The Autauga County Inmate Population
The Autauga County inmate population is housed at one local facility, the Autauga County Metro Jail in downtown Prattville. The jail is run by the Autauga County Sheriff's Office, and it is the booking point for people arrested by the sheriff, by Prattville and Millbrook police, and by other agencies that work inside the county. Anyone counted in the local population fits one of a few groups. Some wait for a first court date. Some have a low-level conviction and a short term. Others sit on a hold for another agency.
This local count is not the same as the state prison count. A person stays part of the Autauga County inmate population while a case is pending or a short jail term is served. Once a felony sentence sends someone to state prison, that person leaves the county jail and the count drops. Arrests, bond rulings, court dates, and transfers all push the daily total up or down, which is why the number changes from one day to the next.
Autauga County Inmate Population Statistics
Official current daily counts for the Autauga County inmate population are limited because the sheriff roster runs through JavaScript and the app, and no live daily total was published in the sources reviewed. The figures that can be sourced are the reported bed capacity and a dated roster count from a 2024 news report. The rated capacity of 138 beds comes from a county jail information page found during research, while the Alabama Department of Corrections statewide total reflects sentenced state prisoners, not local jail custody.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Rated / bed capacity | 138 beds | County jail information page, located during research |
| Roster count during jail evacuation | 164 people | Associated Press, June 6, 2024 |
| Local detention facilities | 1 (Metro Jail) | Sheriff OCV map, 2026 |
| Statewide ADOC prisoners (context) | 27,601 | ADOC inmate locator, May 2026 |
Current daily population, annual bookings, and the male and female split for the county jail were not located in official sources. Those rows are left out on purpose rather than filled with estimates from third-party sites.
Autauga County Jail Capacity and Crowding
Capacity is where the Autauga County inmate population drew the most attention. A county jail information page lists the Metro Jail at 138 beds. On June 6, 2024, the Associated Press reported that the sheriff website roster listed 164 people the day Sheriff Mark Harrell evacuated the jail over unspecified health and safety issues. Deputies moved inmates to other facilities while the problems were addressed.
The gap between the 138-bed figure and the 164 roster count points to strain on the building, though no court order or official overcrowding finding was located beyond that news event. The sheriff said arrangements had been made with several agencies to house people, and he asked the County Commission to fix the health and safety issues before he would place anyone back in the lockup. County Administrator Scott Kramer said the commission was aware of the issues and that workers and experts had been at the facility that week.
Note: The 138-bed capacity comes from a county information page, so confirm the current certified rating with the sheriff before treating it as a live number.
Laws Governing the Autauga County Inmate Population
State law is the reason much of the Autauga County inmate population data can be seen at all. Alabama gives residents a general right to inspect public writings, and it puts a specific duty on the sheriff to keep a prisoner record book for the county jail. Other statutes shape what stays private, such as juvenile records and sealed criminal histories. Each rule below carries a short plain-English meaning so readers know what it covers.
Key Statutes:
Alabama Code § 36-22-8 - The sheriff must keep a public prisoner record book listing each person received into the county jail, including description, charge, commitment, and release details.
Alabama Code § 36-12-40 - Alabama's core public-records law lets residents inspect and copy public writings, subject to certain exceptions.
Alabama Code § 12-15-133 - Juvenile court records carry confidentiality limits, which is why a young person may not show up in public jail or court lookups.
Alabama Code § 15-27-1 - Eligible criminal records may be expunged by court order, so a cleared record can drop out of public view.
No single Alabama statute is titled a jail mugshot law, and no death-in-custody reporting rule for the county was located in this research, so neither is claimed here. Section 36-22-8 is the better citation for jail-log and prisoner-book data than the general public-records law alone.
Autauga County and the State Prison Population
Sentenced felons do not stay in the Autauga County inmate population. After a state prison sentence, a person leaves county custody and enters the Alabama Department of Corrections system, then is searched through the ADOC inmate locator rather than the county roster. No ADOC prison sits inside Autauga County, so local sentenced felons are sent to reception and then assigned to a facility elsewhere in the state.
