Search Palm Beach County Inmates

Palm Beach County Jail Roster Overview

The PBSO Booking Blotter is the official inmate search for Palm Beach County. It covers people currently in custody in PBSO facilities and anyone booked within the visible one-year window. The Sheriff's Office runs the largest law enforcement agency in the county, with 700 sworn corrections officers among 4,464 total staff. The blotter updates as bookings process, but PBSO warns that the data should not be relied upon for any type of legal action.

The roster only shows county jail custody. It does not list people in state prison, in federal custody, or held by immigration authorities. A person sentenced to state prison appears in the Florida Department of Corrections system. A federal inmate appears in the Bureau of Prisons locator. For people who were recently let go, the released inmates page explains how to verify a release.

How to Use the Palm Beach County Inmate Roster

The inmate search lives on the PBSO Booking Blotter page. Access is free, and no account is needed. A search submission requires a captcha check.

1. Open the PBSO Booking Blotter and set a start and end date within the past year.
2. Enter a last name and first name, full or partial.
3. Complete the captcha and review the list of bookings that match.
4. Open a booking entry to read the charges, booking data, and custody status.

Note: if you do not add a name, street, statute, or agency filter, the date span must be 31 days or less.

Roster Search Fields

The Booking Blotter accepts several fields, and a searcher can fill in as many as they want to narrow the result. The table below lists the live search fields and their format rules.

What an Inmate Profile Shows

A booking entry packs the core facts of the arrest and custody. The exact layout can vary, but a Palm Beach County booking record generally carries the fields below. Read the bond and status lines carefully, since they change as a case moves.

Note: PBSO says true identity can only be confirmed by fingerprint comparison, since people may use false identification.

Palm Beach County Jail Facilities

PBSO operates two detention centers. The Main Detention Center on Gun Club Road is the larger and more secure jail, used for high-risk inmates, federal inmates, and people with special medical or mental health needs. The West Detention Center in Belle Glade sits about 45 miles west and is program-oriented with direct supervision. The contact cards below carry the official facility addresses and phones.

The Main Detention Center has 2,166 beds across its South, East, and West Towers, and PBSO lists an average population near 1,769. The West Detention Center carries about 998 beds. Together the two jails hold the county's pretrial and short-sentence population.

Booking Process in Palm Beach County

An arrest leads to transport to a PBSO detention facility. At intake, staff record a booked name and jacket number, run medical and security screening, and assign housing by classification. The Main Detention Center holds high-risk, federal, medical, and mental health populations, plus adult females and juveniles, while the West Detention Center houses minimum, medium, and maximum custody inmates. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida is one source of federal cases that can route a defendant into the Main Detention Center as a federal holding.

The U.S. Attorney's Office page shown above is the federal prosecutor whose cases can place a federal detainee in the county Main Detention Center.

Custody and release decisions begin with a first appearance, where a judge reviews charges and sets bond or release conditions. PBSO and the courts work as separate steps. A judge may order release, but the jail still has to process it before the person walks out.

Visitation Hours and Rules

PBSO uses video visitation, and all visitors must register first. Visits do not happen at the housing tower. Instead, families use the Central Video Visitation Center in West Palm Beach or the West County Video Visitation Center in Belle Glade. Registration and scheduling run through the PBSO visitation system. The schedule below shows the general video visit windows; confirm exact times when scheduling.

How to Contact a Palm Beach County Inmate

Mail to a PBSO inmate must follow strict rules. Non-privileged incoming mail must be postcards only, sized between 3.5 by 5 inches and 4.25 by 6 inches, handwritten or typed in black or blue ink. Every postcard must show the inmate's booked name, jacket number, and cell assignment. Letters in envelopes are returned. The Main Detention Center mail address is P.O. Box 24716, West Palm Beach, FL 33416, and the West Detention Center address is P.O. Box 1450, Belle Glade, FL 33430.

Publications must come straight from a publisher or licensed warehouse, limited to new softcover paperbacks, with a cap of four books including religious titles. An inmate may also keep one daily or weekly newspaper and up to four periodicals. To reach inmate records by phone, call (561) 688-4340.

Commissary and Inmate Funds

Money for an inmate goes through Access Corrections kiosks, online deposits, or phone deposits. Kiosks sit in the Main Detention Center release lobby, the Video Visitation Center, and the West Detention Center visitation lobby. They take cash, credit, and debit cards and charge a $4.50 convenience fee per deposit. The depositor needs the inmate's full booked name and jacket number. Remote deposits can also be made by calling Access Corrections at 866-394-0490.

There is no cap on the account balance, but amounts over $10,000 trigger IRS reporting. A daily inmate account fee of $3.00 is charged, though PBSO says basic needs are not denied if the fee goes unpaid. Care packs run through MyCarepack, with one pack allowed per 15 days at set prices for protein, snack, kosher, and cookie kits.

State Prison vs County Jail

The county jail and the state prison are not the same system. The PBSO jails hold people who are awaiting trial or serving short sentences, usually under a year. A person sentenced to a longer prison term moves into the Florida Department of Corrections. That transfer means the booking blotter will no longer show them, even though their case is closed. To follow a person after sentencing, switch to the state offender search.

The Florida Department of Corrections offender search returns a DC number, name, race, sex, birth date, current facility or supervision office, and a release date where public. It also covers people on state supervision such as probation or parole. This is the right tool once a county case ends in a prison sentence.

Federal Inmate Search

Federal custody is a separate track from both the county jail and the state prison. The Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator covers federal inmates from 1982 forward. It searches by BOP register number, FBI number, or name, and returns the inmate's age, race, sex, release date, and facility. A defendant in a Southern District of Florida federal case who is held locally may still appear in the county Main Detention Center as a federal hold before transfer.

Inmate Records vs Court Case Records

A booking record and a court record answer different questions. The Sheriff holds the custody record: who is in jail, on what charge, and under what bond. The Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller holds the court case: the filings, the dispositions, and the sentence. Clerk Mike Caruso took office in August 2025 and leads the office that keeps those court files. A person can be released from jail while the criminal case is still open, so checking only the jail roster can miss a future court date.

The appointment announcement shown above marks the Clerk who runs the court case system that sits alongside, but apart from, the Sheriff's jail roster.

Related Searches

For people recently released, see released inmates. For broader population data, see inmate population. For active warrants, see warrant records. For underlying cases, see criminal records.