Find Someone in Jail — Right Now
I use these same tools every single day. Here's everything you need to find your person, figure out where they are, and know the moment they walk out.
VINELink — The One I Always Go To First
VINELink is a free nationwide notification service. What makes it different from the county jail websites is that you can search by first and last name without a date of birth, and it only needs the first two or three characters of the name to start showing results. That matters a lot when you're dealing with a name that got entered wrong.
Here's the real reason I love it: jail booking clerks are human. Names get misspelled. Two last names get combined into one. Middle and last names get swapped. Someone's one digit off on the birth year. The county websites won't find anything if the name doesn't match exactly — but VINELink gives you enough flexibility to scroll through and spot the right person by age, county, and arrest date.
The Four-Name Problem — and How to Work Around It
A lot of Hispanic culture uses four names — a first name, a middle name, and two last names. When law enforcement books someone, those four names often get entered as one long string, or the middle name and two last names get combined and misspelled as a single last name. When you go to the county sheriff website and type in the name exactly as you know it, you get nothing. VINELink fixes this. You only need two characters for the first name and two for the last name. Type 'MA' and 'GA' and you'll get a scrollable list of everyone with a name close to that. You scan by age, county, and booking date until you spot your person. Once you find them in VINELink, you know which facility they're in — then you go to that county's system with the right information.
Pro tip: No date of birth? No problem. If you're bonding out a friend and you know roughly how old they are but not their exact birthday, VINELink lets you find them by partial name and narrow it down by age. The county websites will reject you without a DOB. VINELink won't.
The Release Notification System
This is the part most families don't know about. Once you find the person in VINELink, you can sign up to be notified the moment they're released. You choose: email, text, or phone call. It asks you to create a four-digit PIN — pick something you'll remember, because when it notifies you, you have to enter that PIN to confirm you got the message. If you don't confirm it, it keeps notifying you. That's actually a feature, not a bug — it won't stop until it knows you know.
If you're not picking them up and just want to know they made it out, this is perfect. Set it and go about your day. If you are picking them up, this is still useful — county jail releases can take six, eight, even ten hours after bail is posted. You don't want to sit in a parking lot for half a day. Set the notification, and when it fires, that's your cue to head over or call an Uber.
Opens vinelink.com in a new tab — free, no account required
When the Name Search Comes Up Empty
This happens constantly. The cosigner gives me the right name, but the jail has it entered differently. Here's what I try:
County Inmate Search Tools
Direct links to the official inmate locators for every county I work in.
Los Angeles County
LASD Inmate Information Center
Official Los Angeles County Sheriff inmate locator. Covers all LASD facilities including Men's Central Jail, Twin Towers, Century Regional Detention Facility, and all station jails.
LAPD Jail Division
For arrests made by LAPD (not Sheriff). Covers LAPD custody facilities.
Orange County
OC Sheriff Inmate Information System
Official Orange County Sheriff inmate locator. Covers IRC, Central Men's Jail, Women's Jail, Theo Lacy, and James Musick facilities.
San Bernardino County
SB County Sheriff Inmate Locator
Official San Bernardino County Sheriff inmate search. Covers West Valley Detention Center, Central Detention Center, High Desert Detention Center, and Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center.
Riverside County
Riverside County Sheriff Inmate Locator
Official Riverside County Sheriff inmate search. Covers Robert Presley Detention Center, Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, Southwest Detention Center, and Indio Jail.
City Jails — When They're Not Showing Up in the County System
If someone was arrested by a city police department, they may be held at the city jail before transfer to the county. The county system won't show them until they transfer. Here are the direct lines for the city jails I deal with most:
Common Questions
Found Them? Call Me — I'll Get Them Out.
Once you know where they are and what the bail is set at, I can usually have them out within a few hours. I'm available 24/7. Call me directly — not a call center, not an answering service. Me.
Not legal advice. The information on this page is based on Chad Conley's 15+ years as a licensed bail bondsman, plus additional experience as an investigator and bounty hunter, and is intended to help families understand the general process. It is not legal advice, and Chad Conley is not an attorney. Every case is different. If you have legal questions about your specific situation, please consult a licensed attorney.