The ADOC locator page also publishes statewide totals. On the date it was checked in May 2026, ADOC reported 27,601 inmates, including 25,007 men and 2,592 women. Those numbers give useful context for the state prison population, but they are not Autauga County jail figures and should not be read that way. ADOC also notes that people sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act are left out of its search and its population totals.
| ADOC Statewide Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Total inmates | 27,601 | ADOC locator, May 2026 |
| Total males | 25,007 | ADOC locator, May 2026 |
| Total females | 2,592 | ADOC locator, May 2026 |
How to Search the Autauga County Inmate Population
An Autauga County inmate search starts with the sheriff jail roster and the official sheriff app, then moves to the Metro Jail phone line when a current booking is not visible online. The web roster route at autaugasheriff.org/roster.php exists, but it requires JavaScript and did not expose its fields to research. The sheriff's own news post says the current jail roster sits under the Metro Jail tab in the app. Treat the search as a fallback chain, not a single box.
The Autauga County Sheriff's Office homepage is the front door to those search tools, with a contact card, app download link, and recent news that point toward the roster.
From that homepage the roster route and the app share page are the two paths into the live local inmate population, so it is the natural starting point before any phone call.
Before starting, have the person's best legal name spelling ready. A middle name, an age, or a booking date helps when a name is common.
- Open the sheriff roster route in a browser with JavaScript turned on.
- If the page does not load, open the Autauga County Sheriff's Office AL app and check the Metro Jail tab.
- Search by the best name spelling, and compare booking date or charge context if the system lets you browse.
- Call the Metro Jail at (334) 361-2600 to confirm current custody before traveling, mailing, or arranging bond.
- If the person was sentenced to prison, search the ADOC locator by AIS number or name instead.
- For federal or immigration custody, use the BOP locator or ICE ODLS rather than the county roster.
Current Inmate Lookup in Autauga County
The live channel for the current Autauga County inmate population is the sheriff roster route and the app's Metro Jail tab. No refresh frequency was published, except app news saying users can receive information as it becomes available. The exact roster search fields were not visible in static HTML, which is a useful fact rather than a blank to guess at. The table below records the access channels and their confirmed status.
The Google Play listing for the sheriff app shows the official download that carries the Metro Jail roster tab.
Installing that app gives the most reliable mobile view of the current jail roster when the web route fails to load.
| Field or Channel | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Web roster fields | Not visible in static capture | Unknown | The route at /roster.php requires JavaScript. |
| Metro Jail tab | Official app feature | Unknown | Sheriff news says this tab holds the current jail roster. |
| OCV Inmate Search page | Static page feature | Not applicable | The captured content says to check back later for updates. |
| Metro Jail phone line | Phone fallback | Not applicable | Call (334) 361-2600 for custody-status routing. |
The thin web path is exactly why the app, the jail phone line, the court clerk, and the state and federal locators all belong in an Autauga County inmate lookup. A fresh booking may not appear online right away, so a phone call can beat any roster during intake. More detail on reading a roster entry lives on the jail inmate records page.
Past and Released Inmate Records
Finding someone who has left the Autauga County inmate population takes a different path. The current roster shows people in custody now, and no official release-retention period was found, so released names may drop off quickly. Do not assume a missing name means no arrest happened. Call the Metro Jail to confirm whether the person was released, sent to court, or moved to another agency.
For historical booking or jail-log records, Alabama Code Section 36-22-8 is the statute behind the sheriff prisoner record book, and the local request runs through the sheriff's office. The sheriff FAQ describes a narrow report-copy process: the person who made a report may come to 162 W. 4th Street with valid picture ID, and only that person may obtain the report. If the case moved to court, filed charges and dispositions live with Alacourt and the Autauga Circuit Clerk, not the jail roster.
What an Autauga County Inmate Record Shows
A current Autauga County sample inmate profile was not visible to research because the web roster needs JavaScript and the OCV inmate-search content was a placeholder. So the page does not claim the public roster shows bond, housing, a booking photo, or a date of birth for every person. What can be stated is what the local context and state law support, shown field by field below.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name and custody | The roster or app is the official local channel for current Metro Jail custody. |
| Booking charge | The offense listed at intake, which can differ from the prosecutor's filed court charge. |
| Bond amount | Verify with the Circuit Clerk when the question is a warrant or court bond figure. |
| Booking photo | Not verified in the web capture; treat any photo as a booking record, not proof of guilt. |
| Housing location | Call the jail before travel, since housing can change after transfer or temporary placement. |
| Release or transfer | No official online retention period was found for released or transferred people. |
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
Two systems split the wider inmate population, and they answer different questions. Pre-trial detainees and short-term inmates sit in the Autauga County Metro Jail, searched through the sheriff roster, app, or phone. Sentenced felons move to an Alabama Department of Corrections prison, searched through the ADOC locator. Mixing the two leads people to look in the wrong place.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial plus short local sentences | Sentenced felons |
| Run By | Autauga County Sheriff | Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) |
| Where to Look | Sheriff roster, app, or Metro Jail phone | ADOC inmate locator |
| Stays Listed | Until release, transfer, or sentencing | While in ADOC custody; no historical data online |
A person can leave the county roster after sentencing, release, or a transfer, then appear in the ADOC system instead. ADOC also caps results at 50 records and excludes Youthful Offender Act inmates, so exact identifiers matter for a state search.
