Execute a Free Colorado Inmate Search (Search Convicts)

Perform a free Colorado inmate search to remain informed about people currently in custody.

Inmates are individuals who are incarcerated in jail or prison. Access to public records helps citizens keeps the government accountable and allows citizens to be in the know.

This resource addresses how to ethically and responsibly locate inmates in Colorado using online databases and search tools.

What’s the Difference Between Prison & Jail Inmates?

Because inmates can be held in either prison or jail, it’s a good idea to understand the difference between holding facilities before embarking on a search. The easiest way to differentiate them is to realize that jails house those accused or convicted of city or county crimes while prisons hold those convicted of state or federal offenses.

Jails may be holding facilities for either counties or cities, with county jails run by sheriff’s offices and city or municipal jails overseen by city police departments. County jails can hold individuals arrested anywhere in the county. In some cases, counties only have a county-level jail.

City-level jails house those arrested by the overseeing police department. Some police departments take those arrested to county-level holding facilities if a city jail is not available.

People held in jail may have been arrested but not yet tried for their alleged crime, or they may be sentenced to serve time for an offense. Most inmates fall into this category.

A judge may sentence someone convicted of a state or federal offense to serve time in prison. It’s more common to see individuals incarcerated at the state level than the federal level. If the state has convicted someone, the inmate is held in a state prison.

The state’s Department of Corrections (DOC) oversees these prisons. Those convicted of federal crimes go to a prison overseen by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

How To Retrieve Colorado Jail Inmate Details

To begin a Colorado inmate lookup at the jail level, it can help to know whether the inmate is in a city or county jail. The best place to start this search is with the location where the inmate was arrested. This can point you toward the correct county or municipality.

From there, search for online databases operated by the jail you suspect they’re in. The Colorado Information Sharing Consortium maintains a database of law enforcement agencies in the state, which may assist in locating contact information for the specific jail an inmate is in.^{1, 2}

For example, in Denver County – the largest county in Colorado – the sheriff’s department has an online inmate search tool that provides results for both the county jail and the city’s downtown detention center.³ The inmate search tool allows full or partial names, but entering as much information as possible is useful. First, the tool populates results with basic identifying details, including:

• Last, First & Middle Names
• Age
• Sex
• Race
• Facility
• Booking Status
• Criminal Descriptor (CD) Number – the inmate’s unique identifying number
• Booking Number

Clicking on the individual’s last name, which is hyperlinked, then adds additional identifiers, including a full physical profile with height, eye color and hair color.

The database also provides robust case details, including all case numbers pertaining to the individual if they’ve committed more than one crime, as well as offense codes and details about their charges. The tool also offers court information, including upcoming court dates, the court location and room number and any ordered bond.

Direct inquiries that cannot be answered online to the Denver Sheriff Department at:

Denver Sheriff Department
P.O. Box 1108
490 West Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80204

Phone: 720-913-3642
Email: [email protected]

City-level jails are uncommon in Colorado. This is true in Denver, where the search tool listed above provides information about those detained across the county and within the city. Likewise, in Broomfield, the jail serves as both a city and county facility.

The City & County of Broomfield Detention Center maintains a list of individuals in custody, as well as details about their charges, bond amount and next court date.^{5, 6} While this is available online, there’s no interactive database that allows you to search for a specific individual. Interested parties can also call the automated phone line at 720-887-2000 for inmate information.

Other resources also provide useful information. For example, you could access a database of criminal and arrest records in Colorado, also including a list of every county jail’s contact information and inmate search links when applicable. This could prove beneficial during an inmate search, as it can direct you to the correct pages and potentially reveal criminal records.

How To Perform a Colorado Inmate Search for State Prisoners

The Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) facilitates the inmate search process by providing a statewide offender search tool. It offers some useful tips that may help with the process, including how to format searches to get the best results.⁷ These tips include not hyphenating two last names and entering a known date of birth as mm/dd/yy.

Using the CDOC Offender Search tool to run an inmate search is uncomplicated.⁸ Enter as much information about the inmate as you can. Fields include:

• DOCNO (Department of Corrections number — a 6-digit identifying number for the inmate)
• Last Name
• First Name
• Select a Gender (use “all” if unsure)

Partial entries for the name are accepted with as little as one letter, though such wide parameters may retrieve hundreds of results. Results provide:

• An individual’s full name
• DOCNO
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Facility (this may list parole if on community supervision)
• Age

When you select an inmate, more information is available. The tool includes physical identifiers in addition to current convictions and sentences, as well as the court case numbers and counties tied to each one. It also displays an estimated mandatory release or sentence discharge date and the current facility assignment.

While this does little to reveal information about an individual’s crime, it does provide case numbers, which could turn up criminal court cases in a public records search.

The DOC also provides other useful information to individuals, including:

• A list of Colorado DOC parole board hearings
• How to contact inmates in DOC custody
• How to visit inmates in DOC custody
• Colorado DOC Victim Services
• Sex offender fugitives wanted in Colorado
• Colorado DOC-operated facilities

How To Complete a Search for Federal Prisoners

Individuals who’ve been convicted of a federal crime may be sentenced to serve time in a federal prison. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) oversees 122 prisons across the country.⁹ They come in five security levels, ranging from minimum to high.

The BOP offers an online tool to locate inmates; the Find an Inmate tool allows users to search by number (BOP register number, District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) number, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) number or Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) number) or by name.

When searching by name, complete entry fields for the first, middle and last names, race, sex and age. This tool requires a complete match for first and last names to display results. Entering a name that returns results causes the following information to appear:

• Register Number
• Age
• Race
• Sex
• Release Date (if applicable)
• Location (if applicable)

Because the BOP only retrieves records from 1982 onward, it’s somewhat limited when looking for older records. Individuals can redirect their search to the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) instead.¹⁰ NARA offers access to dockets, criminal court records and other pertinent information that can assist with a federal-level inmate search.

When submitting a request, be sure to include the inmate’s name, birth date, race and your best estimation of when they were incarcerated.

Online access to these records is possible with the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) tool. It may turn up federal court records related to an inmate, though it does cost a small fee to access the database.

By utilizing the tools discussed above, completing a Colorado inmate search is possible at all levels of incarceration.