Reviewed and updated October 7, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. Every fact on this page was taken from the office that keeps the record, on its own website, on October 6, 2026.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff runs the county's two jails and books everyone the county's police departments keep in custody. One search covers both jails. This guide also gives the rules families ask about most, money, phones, visits and mail, and the size of the jail population, from the Sheriff's own pages and the county's jail studies.
This guide covers the search, the two jails, visiting, money, phones and mail, federal and state prisons and common questions.
The other Santa Barbara County guides cover the county's public records offices, arrest records, warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records. SearchSystems also has guides for the cities of Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Goleta, Carpinteria, Guadalupe, Solvang and Buellton.
Who Is In Custody
The Sheriff's Who Is In Custody page searches everyone in county custody by first name, last name or inmate number (CID). The Sheriff's Jail Information page says virtually all public information about the inmate is there: the housing location, the charges, the custody status and the CID number. The page carries a disclaimer that the data should not be relied on for any type of legal action. For anything more, call the Main Jail at (805) 681-4260 or the Northern Branch Jail at (805) 554-3100.
People arrested by a city police department who are released with a citation, or held a few hours at the station, never reach the search. The Santa Maria police hold detainees no longer than about four hours and have no jail; the Lompoc police have a station jail, (805) 875-8140, and are covered in the Lompoc guide.
The Two County Jails
- Main Jail: 4436 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, CA 93110, (805) 681-4260, on the jail campus beside the Sheriff's headquarters. The county's Northern Branch Jail Expansion Staffing Study of February 2025 gives the campus a rated capacity of 819, with linear cells completed in 1970, the Northwest Module added in 1987, and an Inmate Reception Center where property is handled.
- Northern Branch Jail: 2301 Black Road, Santa Maria, CA 93455, (805) 554-3100. The Sheriff's Jail Facilities page describes it: 376 beds in 133,000 square feet, for men and women in medium and high security housing, with 32 beds for mental health and medical use, an outpatient clinic, exercise yards attached to each housing unit, and 124 full-time employees including 90 custody deputies. The site was bought in April 2008 and the state paid $80 million of the cost; the ribbon was cut on November 18, 2021 and the first inmates, more than 250 of them, were moved from the Main Jail on January 22, 2022. The February 2025 study plans an expansion with a reception center and 120 reception housing beds.
The old Santa Maria Branch Jail closed in July 2017. The Sheriff's Custody Operations page is the index to every custody page, and the Sheriff's custody policies run to hundreds of pages, posted on the same site.
How many people are in the jails
The Sheriff publishes the daily population, bookings and the breakdown by race, gender and age on its Custody Jail Data page, as live dashboards. The longer record is in the Santa Barbara County Criminal Justice Overview and Jail Projections, a June 2022 report the county commissioned: the jail population stayed between 1,000 and 1,200 from 2011 to 2019, fell by nearly 400 at the start of the pandemic, rose by about 100 in October 2021 when zero bail for warrants ended, and was projected to run between 800 and 900 through this decade. Bookings fell 18 percent between 2011 and 2019 and fell further in the pandemic. Most people in the jail are unsentenced, waiting for their cases. The Sheriff posts notices of deaths in custody on its news page; two were posted in September and October 2026.
Visiting
Visits at the Northern Branch Jail are booked online: every visitor first registers with ViaPath at santabarbaraca.gtlvisitme.com, and approved visitors then schedule a visit. Inmates get two visits a week, with up to two visitors at a time, from a list of up to four names. Visitors check in 15 to 30 minutes early with photo identification. Anyone in custody in the past 12 months or on felony probation may not visit, and a person who served a state prison term needs the facility commander's written permission. The full rules are on the Sheriff's Visit an Inmate page.
At the Main Jail, visits are 30 minutes long and run by housing unit on a weekly timetable, from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with check-in opening 45 minutes before the visit and closing 15 minutes before it; the Sheriff posts the Main Jail visitation schedule by unit and day.
Money, Phones, Mail and Property
Money goes on an inmate's account through TouchPay: online at TouchPayOnline.com, by phone at (866) 232-1899 with the Sheriff's site number 293110, or at the kiosks in the lobbies of the Northern Branch Jail and the Main Jail, which take cash, debit and credit, around the clock. The inmate's name and booking number are required. Care packages come only through iCare, at icaregifts.com or (877) 615-3296. The details are on the Sheriff's Inmate Deposit System page.
The jail phones work from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Family can buy prepaid phone and tablet minutes from Telmate at gettingout.com or (866) 516-0115, and can leave a 30-second voice message for $1. People with no money are given hygiene and welfare packs, legal services and transportation at release. Inmates can take Santa Barbara City College classes, work toward a diploma or GED, and join the Sheriff's Treatment Program; the Sheriff's Programs Unit page lists them.
Letters go by U.S. Mail with the inmate's name and CID number, to the Northern Branch Jail at 2301 Black Road, Santa Maria, CA 93455, or to the Main Jail at 4436 Calle Real, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. Up to five photographs of 4 by 6 inches or smaller may go in one envelope; books and magazines must come straight from a publisher or seller. The Sheriff's Mail and Books page lists what is refused.
Property an inmate asks to release is picked up at the Inmate Reception Center at the Main Jail on Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 4 to 7 p.m., with a government photo ID; the property of someone sent to state prison must be collected within 30 days, by the Sheriff's Inmate Property page.
Federal and State Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons runs a prison complex on the north side of Lompoc, holding people serving federal sentences, not people arrested on local charges: FCI Lompoc I, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436, (805) 736-4154, and FCI Lompoc II, 3901 Klein Boulevard, Lompoc, CA 93436, (805) 735-2771. Find a federal inmate, and the prison that holds them, with the Bureau's federal inmate locator, by name or register number. The Lompoc guide covers the visiting and money rules.
People sentenced to state prison in a Santa Barbara County case are held by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; its state prison inmate locator finds them by name or CDCR number. Juvenile custody and juvenile court records are confidential; the court's Juvenile Division page says no information is given over the phone.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Santa Barbara County?
Use the Sheriff's Who Is In Custody search, by name or CID number; it covers both the Main Jail and the Northern Branch Jail. For a federal prisoner at FCI Lompoc, use the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.
What is the phone number for the Santa Barbara County jail?
(805) 681-4260 for the Main Jail in Santa Barbara and (805) 554-3100 for the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria.
How do I put money on an inmate's account at the Santa Barbara County jail?
Through TouchPay, online at TouchPayOnline.com, by phone at (866) 232-1899 with site number 293110, or at the lobby kiosks at either jail.
How many people are in the Santa Barbara County jail?
Between 800 and 900 on a typical day, by the county's 2022 projection, down from 1,000 to 1,200 before the pandemic. The Sheriff posts the daily count on its Custody Jail Data page.
How do I visit someone at the Northern Branch Jail?
Register with ViaPath at santabarbaraca.gtlvisitme.com, wait for approval, then schedule the visit. Inmates get two visits a week.
How big is the Northern Branch Jail?
376 beds in 133,000 square feet at 2301 Black Road near Santa Maria, opened in January 2022 with 124 staff, 90 of them custody deputies.