Conduct a Free Ada County Mugshot Inquiry (Idaho)

Conduct an Ada County mugshot search by referring to official public resources available to find people currently in jail or prison.

The Idaho Public Records Law states that every individual has a right to examine and copy any public records – like the photographs of arrestees and more – from official custodians at all reasonable times for inspection, unless specifically exempted by law.

This article provides instructions that will help you navigate trusted sources and efficiently search for mugshots of detained individuals.

Unveiling Free Mugshot Sources for Ada County Residents

With the availability of internet technology, sharing and acquiring various information and other knowledge is possible, but it’s getting harder to find trusted sources. Rest assured that this resource offers step-by-step guidance and links to official government databases.

As part of a public record, mugshots (also known as police photographs) should be retrieved from the official custodians, which are the law enforcement agencies responsible for arresting law breakers or in supervising jail and prisons for reliable information.

The agencies are the following: the municipal police departments, the county sheriff’s office, the state department of corrections, and the federal Bureau of Prisons. The information they can provide is limited to the jurisdiction they’re responsible for and you can either search the record of an individual through the offender browsing platforms that these agencies provide for free or by processing public records requests.

These agencies and the records they can provide will be explained further in sections below.

Accessing Ada County Mugshots Free of Charge

Ada County is the most populous county in Idaho, and the safety of local residents is under the responsibility of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office. One of the agency’s responsibilities is to supervise inmates housed at the Detention Facility.

The Ada County Sheriff’s Office has three (3) free online databases where you can find the mugshots of local residents that have warrants, have been arrested, or inmates in custody; however, these will not include juvenile offenders.

The warrants database contains some information of individuals – mugshot, full name, age, warrant number, issued date, severity, and bond amount – that have valid arrest warrants for criminal or traffic offenses.¹ You may search the person you’re looking for by providing the individual’s first and last name partially or in full detail. For additional information, you may review more details about executing warrant searches in Ada County, Idaho.

The arrests page lists all current arrests that the Ada County Sheriff or other police departments did the last four (4) hours, 24 hours, or 5 days which can be filtered and sorted by providing date and order showing these people’s mugshot, full name, age, arrest date/ time/agency, status, severity, charge, statute, type, and a vinelink.²

Lastly, the inmate jail roster contains records of the residents incarcerated in the Ada County Jail for criminal offenses and is updated every 24 hrs.³ You may browse the search tool by providing the inmate’s last name and the results will show the inmate’s mugshot, full name, jail ID number, age, arresting agency, severity, charges, type, and bail.

Note: In these three (3) databases, not all records contain mugshots. If the person you’re looking for doesn’t have mugshots, you may contact the Ada County Sheriff’s Office or process a public records request.⁴

You may also check the VINELink, which is a third party website where you can search for the information of an offender and request to receive real time notifications about the custody status of an inmate.⁵

Services for Offenders: Visitation, Contact Options, Bail Assistance & Other Programs

The Ada County Jail is under the responsibility of the Sheriff’s Office having 1,116 beds housing inmates classified into various security level risks from minimum (having the highest level of benefits and privileges) to maximum.⁶ Those inmates preparing to be released from jail back into the community are moved to the Community Transition Center.

For the convenience of inmates and their families, the Ada County Jail offers various services and programs for their rehabilitation.

Release From Jail: The arrestee may be released from jail by paying a bond for each criminal charge or through the order of the 4th Judicial District Judge.

Inmates with a bond attached to their arrest warrant or a bond for a criminal charge in court set by a judge can be bailed for the amount of the bond and an additional $25 administration fee. For multiple charges with separate bonds, inmates are required to pay $25 per charge. On the other hand, multiple charges under only one case number will only necessitate a single $25 administration fee for all bonds.

Bonds with the additional $25 fee must be paid at the counter in the lobby of the main Ada County Sheriff’s Office in cash, cashier’s check, money order, or through a bail bond service (credit cards and personal checks are not allowed).

Ada County Sheriff’s Office
7200 Barrister Dr.
Boise, Idaho 83704

Jail Visitation: Families and friends may visit the inmates online via the Ada County Jail Video Visitation system. As visitors, you must first schedule your visitation through the Getting Out website and then the inmates are given two (2) free 25-minute online visits per week with a fee for the additional visits.

