parts: a two digit year of initial admission for the current incarceration, a letter for the reception center where the person was admitted, and a four digit sequence, so 98-A-0004 belongs to the fourth person admitted at Downstate Reception Center in 1998. The record carries race and ethnicity as self reported, the date of birth and age, the custody status, which reads IN CUSTODY for anyone now held, including someone on work release who may be working or living in the community part of the time, and for the released a phrase saying how they left; the housing or releasing facility, which for the released is the facility that holds the records and answers questions; the county of commitment; the original and current dates received and the admission type; the latest release date and type; the crimes of conviction, limited to those with the longest sentences when more exist; and the sentence terms, the aggregate minimum and maximum, the earliest release date and type, the parole interview date and type, the parole eligibility date, the conditional release date, the maximum expiration date, the maximum expiration date for parole supervision, the post release supervision maximum expiration date and the parole board discharge date.
The lookup warns that a person may be released before the minimum term and before the earliest release date it shows, and dates its own data to the moment the page was prepared.
The city jails: the Person in Custody Lookup
The New York City Department of Correction serves the five boroughs, and its Person in Custody Lookup gives the current location of a person in its custody with basic case information, searched by NYSID or book and case number, or by first and last name with the date of birth or age; it is not for people in police, state or federal custody. The service's own questions say the information is presumed accurate when extracted from the jail management system, that most information, releases included, appears within 15 minutes of entry while some takes up to four hours, that the data goes back to September 2005 and no further, that it should not be relied on for any legal action, which the department's Legal Division handles, and that 311 gives the same information by phone.
The lookup is also the road to a deposit: a person in custody may hold no cash, a visitor who hands over cash is subject to arrest, and the Send Money page lists the money transfer agents who take deposits by phone, internet, walk in or kiosk for a fee the department does not share, with no fee at a DOC cashier's window: JPay at 800-574-JPAY, with cash only kiosks, and Western Union at 800-325-6000 with the city code NYCITYDOC and the state code NY, each needing the person's first and last name and book and case number; the Send Money button on a person's lookup page opens the agents.
Mail and packages at a state facility
The department's Mail and Packages page allows and encourages correspondence, restricted only as far as safety, security and unwanted mail require, and bars correspondence with anyone on the individual's negative correspondence list or protected by a court order. Every piece of mail carries the incarcerated individual's name and DIN and the sender's return address in the top left corner; envelopes may hold personal letters and photographs, but not nude or Polaroid photographs, postage stamps, or letters from other people except children.
Printed or photocopied material is limited to five pages per piece of regular correspondence, a newspaper clipping counting as a page, with nothing taped or glued together, and once every four months the individual may ask the Superintendent in writing to receive more than five pages of legal papers on an active case, to arrive within 30 days of approval. Incoming mail is opened and inspected for cash, checks, money orders, printed material and contraband; money is credited to the account, printed material waits on media review, unauthorized items are returned at the individual's expense or disposed of, and dangerous contraband is never returned.
Packages are allowed at most facilities but not at Shock Incarceration, the Drug Treatment Program, Work Release, CASAT or I-ASAT, and under Directive 4911 they come only from vendors by the Postal Service, FedEx or UPS, never brought to a visit or mailed by family, with a list of disapproved vendors.
A county jail example: Westchester
The county jails keep their own records and rules. Westchester County's Department of Correction offers its own inmate lookup form and VINELink, takes letters at the resident's name, PO Box 10, Valhalla, New York 10595, or through a direct print service for color photos, letters and cards, and runs its phones through ViaPath, with accounts for collect calls at (800) 483-8314 or by mail to Advance Pay Service Dept. 1722, PO Box 209722, Dallas, TX 75320-9722, customer service at (877) 650-4249, and a Phone Block Form for anyone who wants no calls; every call is recorded unless the number is on the department's Do-Not-Record list, which attorneys join by email with photo ID and an attorney registration card.
Video visits run through Securus with a free account, a government issued photo ID showing the current address, and rules that end a visit for gang signs, a visitor under 18 alone, a visitor driving, more than three visitors, nudity or recording. General information is at (914) 231-1000, and a visitor who is sick is asked to stay away until 24 hours after the symptoms end.
Reading a New York result
Three systems, three answers: a DOCCS record means state custody or a recorded state release, with the DIN that every letter needs; a city lookup hit means one of the five borough jails, updated within minutes; and a county jail is the sheriff's or the county department's own record, reached through its lookup or VINELink. Someone missing from the state lookup may be a youthful offender, a person whose conviction was set aside, or a non violent offender removed five years after the sentence ended under Correction Law section 9.
Questions about finding an inmate in New York
Related New York records
The lookups are part of the New York records this site covers: the New York arrest records guide explains what a booking makes public, the court records guide covers the Unified Court System files, the sex offender registry guide covers the Division of Criminal Justice Services registry, and the New York county pages list each sheriff and jail.