Search Allegheny County Jail Custody

Allegheny County Jail Overview

Allegheny County Jail, often shortened to ACJ, is operated by the Allegheny County Bureau of Corrections at 950 Second Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. County materials describe the building as a high-rise, direct-supervision jail that opened in 1995 after the older courthouse jail closed. The active jail is separate from the Allegheny County Courthouse and from the Department of Court Records offices on Grant Street. That difference matters because custody questions, case files, arraignment details, and bond questions do not all go to the same desk.

ACJ houses people committed by the courts, including pretrial detainees, people serving county sentences, people awaiting release through the Discharge and Release Center workflow, and people awaiting transfer. Some residents are assessed for placement at Renewal or Passages to Recovery, which are alternative housing programs tied to the county jail and court process. A person sentenced to state prison leaves the county-jail lookup track and moves to the Pennsylvania DOC locator after state intake. Federal and immigration custody also use separate systems.

The county's jail contact page identifies Warden Trevor Wingard as the jail leader and lists the main jail phone as 412-350-2000. The public record route for Allegheny County Jail inmate lookup is built around that phone line, UJS court dockets, the jail Record Office, and Allegheny County open-records channels. An official public name-search ACJ roster was not located in the county or sheriff pages reviewed for the research.

Allegheny County Jail Population

The county jail overview describes ACJ capacity as over 3,000, while recent county reports show an average daily population below that headline capacity. The 2025 Annual Warden Report lists average daily population at 1,834, total commitments at 9,268, total releases at 9,310, and alternative-housing admissions at 768. The county jail page's daily population snapshot captured in the research showed a June 8, 2026 update with 1,682 people listed for the current day, 1,667 for the prior day, 1,690 for the prior week, and 1,668 for the prior month.

Those numbers should be read as custody-flow data, not just bed-count data. Allegheny County Jail records large annual movement because bookings, court releases, transfers, sentence starts, alternative housing admissions, medical or mental-health placements, and discharge processing all change the daily count. The county also publishes dashboards and warden reports that track daily population, bookings and releases, alternative housing, length of stay, holding status, legal sex, and race filters. Exact demographic counts are dynamic, so the dashboard is the better current source.

The county population dashboard is the best source for current counts because the figures change day to day. The 2025 report is better for annual totals and trend context.

Allegheny County Jail Lookup

Allegheny County did not publish an official public web roster in the pages reviewed. That means an Allegheny County Jail inmate search starts with official phone and court channels. The main jail number, 412-350-2000, is the route the county FAQ gives for booking date, pod or housing location, release, and transfer information. Arraignment Court at 412-350-3240 handles hearing times, bail amount, PFA, arraignment, preliminary-hearing, fingerprinting, and release questions. Charges, court dates, docket entries, and bond records are checked through Pennsylvania UJS Case Search.

1. Call Allegheny County Jail at 412-350-2000 for current custody, booking date, pod, transfer, or release status.
2. Have the full legal name and date of birth ready. A DOC number helps with mail, visit check-in, and trust deposits.
3. Use UJS Case Search for charges, docket events, bond entries, and upcoming court dates after arrest.
4. Call the jail Record Office at 412-350-2635 for former incarcerated individual's records, as noted in the jail FAQ.
5. If the person has moved to Renewal or Passages to Recovery, call the specific alternative housing program instead of treating it as a jail roster search.

If the person was sentenced to state custody, search the Pennsylvania DOC locator by last name or inmate number. If federal custody is involved, use the BOP inmate locator for sentenced federal prisoners. For immigration detention, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System. None of those systems replaces the ACJ phone route for a current Allegheny County Jail detainee.

Allegheny County Jail Contact

The official jail contact route is direct. Use the main jail phone for present custody and transfer questions. Use the county court and records offices for case files, court events, or older criminal records. Criminal case files from the current year and four prior years are handled at the Allegheny County Courthouse, not at the jail, and older files must be ordered from storage through the court-records process.

The useful phone numbers page also lists specialized lines for medical information, PREA reports, visit registration, property, the warden message line, and alternative housing. For formal public records that are not already available, the Allegheny County Open Records process accepts requests online, by mail, fax, email, or in person under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law.

