Look Up St. Johns County Jail Records

St. Johns County Jail Roster Overview

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Corrections Division runs the county jail and the inmate roster. The Sheriff states that everyone arrested in the county is processed through the Main Detention Unit, so the county roster is the right first stop for nearly any local arrest. The official online path is the Sheriff's inmate search page. During research on June 3, 2026, that page carried a notice that the inmate and jail search was temporarily down, and the linked search tool returned an access error, so the live form could not be confirmed.

The county roster does not cover everyone. People sentenced to state prison move to the Florida Department of Corrections and drop off the county roster. Federal prisoners and immigration detainees appear in separate federal systems. That is why a failed county search does not mean a person is free, only that they may be held at a different custody level.

The Sheriff's inmate search page showed the outage notice and pointed visitors to the booking and records lines during research.

Because the roster could not be confirmed live, the steps below lead with the roster and then move straight to the official fallbacks.

How to Use the St. Johns County Inmate Roster

Start with the Sheriff's roster when it is online, and keep the booking number to 904-209-3125 handy for a recent arrest. Have the person's full name ready, since common names return many results.

1. Open the Sheriff's inmate search page and use the roster tool when it is available.
2. Enter the inmate's last name, then add a first name to narrow a common name.
3. If the search is offline or returns nothing, call Booking and bond information at 904-209-3125.
4. For general jail questions, call the Detention Center at 904-209-1443, or the non-emergency line at 904-824-8304.
5. For a booking report, file a request with the Records Unit at 904-810-6610 or Records@sjso.org.

Very recent arrests may not appear online right away, so a call to Booking is the better route for someone taken in within the last few hours.

St. Johns County Roster and Locator Search Fields

The Sheriff's roster search fields could not be inspected, because the search tool was offline during research. The build does not invent field labels such as date of birth or booking number for the county roster. The state inmate locator, used once a person is sentenced to state prison, does have a confirmed set of fields, shown below. It is the search you turn to when a county search fails because the person was sent to the Florida Department of Corrections.

The state list refreshes weekly, while release dates and location changes refresh nightly, so it can lag a person's true current status.

What a St. Johns County Inmate Profile Shows

The exact county profile layout could not be confirmed during the outage, so the table describes what a county booking record generally carries rather than confirmed St. Johns field labels. The Sheriff's own pages confirm that booking reports and mugshots are records the agency keeps, that bond questions go to the booking line, and that case dates and dispositions are handled by the Clerk of Courts.

The Sheriff warns that people on the inmate pages have been arrested but not found guilty, and that any record-entry problem should be reported to the Records Unit. Booking photos are covered on the St. Johns County jail mugshots page.

Finding County, State, and Federal Inmates

The county roster covers pretrial detainees and people serving short county sentences. Sentenced felons move to the Florida Department of Corrections locator. Federal prisoners use the Bureau of Prisons locator, and immigration detainees use the ICE detainee locator. VINELink adds custody and release notifications across systems. Matching the person to the right system is the difference between a fast result and a dead end.

ICE cannot search records of anyone under 18, and the federal locator covers inmates from 1982 forward, so a missing result may simply mean the wrong system was used.

Requesting Booking Records From the Sheriff

When the roster is down or a person has been released, a public-records request to the Sheriff's Office is the dependable route to a booking report, arrest report, or mugshot. Requests are filled first come, first served, and all requests are subject to fees. A request can go through the online portal, by email to Records@sjso.org, by phone at 904-810-6610, or by mail to the Records Unit in St. Augustine.

A local records check is narrower than people expect. The Sheriff says it covers only records submitted by county agencies, reaches back about ten years, and is limited to arrests, with a fee for research that runs over 15 minutes. For a full statewide criminal history, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is the correct office, not the Sheriff.

The Sheriff's public records request page lists the portal, email, phone, and mail channels along with its fee notices.

That page is the path to a booking report once the roster no longer shows the person you need.

St. Johns County Jail Facilities

The Sheriff runs two adult facilities. The Main Detention Unit is the 664-bed main jail where all arrests are processed, and the Community Work Release Center is a 100-bed facility for eligible sentenced men. Both share the Lewis Speedway complex address. Each has a dedicated facility page with full detail.

Full visitation, mail, and money detail for the main jail is on the St. Johns County Main Detention Unit page.

Booking Process in St. Johns County

Booking is the intake record created after an arrest. A person arrested in the county is transported to the Main Detention Unit, identified, and screened. Property is inventoried, and the Sheriff runs a separate property pickup line at 904-209-1430 on weekdays. Medical and mental-health screening follows, with a nursing line listed at 904-209-1986. Classification then assigns housing.

Bond questions route to Booking at 904-209-3125. After a case is filed or a first appearance is held, court dates and dispositions move to the Clerk of Courts rather than the jail. Because the roster refresh rate was not published, a person booked very recently may not show online right away, and the booking line is the better check for an urgent bond or custody question.

Visitation Hours and Rules

The Main Detention Unit uses on-site video visits and remote video visits through Smart Communications. On-site video runs weekdays in morning and afternoon blocks and is free, while remote video runs seven days a week with an added evening block at a per-minute cost. Visitors need an approved account, must schedule ahead, and should check in at least 15 minutes early.

The Sheriff's inmate contact page sets out visitation, mail, phone, and messaging rules for the Main Detention Unit.

Visitors with a no-contact order against the inmate cannot visit, and recording or rebroadcasting a video visit is prohibited.

How to Contact a St. Johns County Inmate

Non-legal mail goes through Smart Communications, addressed to Smart Communications/St. Johns County Jail, the inmate name and ID number, PO Box 9102, Seminole, FL 33775-9151. Regular mail is scanned and shown to inmates on tablets, and the original is destroyed after 30 days, so birth certificates and similar documents should not be sent. Legal mail must be marked as legal mail and is handled separately.

Phone and messaging run through accounts set up with SmartJailMail. The Sheriff lists calls at 16 cents per minute plus tax and messages at 50 cents each, with service credits sold in batches. After release, a person can log in and retrieve photos, messages, and mail for free for up to 30 days.

Commissary and Inmate Funds

Money can be added through the Detention Center lobby kiosk, the Video Visitation Center during business hours, the JailATM online portal, or by mail using a money order or government check. JailATM takes Visa and MasterCard, does not accept prepaid cards, and shows the fee before you confirm. If an inmate owes a debt, the Sheriff applies 40 percent of a deposit to the debt and 60 percent to commissary until it is paid.

The JailATM deposit portal is the online channel the Sheriff links for adding inmate funds.

Commissary orders are placed weekly and delivered weekly, with modified options for security or disciplinary housing.