The Luzerne County Jail Inmate Roster is a public resource that allows anyone to check if a specific person is in custody at the county correctional facility in Pennsylvania. Public information about current and recently released inmates can be found on the LuzerneCourt.us website. Additionally, data is available through the official Luzerne County Sheriff's Department website, by phone, or during a personal visit to the facility. The roster allows the public to verify custody status, view charges, and find booking information. The county correctional facility maintains and regularly updates this roster.
Search Current Inmates in Luzerne Jail
Searching for current inmates can be done in several ways. The fastest is online.
Online Search
- Visit LuzerneCourt.us to search for public court records and inmate information in the county.
- If the person has been transferred to a state-level facility, use the Inmate/Department Supervised Individual Locator of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. This tool is updated daily and covers individuals in state facilities, including "LUZERNE COUNTY" and "LUZERNE II" sites.
- To view court cases and docket sheets, use the UJS Case Search portal — a free tool of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania.
To begin your search, you will need:
- The person's full legal name
- The booking number, if known
Juvenile offenders are not displayed in the public roster.
By Phone
Call the Luzerne County Correctional Facility directly. The operator can confirm if the person is in custody if you provide the full name or booking number.
In-Person Visit
Visit the correctional facility lobby during business hours. Approach the public information window — the staff will assist with the search.
Luzerne County Correctional Facility
For information about arrest warrants, contact the Warrants Division of the Sheriff's Department, which is responsible for executing court-issued bench warrants.
Find Luzerne Jail Booking Records Online
A booking record is created at the moment a person is officially admitted to the correctional facility. It is not a sentence or proof of guilt — it is an administrative document of the arrest.
During the booking procedure, the following are recorded:
- A unique booking number
- Date and time of admission
- Charges
- Arresting agency
- Basic personal information of the detainee
These records are usually available through the county's online inmate roster. If you need more detailed information about criminal history, the state of Pennsylvania provides a separate tool — Pennsylvania Access To Criminal History (PATCH). Through PATCH, you can request an official criminal history check in accordance with the Criminal History Record Information Act (18 Pa.C.S. § 9101 et seq.).
Court docket sheets — documents that track the progress of a case in court — are available for free on the Unified Judicial System's public records portal. They contain information about charges, hearing dates, and court decisions, but this is a separate resource from the jail roster.
If you need records that are not available online, submit a public records request through the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records in accordance with the Right-to-Know Law.
Search the Luzerne Jail Roster by Last Name or Booking Number
The roster supports two main search methods.
Search by Last Name
Enter the last name in the search field. Adding the first name will narrow the results if the last name is common. A few tips:
- Check the spelling — even one incorrect letter will result in zero results
- Try spelling variations if the last name may have alternative transliterations
- Some rosters allow you to use the browser's Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac) function to find a name on the list page
Search by Booking Number
If you know the booking number, enter it — this is the most accurate way to find a specific record. The booking number is unique for each detention case, so even with repeat arrests, each booking will have its own number.
What to Do if the Search Yields No Results?
- Ensure the name is entered correctly.
- The person may have already been released — the roster only shows those currently in custody.
- The booking may not yet be complete, and the record has not appeared in the system.
- If the person has been transferred to a state-level facility, search through the Department of Corrections locator.
- Call the correctional facility directly for clarification.
Jail Roster Updates and Search Limitations in Luzerne
The county inmate roster is updated periodically, but not always instantly. There can be a delay of several hours to a day between a person's actual admission to the facility and the appearance of the record in the online roster. This depends on staff workload and system technicalities.
Main limitations to be aware of:
- Delay after booking. A recently detained person may not appear in the roster for several hours after arrest.
- Disappearance after release. When a person is released — on bail, by court decision, or after serving a term — their record is removed from the current roster. It is not an archive of all past bookings.
- Transfers. If an inmate is transferred to another facility or to the state system, the record will disappear from the county roster.
- Data entry errors. Typos in names or dates sometimes occur, complicating the search.
The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections inmate locator is updated daily, but it only covers individuals in state-run facilities. For county-level inmate searches, the county roster or direct contact with the correctional facility is needed.
If you need information about old bookings or archival records, submit a written request to the correctional facility or use the Right-to-Know Law procedure through the Office of Open Records. Court records for past periods are available through the UJS portal.