Other
than the complete Directory of every free Inmate Search on
JAILexchange.com, the best kept secret for free, nationwide, Inmate
Searches is VINELink.com. This Article will explain what VINELink is and
it will instruct you on how to use it.
There
are 2.4 million inmates in jails and prisons on any given day in
America. VINELINK is one of the best resources for finding almost all of
them...and like JAILexchange.com, it's always FREE!
What is VINELink?
VINELink
is the online version of VINE (Victim Information and Notification
Everyday), the National Victim Notification Network. Initially designed
to allow crime victims a way to obtain timely and reliable information
about criminal cases and the custody status of offenders 24 hours a day,
VINELink has established itself as a favorite for anyone with access to
the internet or a telephone to do an Inmate Lookup in almost every jail
and prison in the United States.
VINELink was established in 1994 by the family of Mary Byron,
a women murdered by her ‘stalker’ ex-boyfriend. Mary’s violent
boyfriend was let out of jail, and even though she was assured that she
would be notified of his release, she was not. She was shot in the head
by him while sitting in her car in her own driveway.
VINELink, completed in 2000, provides
information on criminal cases and the custody status of Offenders. It
will notify you of any Transfers, Releases or Escapes by email,
telephone or on their website. You can use VINELink to search for
Inmates in ‘near real time’, meaning it is updated every 15 minutes with
new information including new bookings.
Who Uses VINELink?
While VINELink is not available everywhere, it is currently being used by over two thirds of the nation’s jails and prisons.
It helps keep victims informed and allows for Inmate Searches using a
name, court case information or other identifying inmate number. While
JAILexchange.com has every available county, state and federal Inmate
Lookup list on each of its 9,000 Facility Pages, we also consider it
mandatory to have links to VINELink because it is clearly the largest
integrated inmate database in the country.
Some states within VINE even provide the
option to display their information on the website in Spanish. If this
option is available, you will see an “English | Español” toggle in the
upper right hand corner of the state’s VINELink webpage.
If you don’t have regular access to the
internet, you can arrange to be notified via phone, fax, letter or TTY
24 hours a day. VINELink will continue to phone you until you respond
with a personal four-digit pin, chosen by you.
The following gives you an idea of the scope of VINELink’s annual reach. Every year they record:
- 14.5 million offender status changes
- 500,000 notifications to victims and others
- 7.2 million calls – inbound and outbound
- 1.2 million VINELink registrations
VINELink has live operators on call 24 hours a day for every state that uses its services and
each state has a toll-free number. At
the bottom of this Article is information on how to find each state and
their VINELink toll-free number. We have included the states that are
not currently using VINELink.
How to use VINELink online
- Go to http://www.vinelink.com
- Click on the state you wish to search.
- Register by clicking on Offender in the upper left corner of the page.
- Click on name for details and the option to Register
- Register for notification (optional – you don’t have to do this). Then enter your contact info.
- Click Register. You are done.
How to use VINELink by telephone
Go to JAILexchange.com and
click on ‘Inmate search’ and choose your city or county. The link for
our State or County VINELink page, listed in the orange box on each of
our Facility Pages will list the phone number you can call for assistance.
The following states are not currently using VINELink:
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Maine
- South Dakota
The following States have a limited VINELink database:
- Arizona
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- West Virginia
VINELink is an excellent free source for Inmate Searches within the United States and Puerto Rico. In addition, JAILexchange.com provides every public Inmate Search list available in our directory of 9,000 Facility Pages.
If no list is provided, we provide telephone numbers direct to the
facility. Feel free to call the facility and ask for their assistance.
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