Kentucky Inmate Search

The Kentucky jail system comprises 14 adult state prisons, 80 local jails, and five federal correctional institutions. Of the 14 adult state penitentiaries, only the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women located in Pewee Valley is dedicated to female inmates.

The Kentucky prison population stood at 19,744, while the state's jail population was estimated at over 22,000 in December 2022. Also, the National Institute of Corrections, Kentucky recorded an incarceration rate of 437 inmates per 100,000 residents in 2022.

Kentucky Inmate SearchPrison in Kentucky
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According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, the state's correctional system includes 14 adult state prisons, 80 local jails, and 5 federal facilities. As of December 2022, the state had 19,744 state prisoners and over 22,000 jail inmates. Kentucky has an incarceration rate of 437 per 100,000 residents and operates 1 women-only facility.

Kentucky Department Corrections Inmate Search

Per Kentucky law, the Department of Corrections is saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the administration of correctional institutions in the state. The Kentucky DOC protects the citizens of Kentucky by providing a humane, safe, and secure environment for all persons. The Department also ensures that the public can access public inmate records.

Access to inmate records is made possible via the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup (KOOL) system. While the DOC does not guarantee the accuracy of information in the KOOL system, entries and updates are done to the system daily to improve the accuracy of the information available in the system.

User

Find Inmate by Name

The Kentucky Offender Online Lookup system allows anyone to find an inmate in Kentucky by name. To use this tool, visit the KOOL system's page and provide the name of the inmate in the name fields. The system has a last name, a first name, and a middle name field. While providing all the names of the inmate may help narrow the search result and locate the inmate faster, you may provide a name if only one of the names of the inmate is known.

User

Find Inmate by Number

You may find an inmate by number using the KOOL system. However, you must select the "Show Advanced Options" button on the KOOL system homepage to reveal the field where you may provide the Department of Correction-issued number for the inmate.

Upon selecting the "Show Advanced Options" button, select the type of offender in the "Offender Type" field. The available options include incarcerated inmates, death row inmates, and escaped inmates. In the "DOC #" field or the "PID #" field underneath the "Offender Type" field, provide the DOC number or the Person Identification Number of the inmate. After, select "Search Data" to prompt a search of the KOOL database.

What Information is Contained in a Kentucky Inmate Record?

A search for an inmate record using the Kentucky Online Offender Lookup tool will reveal the following information:

  • The first, last, and middle names of the inmate
  • The inmate's Person Identification Number and the DOC Number
  • The Expected Time to Serve (TTS)
  • Supervision start date
  • Supervision end date
  • The minimum expiration of sentence date or good time release date
  • Parole eligibility date
  • Maximum expiration of sentence date
  • Location of the inmate's correctional facility
  • The mugshot, age, race, gender, eye color, hair color, height, and weight of the inmate
  • A risk assessment rating of the inmate
  • The aliases of the inmate
  • Conviction information
  • Parole information

Kentucky Inmate Records by Counties

If an inmate is jailed in one of the county jails in the state, you may be able to find the inmate using the search feature on the jail database typically available on the website of the county sheriff's office. If the county sheriff's office does not maintain a searchable online database, you may contact the office of the sheriff by calling or visiting their address. Counties like McCracken, Louisville, Jefferson, Boone, and Madison provide an online jail inmate search tool.

Are Incarceration Records Public Information in Kentucky?

The Open Records Act in Kentucky is the basis of the public nature of incarceration records in the state. The Act was created to ensure the Kentucky government remains accountable to its people by making its decisions and operations transparent to citizens and the general public.

Still, the Kentucky Open Records Act provides for the sealing of certain portions of records from public view. This is done to ensure that citizens' right to privacy and confidentiality is not violated. Hence, certain incarceration record information, such as Social Security numbers and medical records obtained from the inmate may not be accessible to the public. Also, any incarceration record that has been ordered sealed by the court will be redacted.

Federal Prisons in Kentucky

Kentucky is home to five federal prisons overseen by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. These facilities include the low-security federal correctional institution with 1,324 inmates located in Ashland, the high-security United States penitentiary with 1,231 inmates located in Inez, an administrative security federal medical center with 1,319 inmates located in Lexington, the medium-security federal correctional institution with 1,106 inmates located in Manchester, and the high-security United States penitentiary with 1,453 inmates located in Pine Knot, McCreary. All of these facilities hold only male offenders except for FMC Lexington which holds both male and female offenders.

Frequently Asked Questions about Inmate Records

You can request a Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) public record by submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the department's FOIA coordinator by email . Alternatively, you may send the request to the MDOC at:

MDOC FOIA Coordinator
Michigan Department of Corrections
P.O. Box 30003
Lasing, MI 48909
Phone: (517) 335-4194
Fax: (517) 335-4193

The MDOC FOIA service comes at a fee that may be paid online .

The Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) provided and managed by the Michigan Department of Corrections is the first place to check when looking up inmates incarcerated in the state's correctional facilities. For inmates housed in county jails, county sheriff's offices, and local police departments typically host inmate locators on their websites to facilitate inmate searches for individuals held in county jails.

In Michigan, old inmate records for individuals housed in state prison facilities not earlier than 1982 may be found by submitting a request to the Department of Corrections at:

Michigan Department of Corrections
206 E. Michigan Ave.
Grandview Plaza
P.O. Box 30003
Lasing, MI 48909

Inmate records older than 1982 (historical inmate records) in the state may be found by contacting the Michigan Archives by email or by contacting (517) 335-2576. Alternatively, interested persons may visit the Archives in person at:

Michigan Archives
Michigan Library and Historical Center
2nd Floor
702 W. Kalamazoo St.
Lasing, MI 48915

Old inmate records for individuals incarcerated in county jails may be obtained by contacting the county sheriff's offices. Generally, requesters will be required to provide certain information like the inmates' names, numbers, and birth dates.

You may find inmate death records in Michigan by contacting the state's Department of Corrections for inmates who were housed in state prisons before their deaths while still serving their sentence. If an inmate died while serving their term in a county jail within the state, you may contact the county jail management or the county sheriff's office to find the inmate's death record.

Generally, it takes anywhere between a few hours and a few days for an inmate's information to be published in Michigan DOC's Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) once entered. Note that the majority of the information available on OTIS is obtained from court records.

You can send money to an inmate in Michigan through any of the following means:

Credit Card/Debit Card/Cash Deposits - Electronic deposits of funds into Michigan inmates' accounts are allowed through GTL Financial services via ConnectNetwork or by phone at (888) 988-4768. Note that processing fees apply for debit/credit card transactions. GTL Financial offers walk-in debit card/credit card/cash deposits at select correctional facility kiosks.

Lockbox Deposits - Money orders, which may not exceed $300, to Michigan inmates (using the appropriate deposit form ) from members of the public or inmates' family members can be made payable to GTL Financial Services and mailed to the GTL lockbox at:

GTL Financial Services
10005 Technology Blvd. West
Suite 130
Dallas, TX 75220