Search San Francisco County Inmate Roster

San Francisco County Jail Roster Overview

Sheriff Paul Miyamoto runs the San Francisco jail system. The Sheriff's home page calls him the first Asian American elected sheriff in California. The office employs more than 1,000 people. The main office sits in City Hall, Room 456, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The main line is 415-554-7225. The public information line for inmate status is 415-553-1430.

The roster lives at Find a Person in Jail. The tool pulls live custody data and updates as people are booked in and released out. The Sheriff also posts a daily snapshot on the home page. One recent snippet showed a jail count of 1,301 at 5 a.m. on October 28, 2025, with 38 bookings and 54 releases the prior day. Those numbers move every day.

The roster has limits. It shows only people currently in San Francisco County custody. It does not show state prison inmates held by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or federal detainees in Bureau of Prisons custody. If a name does not appear, that person is not in the San Francisco jail.

The Sheriff publishes leadership, news, and service links on one front-door site. The San Francisco Sheriff's Office home page is the access point for the inmate locator, visiting, and mail rules.

Bookmark the Sheriff's home page as the safest entry point for any San Francisco County inmate records lookup.

How to Use the San Francisco Inmate Roster

The roster is free and requires no login. The fastest path is a name search. People who already have a booking number or SF number can skip the name fields. The portal returns the same profile either way.

1. Open the Sheriff's Find a Person in Jail page.
2. Choose the name accordion or the number accordion. Name search needs both first name and last name. The API sends the value as Last,First.
3. Enter the data exactly. The SF number placeholder shows a six-digit example such as 123456. Booking numbers use the format 2026-00662692.
4. Click Search for person in jail. Use Clear to reset the form.
5. Review the result list. Click a name to open the full inmate profile with charges, booking date, next court date, and total bond.
6. If no result appears, the person is not in San Francisco County jail. Call the public information line at 415-553-1430 to confirm.

Spelling matters. The API does a strict match, so a missing letter returns nothing. Try variants and use the last name alone when first name spelling is unclear.

The Sheriff's lookup tool lives on a dedicated public page. The Find a Person in Jail page is the official inmate locator for San Francisco County custody.

Use this page to confirm someone is in San Francisco County jail before driving to a visit or calling the jail line.

Roster Search Fields

The Sheriff's React app exposes four input fields plus two control buttons. Name search and number search are separate accordions, but both hit the same back-end inmate finder.

SF number and booking number are the cleanest way to pull a single record. The portal accepts one identifier per accordion.

What an Inmate Profile Shows

A profile returns the fields below. The data comes from the Sheriff's jail records system. Bond shows as currency when set and is blank when null.

What the roster does not show matters too. The JSON contained no mugshot, no pod or cell number, no floor, and no housing assignment past the facility name. There were no physical descriptors past age, no race, sex, height, weight, address, or date of birth. There were no medical, suicide watch, or protective custody flags. For time-sensitive medical or housing questions, call Jail Health Services at 415-554-7225 or the public information line at 415-553-1430.

San Francisco County Jail Facilities

The Sheriff runs several jails plus two locked hospital wards. Booking and release happen at one site. Long-term housing happens at others. Addresses, phones, and visiting context come from the Sheriff's jail information page and the 2025 visiting page.

County Jail #2 is the only San Francisco jail where women are housed. It has its own infirmary, dental office, and 24/7 medical care. The Sheriff calls County Jail #3 in San Bruno a "New Generation" jail with 16 pods of 48 beds each. The San Bruno site sits on city-owned land tied back to the 1930s, which is why San Francisco runs a jail in San Mateo County.

Note: Jail wards 7D and 7L are hospital floors with locked doors, so a roster facility location of 7D or 7L means the person is hospitalized.

Booking Process in San Francisco County

Every adult arrested in San Francisco is booked at County Jail #1 at 425 7th Street. The Sheriff's jail description lists the steps in order. Booking starts with a search of the person and their property. Next comes medical triage. Staff then take the booking photo and roll fingerprints, which run against state and federal warrant checks. A classification deputy interviews the person and scores criminal history, prior prison sentence, prior county jail sentence, prior discipline, interview information, and sentencing status. The total score sets the security level as minimum, medium, or maximum.

Booking runs two release reviews. The OR Project reviews the case for own-recognizance release. The cite-and-release review checks if the person can be cited out. For felony arrests, DNA is collected under state law. Property is inventoried and stored. People then move to County Jail #2, County Jail #3 in San Bruno, or a hospital ward based on classification, gender, and medical need.

