Luzerne County Inmate Search Basics
The Luzerne County jail is the Luzerne County Division of Corrections, also called the Correctional Facility. It sits at 99 Water Street in Wilkes-Barre. The county calls it the single largest criminal-justice agency in the county, with more than 320 employees. It holds people who are waiting for trial and people serving short local sentences. A separate Work Release Building runs around the clock for inmates on approved work release.
Here is the part that trips up most searchers. Luzerne County does not publish a verified public online roster for its own county inmates. The county website does show an "Inmate Lookup Tool" link, but that link points to the state PA Department of Corrections locator. That state tool only lists state-sentenced inmates. It will not show a person sitting in the county jail on Water Street. To check a county inmate, you call the Correctional Facility at 570-829-7741.
So a Luzerne County inmate search is really three lanes. The county jail lane is phone-based. The state lane uses the PA DOC locator. The federal lane uses the Bureau of Prisons locator. Court dates and case status for a county inmate come from the state court docket system. Match the person to the right lane and the search gets simple.
How to Find a Luzerne County Inmate
Most county inmate searches start with one phone call and one docket check. The county roster is not online, so do not waste time hunting for a county "search by name" page. It does not exist. Use these steps in order.
- Decide which system likely holds the person. County jail for recent local arrests, PA DOC for state-sentenced inmates, BOP for federal cases.
- For a county inmate, call the Correctional Facility at 570-829-7741 during business hours and ask if the person is in custody.
- Look up the matching court case on the Pennsylvania UJS Web Portal to confirm charges, bail, and the next court date.
- If the person was state-sentenced, search the PA DOC inmate locator by last name or inmate number.
- If the case is federal, search the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator by name or register number.
- To plan a visit, send mail, or add money, follow the county Prisoner Communication rules before you go or send anything.
Note: Staff at the jail confirm custody status by phone, but they will not give out details that are sealed or that fall outside public court information.
PA DOC Inmate Locator Search Fields
For anyone who has moved from the county jail to a state prison, the PA DOC Inmate/Parolee Locator is the right tool. It is the same tool the county "Inmate Lookup Tool" link sends you to. It updates daily and covers state-sentenced people, not county jail inmates. The official locate-an-inmate guidance explains the fields and limits.
The state locator screen for Luzerne County inmate records and parolees is shown on the official PA Department of Corrections page, which you can view at the PA DOC locate-an-inmate page.
That state screen is where the county "Inmate Lookup Tool" link actually lands, which is why it cannot return a person held in the county jail. The locator accepts a name or a number, as shown below.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Name | Text | Yes | State-sentenced inmates only; not county jail inmates |
| First Name | Text | No | Helps narrow common last names |
| Inmate Number | Text | No | The PA DOC number if you have it |
What a Luzerne County Inmate Record Shows
A county jail does not give a glossy online profile. What you get is custody status by phone, plus the full case picture from the court docket. Between the jail call and the UJS docket sheet, a Luzerne County inmate record covers the fields below. Treat the court docket as the main source for charges, bail, and dates.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Custody Status | Whether the person is in the county jail right now, confirmed by phone |
| Docket Number | The court case number; Luzerne Common Pleas uses CP-40, district courts use MJ-111xx |
| Charges | The offenses filed and their grading, listed on the docket |
| Bail Amount | The bail set and whether it has been posted, shown in docket bail actions |
| Court Dates | Preliminary hearing, arraignment, and trial dates from the docket events |
| Disposition | The outcome once a case is decided, including any sentence |
Some fields stay private. Sealed, juvenile, expunged, and limited-access matters may not show on the public docket at all, and confidential identifiers are masked under court policy.
Finding a Luzerne County Inmate's Court Dates
For a county inmate, the court docket is the best public record of charges and dates. Use the UJS Web Portal Case Search. It carries Common Pleas criminal dockets, Magisterial District Court dockets, and traffic citations across the state. Choose Participant Name or Docket Number, then set the county to Luzerne or pick Judicial District 11.
Luzerne County Common Pleas docket numbers start with CP-40. Magisterial District Court docket numbers start with MJ-111. A docket sheet lists the charges, the arresting agency, bail actions, hearings, continuances, and the case status. That is how you learn when an inmate is due in court and which judge or district court is handling the case.