Allegheny County Jail Visits

Allegheny County Jail visitation requires visitor registration before scheduling. Social visitors may register by calling 412-350-2413, 412-350-2035, or 412-350-2036, or by registering in the jail lobby. Registration is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Approved visitors schedule through GTL or by calling 855-208-7349, and visits must be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance. Visitors must check in 15 to 30 minutes before the visit and bring identification. Adults bringing children under 18 must have each child's birth certificate.

The county schedule has a nuance: the general visitation material references Monday through Saturday windows, while the housing-unit schedule line for Saturday says no visits. Call 412-350-2035 or 412-350-2036 before traveling if the visit could be affected by movement, lockdown, or an emergency. Staff and visitors may not wear lime green, neon green, neon yellow, or orange.

The county's visitation schedule page shows the housing-unit schedule and cancellation rules.

The visitation page is important because ACJ visits are not first-come drop-ins. Approval, scheduling, check-in, housing-unit assignment, and cancellation risk all affect whether a visit can happen.

Allegheny County Jail Mail

Allegheny County Jail mail must use the incarcerated individual's name and DOC number, not a booking number. The mailing address format is the person's name, DOC Number, Allegheny County Jail, 950 Second Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. The county says all mail is opened and searched before delivery. Letters are photocopied, while originals and photographs are held for seven days and then destroyed. Letters must use simple blue or black ink, contain no stickers or address stickers, and avoid stains, glitter, lipstick marks, and perfume.

Money and communication rules are also specific. The county funds page says trust-account deposits require the payer to be on the incarcerated person's approved visitor list effective November 1, 2024. Deposit routes include lobby kiosks, money orders with the DOC number, ConnectNetwork phone payments, and JailATM or its app route. Money orders over $100 are placed on a 10-business-day hold. Tablet services include paid video visits, paid messaging, paid entertainment, free education, and free law-library, request, grievance, PREA, and jail-notice functions.

The county's inmate funds page explains the trust-account rules and approved-visitor deposit change.

The funds rules matter for custody lookup because the DOC number used for mail and deposits is also one of the most useful identifiers to have when calling or scheduling a visit.

Allegheny County Jail Intake

The local path after arrest is arrest, transport or processing, identity and custody paperwork, property handling, medical or mental-health screening, a first phone opportunity, bail or arraignment review, classification, and then placement in ACJ, release, transfer, or alternative housing. The county intake page says an incarcerated individual receives one free 30-second phone call after processing. Incoming calls are not allowed. Normal phone access after processing requires a Securus account or commissary phone card.

Medical and behavioral-health screening can affect custody and release decisions. The intake page references possible Behavioral Assessment Unit evaluation as a bail condition, and the medical-care page lists services such as dialysis, dental, radiology, physical therapy, optometry, orthopedic, OB/GYN, wound care, clinical care, and laboratory services. Outside callers may provide medical information through 412-350-2201, but the jail cannot release private medical details because of HIPAA.

About Allegheny County Jail

Allegheny County Jail is part of a broader local custody system that includes county court processing, the Department of Court Records, Arraignment Court, Pennsylvania DOC, VINE, and two alternative housing programs. County law and oversight are also part of the picture. Pennsylvania law creates county jail oversight-board duties, and Allegheny County publishes Jail Oversight Board materials, warden reports, lockdown and segregation reports, health and safety assessments, and population dashboards. Those sources provide a better basis for current jail conditions than rumors or unofficial roster pages.

Programs and reentry services are part of the county's jail ecosystem. Allegheny County describes alternative housing as court-approved placement outside the jail after assessment for drug, alcohol, medical, and mental-health needs. The Jail Collaborative Re-Entry Program serves men and women serving a county sentence in ACJ or alternative housing, with eligibility tied to county sentence length, risk assessment, probation or parole in Allegheny County, and other criteria. The 2025 Warden Report also counts releases to outside drug and alcohol diversion programs.

The county's jail FAQ is the most direct official source for the phone lookup path.

The FAQ reinforces the central lookup point for ACJ: call the jail for custody, pod, booking, transfer, and release questions, then use court and records channels for case documents.