Bond and first appearance follow booking. At arraignment, the judge in San Francisco Superior Court reads the charges and handles bail. The roster shows total bond once it is set. Bond amounts can change at later hearings. The Sheriff warns the public about impostor phone scams, so verify any bond amount with the Clerk of the Superior Court or the Sheriff's public line before paying.

When No Result Appears

A blank result means the Sheriff has no current custody record for that name. The Sheriff's family page is explicit: if the person is not listed, they are not in the San Francisco jail. That can mean several things. The person may have been cited out at booking. They may have been released after bond, OR approval, dismissal, or sentence completion. They may have been moved to state prison, federal custody, or another county jail. They may also have been booked under a different spelling.

Steps to take: search by last name only; try common nickname variants; check the CDCR CIRIS locator for state sentences; check the Bureau of Prisons locator for federal cases; call 415-553-1430 to verify status. For a person recently released, see the released inmates page.

VINE Alerts and Email Registration

VINE is the national victim notification service. The Sheriff's VINE page says VINE online is offline for San Francisco-specific status registration. Existing registrants should use the Find a Person in Jail tab and call 415-553-1430 for status. New registrants should email sfso.vine.registration@sfgov.org to set up notifications.

Statewide VINE search still works through VINELink California. Search by name and filter by county. The statewide tool shows whether a person is in custody anywhere in the state's connected facilities.

Visiting Hours and Rules

Visiting runs at County Jail #2 in San Francisco and County Jail #3 in San Bruno. County Jail #1 does not host visits. The 2025 schedule below comes from the official visiting page. Pods rotate days, so check the day-of-week column.

Visit slots are scheduled online the day before the visit. The booking window opens at 9:00 a.m. and closes at midnight. Visitors must be on site 30 minutes before the slot. The visitor must first locate the person through Find a Person in Jail. A visitor account is required, with name, date of birth, email, home address as printed on a current ID, and phone number. Up to two more people may come along, and the same info is required for them. A current government photo ID such as a driver's license or passport is required at the door. Parking near County Jail #2 is paid public parking only, so allow extra time.

The Sheriff posts the full 2025 visiting schedule and visitor account rules on a public page. The jail visiting information page covers pod rotations, ID rules, and the day-before booking window.

Check this page right before booking a visit, since pod schedules and visitor rules change at the Sheriff's discretion.

Mail Rules for People in Jail

The Sheriff handles mail under strict rules. All mail must come through the U.S. Postal Service. Mail can be no larger than 8.5 by 14 inches. Staff open and search mail for jail-rule compliance. Legal mail from courts, attorneys, public officials, and Prisoner Legal Services is opened only in front of the named person. Mail is delivered only while the person is in custody. If the person is moved to another jail or state prison, the mail is forwarded unopened. If the person has been released, the mail is returned to sender.

Prohibited items include cash, personal checks, postage stamps, stationery, Polaroid photos, more than 20 photos, sexual images, metal, wood, plastic, cloth, cardboard, glitter, lottery tickets, stickers, food, magnets, IDs, and more than three books or magazines. Books, newspapers, and magazines must ship directly from the publisher through USPS. Amazon and other retail deliveries are not accepted. Full rules are on the Sheriff's mail and commissary page.

The Sheriff publishes the full USPS-only mail policy and the prohibited-items list on a dedicated page. The mail and commissary page ties the USPS rule to the iCare vendor for commissary.

Read the page before sending anything, because non-conforming mail to a San Francisco County inmate is returned to sender.

Commissary, Money Window, and Funds

Commissary items and care packages must go through the Sheriff's approved online vendor, iCare. The sender creates an account, enters the incarcerated person's legal name or eight-digit wristband number, and pays by credit card. The Sheriff caps spending at $100 in commissary items per person per week. The cap covers both what is bought for the person and what they buy from their own account.

In-person deposits use the money window on the first floor at 425 7th Street. Listed hours are Wednesdays 8:00 a.m. to noon, and Wednesdays and Thursdays 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Bring the person's name or SF number, the exact dollar amount, and a current government photo ID. Accepted funds are U.S. dollars with no coins, plus cashier's checks, certified checks, and money orders up to $100. Rules are on the Sheriff's money deposit page.

Note: The $100 weekly cap covers spending and receipts together, so coordinate between family members to avoid rejected deposits.

Related San Francisco Searches

For people recently released, see released inmates. For jail population numbers and trend data, see inmate population. For active warrants, see warrant records. For the underlying charge files and case status, see criminal records.