The portal hides some matters by law. Juvenile cases, expunged cases, limited-access cases under Act 5 of 2016, and Common Pleas civil cases may not display. For more on reading these records, see Luzerne County court records and the court dockets guide.
Luzerne County Correctional Facility Contact
The county jail is the place to call for any county inmate custody question. The facility handles intake, classification, housing, bail processing, and release. Inmate Accounting answers fund questions at extension 4685. The separate Work Release Building has its own line.
Luzerne County Division of Corrections
99 Water Street
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
570-829-7741
Mon-Fri 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Work Release Building
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711
570-825-6905
Open 24 hours
Under the county's home-rule charter, corrections is run by the County Manager and a Correctional Services Division Head, not a traditional independent Prison Board. County Council added a Correctional Services Committee in 2026 to review jail policy and cost.
County Jail vs State Prison vs Federal Custody
Where someone is held depends on the case, not on where they were arrested. The county jail holds pretrial detainees and people doing short local time. The PA Department of Corrections holds people serving longer state sentences. The federal Bureau of Prisons holds people convicted of federal crimes. Each has its own way to look someone up.
| Custody Type | Who It Holds | How to Search |
|---|---|---|
| County Jail | Pretrial and short local sentences | Call 570-829-7741; check UJS docket |
| State Prison (PA DOC) | Longer state-sentenced inmates | PA DOC locator, by name or number |
| Federal (BOP) | Federal convictions | BOP locator, by name or register number |
If a county case is later sentenced to state time, the person moves from Water Street to a state prison, and the search shifts to the PA DOC locator. Federal cases for county residents are heard in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre.
Booking and Classification in Luzerne County
The booking path starts with an arrest. A person taken in by municipal police, state police, or on a warrant is usually brought before a Magisterial District Judge for preliminary arraignment. Central Court at 77 Water Street handles much of this early processing. If bail is not posted, the judge commits the person to the Correctional Facility.
At intake, staff review identity and paperwork, then classify the person. Classification decides the housing unit based on factors like the charges, custody level, and safety. The public-facing steps run from arrest and commitment, to transport, to intake, to classification, to a housing assignment. After that come bail processing and court scheduling through the Magisterial District Court or Common Pleas.
The first real court step is the preliminary arraignment, where the judge sets bail. A bond hearing or bail motion can follow. Once bail is posted, or once a case resolves, the person is processed for release. Note: bail and hearing dates are tracked on the court docket, so check UJS for the current schedule rather than relying on word of mouth.
Visitation, Mail, and Money at the Jail
The county Prisoner Communication page sets the rules for visits, mail, and inmate funds. Professional visits run during business hours on a first-come, first-served basis. Exact visit times are listed in the county Visitation Schedule, so confirm the day's window before you drive over.
Visit rules are strict on identification. Every visitor must bring a photo ID plus two legal forms of ID, such as a Social Security card and a birth certificate. Children under 18 must come with a parent or guardian. Prohibited items include tobacco, lighters, cell phones, cameras, food, gum, and drinks. Leave those in the car.
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Photo ID | Required for every visitor |
| Two legal IDs | Such as Social Security card and birth certificate |
| Minors | Must be with a parent or guardian |
| Visit times | Per the county Visitation Schedule; first-come, first-served |
Mail follows the county Incoming/Outgoing Inmate Mail Policy. Books are allowed only if they are soft-cover and shipped straight from the publisher, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, with prior approval from Administration. For money, deposits go through "Inmate Banker" on ConnectNetwork (ViaPath/GTL) at web.connectnetwork.com using Site ID 21. Inmate phone calls are outgoing only, on a prepaid or collect basis.
Limits of Luzerne County Jail Data
It helps to know what the county does not publish. There is no rated capacity, bed count, or average daily population posted on the official Correctional Facility pages. The warden role has been in transition under the home-rule structure. So population numbers on this site lean on outside data, not on a county dashboard.
For population context and trends, the Luzerne County inmate population page pulls from the Vera Institute and federal jail statistics. For active warrants tied to a custody question, see warrant records. And for the underlying criminal case behind a booking, see arrest records.