Search Roanoke County Inmate Records

Official Roanoke Inmate Search

The primary Roanoke County inmate records source is the official Roanoke Inmate Search. It is the public lookup for the Roanoke County/Salem Jail, the local jail operated by the Roanoke County Sheriff's Office under Sheriff Joseph E. Orange. The roster was free and did not require a login when inspected for the local research file. It can be used for active in-custody searches and for broader booking searches when a name, booking number, subject number, or date range is known.

The county roster is a booking and custody tool. Its own notice warns that the information reflects initial charge information received by the jail and that more detailed or amended charge data may be found through Virginia court records. That distinction matters in Roanoke County because a person can be booked on one set of arrest charges, then have charges amended, reduced, dismissed, or filed under different wording in court. For the court path after booking, use the local court page on court records after jail arrest.

The roster does not cover every possible detention setting. It is built around Roanoke County/Salem Jail entries. If a Roanoke County or Salem case moves to Western Virginia Regional Jail, the separate WVRJ lookup may be needed. If a person is sentenced to state custody, VADOC becomes the better source. Federal and immigration custody use still other systems. Absence from one roster is not proof that no one is held.

Use the Roanoke County Roster

Start with the county roster when the arrest, booking, or court hold is tied to Roanoke County, Salem, Vinton, or another local agency using the Roanoke County/Salem Jail. The cleanest current-custody search is to check the in-custody box, choose the Roanoke County - Salem Jail housing facility, and search by name. A booking number or subject number can narrow the record when the jail, a court notice, or an earlier result gives that exact value.

1. Open the Roanoke Inmate Search and begin with the broad Name field if the booking number is not known.
2. Check In Custody and select Roanoke County - Salem Jail when the goal is to find someone currently held at the local jail.
3. Add a Subject Number, Booking Number, Booking From Date, or Booking To Date to reduce false matches for common names.
4. Click the linked name in the result row to open the detail page, then read the booking, bond, court, photo, and charge tables together.
5. Use Virginia court search when the issue is a formal charge, hearing date, amended charge, disposition, or conviction.

The current roster result row can show the photo, name, subject number, in-custody status, scheduled release date, race, height, weight, multiple-bookings flag, and housing facility. The detail page gives more context, including booking history and court rows. Use those fields as leads, not final legal conclusions.

Roanoke County Search Fields

The Roanoke County inmate records portal has more than a simple last-name search. That helps when a person has multiple bookings, a common name, or a transfer between local facilities. The field names below come from the official search form captured for the project research. None of the optional filters should be treated as required unless the portal itself blocks a search.

The current in-custody roster query is useful for a quick roster view because it preselects active custody and the local jail. It still should be checked against the detail page before anyone relies on a release date, bond field, or charge row.

The official Roanoke Inmate Search form screenshot below shows the roster fields used for Roanoke County jail records.

Those filters are most useful when the user already has a booking number, a date range, or the housing facility from a prior custody record.

Roanoke County Inmate Profile Fields

A sample Roanoke County/Salem Jail detail page inspected for the research file showed both booking data and court-related tables. Finished Roanoke County inmate records should be read as a record of jail intake and custody. Some fields can be blank, and some fields may change after court action. The detail page can also show a booking photo with a timestamp, which is covered in more detail on the Roanoke County jail mugshots page.

Terms on the profile can be easy to misread. Booking is the jail intake event. Classification is the jail's housing and custody assessment. A detainer is a notice that another agency may want custody. A remand means a court has returned the person to custody. A disposition is a court outcome, not just a jail status.

Roanoke County Records Fallbacks

When the roster does not answer the question, the next step depends on the reason for the search. For custody status at the Roanoke County/Salem Jail, the county FAQ points people to the jail docket at 540-283-3162. For general Jail Division questions, the published number is 540-283-3145. In-person questions go to the jail and courthouse complex at 401 East Main Street in Salem, but counter staff may not release every detail.

