Search Alachua County Jail Inmates

Alachua County Jail Roster Overview

The Alachua County Sheriff's Office runs the Department of the Jail and hosts a public inmate search. The sheriff's official text explains that the search lets the public see whether a person is currently an inmate in the Alachua County Jail, and that the tool is hosted on an outside site, so clicking through leaves the sheriff's own pages. The portal lives at asosite.alachuasheriff.org and is reached from the official inmate search page. No login or fee was observed for the public lookup.

The roster is a current-custody tool, not a full history. It does not list sentenced felons who moved to state prison, federal inmates, or immigration detainees. Those are searched in separate systems: the Florida Department of Corrections for state prisoners, the Bureau of Prisons for federal inmates, and the ICE detainee locator for immigration holds. The sheriff does not publish how often the roster refreshes or how long a released name stays visible.

How to Use the Alachua County Inmate Roster

You can reach the roster from the ACSO inmate search page, which links to the public lookup. All you need to start is a last name. A booking number helps when a name is common, and a partial last name returns a wider set of results.

1. Open the sheriff's inmate search page and follow the official link to asosite.alachuasheriff.org.
2. Type the inmate's last name; the search accepts incomplete entries and ignores capitalization.
3. Add a first name or booking number to narrow the list, or use View All to load every current inmate.
4. Click the linked last name to open the profile, then expand the case and charge rows with the plus icons.

The official lookup form at the public inmate lookup portal is shown below.

The same form drives a single-name search and the full view-all roster, so one screen covers both kinds of lookup.

Alachua County Roster Search Fields

The portal keeps the search simple. It accepts a last name, a first name, and a booking number, plus a button that returns the entire current roster. The sheriff notes that entries can be partial and are not case sensitive, which is useful when a spelling is uncertain.

A list result shows last name, first name, full name, booking date, race, sex, age, pod, and arrest agency. Race and sex appear as codes such as W or B and M or F, and arrest agency shows abbreviations like ASO, GPD, DOJ, FHP, and PAP.

What an Alachua County Inmate Profile Shows

A profile opens with identity and custody basics, then expands into case and charge detail when you click the plus icons. One field to note is the MNI number, a master identifier in a form like DOJ02MNI028152 that you also need when depositing money. The table below lists the main fields drawn from a public profile inspected on the roster.

Note: the list view does not show the booking photo, but the person-specific profile does, so open the individual record to see the picture.

Finding County, State, and Federal Inmates

The county roster only covers one slice of custody. Pretrial detainees and people serving up to a year sit in the county jail and appear on the sheriff's roster. Sentenced felons move into the Florida Department of Corrections and are tracked in the state locator. Federal inmates and immigration detainees show up in their own national systems. Searching the right one saves time, because a person who transferred to prison will not appear on the county list.

The state corrections database is completely refreshed weekly, with release dates and location changes updated nightly, and it holds public-record information on felons sentenced to state prison or supervision. It does not include county jail or county probation. For movement alerts, VINELink is Florida's notification channel, though live county jail coverage there should be confirmed before relying on it.

Alachua County Jail Facilities

The adult county jail is the facility behind the roster, but several other detention settings sit nearby in Gainesville. The two contact cards below cover the county jail and the state work camp; the full set of facility pages is linked in the sidebar and footer.

Booking Process in Alachua County

Booking is handled by the sheriff's Booking Support Bureau, a civilian-staffed operation that runs around the clock. After arrest and transport to the jail, staff search the person for contraband, take fingerprints through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, and take digital photographs for identity and to record scars, tattoos, and other marks. Property is logged, an inmate account is set up, and a medical and mental-health screen follows. Booking data is entered so the state criminal-history file stays accurate, which is part of why a record appears on the roster within a few hours.

Every new arrestee appears before a judge within 24 hours of intake. First appearance is held by closed-circuit television while the defendant stays at the jail, with family attending at the Criminal Courthouse at 220 South Main Street rather than the jail. Weekday first appearances run at 9:00 a.m. and weekend or holiday sessions at 9:30 a.m. Classification, the process that assigns housing based on charges, history, and risk, happens after first appearance.

Release, Holds, and Custody Alerts

Release is rarely instant after a court orders it. The sheriff lists several reasons a person can stay in custody past the order, including document errors, registration or testing requirements, active warrants, holds or detainers from another jurisdiction, electronic monitoring, heavy court dockets, and Nebbia hearings that test the source of bond money. A no-bond status can also block release even when money is otherwise available. Bond questions go to the Booking Support Bureau, with a supervisor reachable around the clock at (352) 491-4459.

To follow a person's movement rather than check the roster repeatedly, Florida ties custody notifications to VINE. Registering through VINELink can trigger automated calls on changes such as release, transfer, or escape, though live county jail coverage there should be confirmed first. The sheriff also lists an iOS app, but the app-store text did not confirm an inmate roster feature, so the online roster and the phone line remain the reliable channels.

Visitation Hours and Rules

Visits must be scheduled 24 hours in advance through the VideoVisitAnywhere system, and the assistance line is (352) 491-4511. Inmates not on disciplinary confinement get two hours of non-contact visitation per week, which can be split into two one-hour sessions with two visitors each. Visitation begins 24 hours after first appearance, or 24 hours after booking for those not being first-appeared. Visitors clear a metal detector, bring valid photo ID, and may not carry phones or cameras into the visitation area. The schedule below is a sample of the published housing-based hours; confirm a specific pod before traveling.

Note: G and H pod visitation closes 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. for cleaning, and some units require a call to the jail lobby to confirm a visit.

How to Contact an Alachua County Inmate

Mail, phone, and money each follow strict rules. Non-legal incoming mail must be a postcard, sized between 3.5 by 5 inches and 4.25 by 6 inches, pre-stamped, and marked with the inmate's full name and a complete return address. The mailing address is 3333 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32609. Privileged legal mail is opened and inspected in the inmate's presence but not read. Many common items are rejected, including photos, drawings, labels, tape, and anything with stains or strong odors.

Inmates cannot receive calls. Outgoing calls run daily from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. through the vendor Securus, are monitored, and are limited to 15 minutes. Phone problems go to Securus at (800) 844-6591.

Commissary and Inmate Funds

Money can be added at the jail lobby kiosk, by lobby drop-box money order, through AccessCorrections.com, and through Access Securepak. The kiosk takes bills except $1 bills and major cards, posts in real time around the clock, and charges a small fee, with a $5 minimum increment. The inmate's MNI number is required for a deposit. Commissary is run by Trinity at (352) 491-4524, orders are picked up Tuesday by 8:00 a.m., funds are checked at 8:00 a.m. Tuesday, and orders are capped at $60 per week.

If a record is missing, a public-records request to the sheriff is the fallback. The Alachua County Sheriff's Office accepts requests online through its JustFOIA portal, in person at the records window at 2621 SE Hawthorne Road, and by phone to jail records at (352) 491-4444. Booking photos for current inmates are covered on the jail roster mugshots page.