State and Federal Inmate Search
Three outside locators cover the parts of the population that the county jail does not. The ADOC inmate locator finds sentenced Alabama prisoners by AIS number, first name, or last name. The federal Bureau of Prisons locator finds people in BOP custody from 1982 to the present, by register number or by name with race, age, and sex filters. The ICE Online Detainee Locator System is the official tool for immigration detention.
The federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator uses a register number or a name search with race, age, and sex filters to find people in federal custody.
That federal tool covers a slice of the population the Autauga County roster and the state ADOC locator never list.
Each covers a different stage. BOP may not show a federal pre-trial detainee before designation, when the U.S. Marshals and the federal court handle custody. ICE custody is separate from both BOP and ADOC. No BOP or ICE detention facility in Autauga County was identified in research. For custody notifications rather than a search, Alabama VINELink sends release and transfer alerts once a person is located.
Note: A county booking does not prove state, federal, or immigration custody after a transfer, so always confirm which system holds the person before acting.
Autauga County Detention Facilities
Official sources resolved a single local detention facility for the Autauga County inmate population. There is no separate work-release annex, regional jail, ADOC prison, BOP facility, or ICE detention center physically in the county. Sentenced state prisoners, federal inmates, and immigration detainees are searched through their own statewide or national systems after they leave county custody.
- Autauga County Metro Jail - The county's local detention facility, holding pre-trial detainees, short-term inmates, and people booked by county and municipal agencies.
Autauga County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Autauga County inmate population?
No current daily count was published in official sources, because the sheriff roster runs through JavaScript and the app. The strongest dated figure is from the Associated Press, which reported 164 people on the sheriff website roster on June 6, 2024. A county jail information page lists the Metro Jail at 138 beds. Treat the 164 figure as a single dated snapshot, not a live total.
How do I search the Autauga County inmate population?
Start with the sheriff roster route, which needs JavaScript, then use the official sheriff app's Metro Jail tab, which the sheriff says holds the current jail roster. If a name does not appear, call the Metro Jail at (334) 361-2600 to confirm custody. A fresh booking may not show online during intake, so the phone line can be faster.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
The current roster shows people in custody now, and no official retention period for released names was found. For historical jail-log records, Alabama Code Section 36-22-8 backs the sheriff prisoner record book, and requests run through the sheriff's office. For court outcomes after release, use Alacourt or the Autauga Circuit Clerk rather than the jail roster.
Why did the Autauga County jail get evacuated in 2024?
The Associated Press reported on June 6, 2024 that Sheriff Mark Harrell evacuated the Metro Jail over unspecified health and safety issues and moved inmates to other facilities. He asked the County Commission to address the problems before he would house anyone there again. County Administrator Scott Kramer said the commission was aware and that workers and experts had been at the facility that week.
Is the county jail count the same as the state prison count?
No. The county count is local custody under the sheriff, mostly pre-trial detainees and short-term inmates. The state prison count is sentenced felons in the Alabama Department of Corrections, which reported 27,601 inmates statewide in May 2026. A person leaves the county count after a prison sentence and joins the ADOC count instead.
What if the person is in federal or immigration custody?
Federal and immigration custody are searched separately. Use the Bureau of Prisons locator for people in BOP custody after designation, and ICE ODLS for immigration detention. No BOP or ICE facility sits in Autauga County. A county booking with a federal or ICE hold may not show in those systems until the outside agency takes custody.
Does the roster show charges and bond?
Research could not verify the exact fields the public roster shows, because the web route requires JavaScript. A roster may list a booking charge, but the prosecutor's filed charge can differ. For confirmed warrant or court bond amounts, contact the Autauga Circuit Clerk rather than relying only on roster text.