How to Find an Inmate Using the BOP Website (bop.gov)

Updated

You can locate someone in federal custody through the "Find an Inmate" tool on bop.gov, the official Federal Bureau of Prisons website. You'll need either the person's full name or their BOP register number, and you can search from the homepage without creating an account. The tool returns basic custody information, but it only covers people in BOP custody — it won't find individuals held in state prisons, local jails, or other agencies.

What the BOP website is

bop.gov is the official website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a United States government agency. Because it's a .gov site, it uses HTTPS and belongs to an official government organization — a useful signal when you're verifying you're on the real site rather than a third-party lookup service.

The homepage organizes information into a few main areas:

  • Inmates — including the "Find an Inmate" tool
  • About Us — agency background, facilities, statistics, and historical information
  • Locations — a list and map of BOP facilities, plus a facility search
  • Careers — current openings and the hiring process
  • Resources — policy and forms, news, publications, and records available online
  • Contact Us and audience-specific sections for attorneys, media, employees, families, victims and witnesses, and volunteers

How to search for an inmate

  1. Go to bop.gov.
  2. Open the Inmates section and select Find an Inmate.
  3. Enter your search criteria — typically the person's name or their BOP register number.
  4. Review the results.

The register number is the more precise option when you have it, since names can be common or spelled inconsistently. If you only have a name, be prepared to check multiple results.

What the results can tell you

A successful search may return information such as:

  • Custody status
  • Facility location

This is the kind of detail that helps you confirm you've found the right person and figure out where they are held.

Limitations and privacy considerations

  • Scope: The tool covers people in BOP custody. Someone in a state prison, county jail, or another federal or local agency won't appear here — you'd need that agency's own lookup system.
  • Accuracy of inputs: A misspelled name or an incorrect register number can produce no results even when the person is in custody.
  • Privacy: Inmate information is published for legitimate purposes, but treat what you find as personal data. Avoid using it to contact or locate someone outside official channels, and follow BOP's reporting options if you have a concern rather than acting on the information yourself.

Related tools on the same site

If your question goes beyond a single lookup, the site also offers:

  • Locate a Federal Prison — select a state to see facilities
  • Search for a Facility — find a specific institution
  • Policy & Forms — find a document, policy, or form
  • News — press releases and publications
  • Records Available Online — other records you can request or view

For anything the lookup tool doesn't answer, the Contact Us section and the audience-specific resource pages (for families, attorneys, victims and witnesses, and others) are the next places to check.