Copies of records that are not visible online should go through Roanoke County's public records request page, which routes requests through JustFOIA and provides county FOIA assistance. Police incident or offense reports are a separate track. The county police report process says victims may call Police Records at 540-777-8605 and pick up reports in person with photo ID. That process is not the same as searching the jail roster.

County, State, Federal Custody

Roanoke County inmate records split across several systems because local jail custody is different from prison, federal, and immigration custody. The Roanoke County/Salem Jail holds local pre-trial detainees, local sentenced inmates, people awaiting court, people awaiting transfer, and local holds. Western Virginia Regional Jail is a regional adult jail serving Roanoke County, Franklin County, Montgomery County, and Salem. Neither one is a VADOC state prison.

The VADOC locator requires a first and last name together or a DOC ID, plus agreement to its disclaimer. It is updated daily and may include people in VADOC institutions, probation, parole, institutional hospitals, local and regional jails under VADOC authority, and CCAP. The BOP locator has number and name search tabs, but BOP does not publish county-style booking photos. ICE ODLS is a separate JavaScript locator for immigration detainees.

Roanoke County Jail Facilities

Roanoke County has two local jail facilities that matter for inmate record searches. The primary local facility is the Roanoke County/Salem Jail. Western Virginia Regional Jail is physically in Salem and serves several member localities, including Roanoke County. The City of Salem announced in 2025 that it was withdrawing from the Roanoke County-Salem Jail agreement in favor of moving additional inmates to WVRJ, so searches should not assume one facility covers every Salem or Roanoke County custody question.

Roanoke County Booking Records

After an arrest by Roanoke County Police, Salem Police, Vinton Police, or another agency, the person may be taken to a local jail or another authorized holding facility. Jail staff verify identity, create or update the subject number, make the booking record, photograph and fingerprint the person, screen for medical or mental-health concerns, inventory property, and classify the person for housing. The public detail page confirms that booking date, prisoner type, classification, housing facility, total bond or bail, booking origin, court information, and charges can appear.

The county does not publish a guaranteed roster refresh schedule. One inspected sample showed a booking time shortly before the booking-photo timestamp, but that is only one record. A new booking may take time to appear. If the search is urgent, call the jail docket. If the issue is bond, first appearance, or amended charges, check the court case as well because a court can change release conditions after the initial jail entry.

Roanoke County Visits and Rules

Roanoke County/Salem Jail uses video visitation through ICSolutions/The Visitor. Visitors register at no cost, and visits may be conducted from onsite terminals or offsite from a Windows computer, Android device, or iOS device. Offsite visits are fee-based, the cost varies by facility, and internet problems during offsite visits are not refunded by the vendor page.

The county's visitation guidelines, restrictions page, and visitation schedule page should be checked before a visit. Professional visits for attorneys, bondsmen, doctors, clergy, probation officers, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers have separate confidential-visit rules.

Roanoke County Mail and Calls

Roanoke County jail mail uses a published mailing route: Roanoke County/Salem Jail, Inmate Name, Inmate Number, PO Box 16120, Jonesboro, AR 72401. The captured county FAQ did not publish a full contraband list, so confirm current rules before sending photos, books, magazines, or money orders. Use the inmate number from the roster when available to reduce mail-routing errors.

Inmates cannot receive incoming calls. The county FAQ says inmates may make outgoing collect calls during normal operating hours and that the jail does not limit the number of calls while access is available. People who do not want collect calls may refuse charges or call the jail docket office at 540-283-3145 to ask for a block. The FAQ also notes that jail-issued tablets may allow text communication.

Roanoke County Money Deposits

Money and commissary are handled outside the roster search itself. Roanoke County publishes two main deposit paths: a secured ATM in the jail lobby for cash or credit card payments, and online deposits through JailATM. The county FAQ says checks are not accepted. A fee schedule was not located in the official county pages captured for the research file, so the deposit vendor should be checked before payment.

RoCo Mobile is a county services app for news, alerts, calendars, notices, jobs, GIS, trash collection, payments, FAQs, directory, and notifications. No official app-only Roanoke County Sheriff's inmate roster was found. ICS Mobile is different; it is tied to video visitation, not the inmate search.