Find an inmate in Maine | inmate.solutions

Which system is holding them in Maine?

There is no single search that covers everyone. Match the situation to the right official locator — most families start with the first one.

If the arrest was recent

Start with the local jail

Maine VINE has limited local participation. Use the county sheriff’s published jail or corrections instructions.

Find Maine county sheriff contacts

Find your county in the Maine Judicial Branch directory. Four facilities are launched in the published VINE pilot; onboarding agencies are not treated as live.

Search Maine participating-agency custody — VINE rollout names four local agencies; cannot substitute for all Maine county rosters

Service instructions reviewed 2026-10-05. This is an agency information or participation route; a working local person-search form is not confirmed.

If nothing appears, contact the arresting agency or the responsible jail to ask how to confirm booking. A missing record does not prove release, and an agency may limit what it can disclose.

If they were sentenced to prison

Use the correctional locator

For a state-prison sentence, use the Maine correctional locator.

A short jail sentence may still be served in a local or regional jail.

A sentence alone does not establish the housing location; confirm with the responsible agency.

Maine DOC adults and community-supervision clients, including DOC-boarded people; not every county-jail or pretrial booking.

Open Maine custody search

Click Search on introduction, then MDOC number or name fields

Official agency instructions and assistance

Reviewed 2026-10-05. Search controls reached; individual results not tested.

If the charge is federal

Search the Federal Bureau of Prisons

A federal charge does not tell you which building holds the person. The U.S. Marshals Service is responsible for federal pretrial detention and may use local, state, private, or federal facilities. Check the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator, but a missing result does not establish that the person is not detained. For a recent federal arrest, contact the arresting agency or the relevant U.S. Marshals district office to ask about the appropriate custody-information process. USMS is a contact route, not a public person locator, and disclosure of a location is not guaranteed.

Search the Federal BOP locator U.S. Marshals district directory

Other kinds of custody

Immigration detention has a separate official ICE detainee locator. It does not search for people under 18, and a missing result does not prove release; use the official ICE field-office contacts. Search by A-number and country of birth, or the name/country/date-of-birth information requested by the service. Access and disclosure can be restricted.

Juvenile and tribal custody may have different agencies, privacy rules, and search limits. This guide does not provide a comprehensive juvenile or tribal locator. Contact the arresting agency or responsible juvenile or tribal authority to confirm the correct process.

For federal pretrial detention, use the U.S. Marshals district directory. Federal responsibility can include housing in a local jail.

Find your area in Maine

Find the area where the arrest happened. County and city matches identify geography; confirm custody using the responsible agency’s assistance. A place may span several areas.

City and town matches use the 2026 Census places and active municipal subdivisions, with exact county memberships. Custody arrangements are researched separately. Municipal police holding and jail transfers may differ from the county route.

16 counties

Finding your person in Maine, step by step

Work through these in order. Each step points to an official source — you do the searching there, on the government site.

Step 1

Match the custody system

Maine VINE has limited local participation. Use the county sheriff’s published jail or corrections instructions. Find your county in the Maine Judicial Branch directory. Four facilities are launched in the published VINE pilot; onboarding agencies are not treated as live.
Official source
Step 2

Use the relevant state custody resource

Maine DOC adults and community-supervision clients, including DOC-boarded people; not all pretrial bookings Click Search on introduction, then MDOC number or name fields
Official source
Step 3

Confirm missing or uncertain records

Contact the arresting agency or responsible jail. New bookings, transfers, excluded populations and offline agencies may not appear online. A missing result does not establish release.
Official source
Step 4

Check federal or immigration custody separately

Use BOP for BOP records, a U.S. Marshals district contact for federal pretrial questions, and ICE ODLS/ERO contacts for immigration. These systems have different coverage and disclosure limits.
Official source

What you’ll need to search

You can start with just a name, but these make a match faster and surer.

Click Search on introduction, then MDOC number or name fields
The exact name or agency identifier requested by that service. Date of birth is useful where the service offers it; it is not required by every tool.
The arrest location and responsible agency, if known. Check whether the roster is current custody or historical bookings.

Use official, free sources — and a few things to watch for

Use free agency resources or an explicitly agency-endorsed public service. Do not pay a records broker to run these public searches.
A county filter in a state-prison search is not proof that it includes every county-jail booking.
Check participating agencies and outage notices. Use an agency contact when records are missing or unavailable.
Do not infer release or housing location from a missing record, a facility listing or geographic proximity.

How release works in Maine

Finding the person comes first. Once you know where they are, this is how getting them out works in Maine.

No commercial bail

Maine has no commercial bail-bond industry. Follow the court’s release instructions; available conditions, court payments and fees depend on the jurisdiction and the order. Do not assume that a payment is required.

The court decides release and any conditions.

Ask the court or the responsible jail which forms of payment, if any, the order permits, how payments are made, and what refund or forfeiture conditions apply.

Fees for a private commercial service are separate from court deposits.

Do not assume that payment guarantees release.

The person’s rights. The person in custody has the right to talk to a lawyer about their case, and if they cannot afford one, the court can appoint a public defender.

Other official Maine contacts

For a recent local arrest, check the arresting jurisdiction’s official jail roster or custody-notification service. Housing may be at a municipal, county, regional, or contracted facility. If no record appears, ask the arresting agency or jail how to confirm the booking; do not infer the destination from distance or a facility listing. These statewide sources can also help.

If there is also a warrant to deal with

Two companion guides pick up where this one leaves off — checking for a warrant, and resolving it on your own terms.

Check for a warrant in Maine Worried the person has an open warrant too? Check first, state by state. Resolve a warrant in Maine If they need to resolve a warrant, this walks through turning yourself in calmly.

Common questions about finding someone in Maine

How do I find someone who was just arrested in Maine?

Maine VINE has limited local participation. Use the county sheriff’s published jail or corrections instructions. Find your county in the Maine Judicial Branch directory. Four facilities are launched in the published VINE pilot; onboarding agencies are not treated as live.

How do I find someone in state prison in Maine?

Maine DOC adults and community-supervision clients, including DOC-boarded people; not every county-jail or pretrial booking. Click Search on introduction, then MDOC number or name fields

Is there a free way to check if someone is in custody in Maine?

Public custody searches are free. VINE rollout names four local agencies; cannot substitute for all Maine county rosters Check the responsible agency and its current participation. A missing record does not establish release. Avoid paid inmate-search and mugshot sites.

What do I need to look someone up in Maine?

Click Search on introduction, then MDOC number or name fields The exact name or agency identifier requested by that service. Date of birth is useful where the service offers it; it is not required by every tool. The arrest location and responsible agency, if known. Check whether the roster is current custody or historical bookings.

How do I check release conditions and costs in Maine?

Ask the court or responsible jail for the release order and permitted options. Court deposits and private service fees are different, conditions vary, and payment does not guarantee release.

Sources & review dates

Everything here links out to official government or public-safety sources. We don’t store, search, or republish records.

Guidance research date 2026-07-23 · 13 sources · Custody-routing review 2026-10-05

How do I find someone in jail or prison in Maine?