Professionals such as attorneys or clergy members, on the other hand, will be using the Virtual Visitation System (VVS) as a scheduling system for both in-person and virtual visitation.

Mail, Payments & Commissary: The incoming mail will be checked first (to avoid entry for escape plans or any writings that might threaten the security of the jail) and then will be sent to the inmates electronically.⁷ The mail must have the following information of the inmate to prevent it from being returned to the sender:

Ada County Jail, ID
Inmate’s Full Name
Inmate’s Jail Identification (JID) number – found through the inmate roster
P.O. Box 247
Phoenix, Maryland 21131

Newspapers, books, and magazines orders from a publisher or bookstore must be sent directly to the jail with this information:

Ada County Jail
Inmate’s Name, JID Number
7210 Barrister Dr.
Boise, Idaho 83704

Inmates are not allowed to receive phone calls but they may purchase phone time to make outgoing phone calls.

Each inmate has their own personal account which can be funded through in-person deposits at a kiosk at the Ada County Sheriff’s Office lobby using cash and debit/visa cards or online by visiting Telemate for a secure payment. The offender’s account must have a maintaining balance of $15 at all times.

The remaining amount can be used to pay any services or a variety of things that the incarcerated individuals purchased from the jail commissary. However, inmates who don’t have money on their accounts for seven (7) days prior to the request for commissary will be provided with necessary personal hygiene items. All inmates will also be given three (3) stamped envelopes and writing papers weekly.

Under the Idaho Code §20.607, the Sheriff can ask the individuals sentenced to jail for the reimbursement of incarceration costs at $25 per day up to $500 for 20 days per incarceration.

The Ada County Jail also has health services that operate 24/7 for the safety and security of the staff and inmates; programs to help offenders transition back into the community such as Active Behavioral Change (ABC), Substance Abuse Program (SAP), and Workforce Readiness Program; and applies the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) to establish a zero tolerance towards any sexual assaults and rapes on inmates in jail.⁸

Search City-Based Mugshots Across Ada County via Police Public Records Requests

Ada County comprises Idaho’s capital city (Boise) and five (5) other municipalities with their own police departments.

Three (3) of these police departments (under Eagle, Kunan, and Star) are not completely independent because they also contracted with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office for law enforcement services to reduce administrative costs. You may process a records request to the sheriff’s office for these partnered police departments to obtain arrest photographs (mugshots).

The table below lists all police departments within Ada County responsible to a specific municipality with their addresses, contact details, and webpages where you can get information on several methods to process a records request (online, mail, fax, email, in person).

Idaho State & Federal Prison Mugshots: How To Find Them Online

The Idaho Department of Correction (IDOC) manages all state prisons housing felony offenders within the state sentenced for more than a year.

The department has a Resident/Client Search tool that contains records of incarcerated, on probation, or on parole individuals which can be browsed by entering the person’s name or IDOC number in full details or partially by providing at least the first three (3) characters of the name or number.¹⁰

The results will show the matching profiles’ full name, age, status, and when clicking the IDOC # link, you will see the individual’s last reported location, offense(s), sentencing county, case number, and sentencing satisfaction date. The search engine doesn’t show the mugshots of these offenders, however you may submit a records request to the IDOC.

A prisoner death row list and a sex offender registry are also available, which provide the mugshots of these people.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), on the other hand, supervises federal inmates held in custody in various federal prisons spread throughout the United States. However, there are no federal prison facilities placed within Idaho state.

To find the information of the offender you’re looking for, you may run a search through the federal inmate search tool provided by the BOP agency by entering either the full name or register number.¹¹

Results will present the matching profile’s full name, register #, sex, race, age, release date, and location (mugshot is not available). When you click the specific individual’s record, you will find other related links that provide helpful information of what you might want to do with the details you obtained.

Offenders’ mugshots and other official records available for free in Idaho such as marriage, divorce, probation, and parole details are open to the public as ordered by the Idaho Public Records Act.¹²

However, public records must be used appropriately either for professional or personal purposes without compromising other people’s reputation. It must not be used to discriminate against anyone, to stalk, and to intimidate others, making them lose their right to other opportunities as a citizen of the state because this is considered as a criminal act as stated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).¹³

Be responsible in conducting an Ada County mugshot search and how you use the information you obtain for a great search experience and better outcome.