Search the VADOC Inmate Population

What Is VADOC?

VADOC is the official abbreviation for the Virginia Department of Corrections. The agency confirms that abbreviation on its FOIA page and uses it across its public material. VADOC is the statewide corrections agency for sentenced men and women in state custody, but it is not the custodian for every jail booking in Virginia. Local sheriffs, city jails, and regional jail authorities hold most people right after arrest.

VADOC's public contact listed in the research is Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, VA 23261, main phone (804) 674-3000. That central office contact belongs on the DOC page because it is statewide. It should not be treated as the jail contact for a county arrest, a bond question, or a regional jail visit.

The VADOC home page identifies the agency and its statewide public role.

The agency page is the correct source for VADOC programs, prison custody, supervision, and central public information.

The VADOC Inmate Population

The May 2026 VADOC Monthly Population Summary reported 22,612 Virginia state-responsible inmates incarcerated in VADOC facilities. The same report listed 33 out-of-state contract inmates, for total institutional average daily population of 22,645. The VADOC inmate population in that report was up 0.53 percent from April 2026 and down 0.90 percent from May 2025.

The VADOC population reports page is the official source for monthly prison-population documents.

Use those reports for dated statewide counts rather than estimating from individual facility pages.

How to Search the VADOC Locator

The official VADOC Inmate and Supervisee Locator gives public access to people under VADOC custody or supervision. Its scope includes incarcerated people in state correctional facilities, probationers and parolees supervised by district offices, people assigned to institutional hospitals, people housed in local or regional jails under VADOC authority, and CCAP participants.

1. Open the VADOC Inmate and Supervisee Locator.
2. Search by first and last name, or search by DOC ID number.
3. Use optional filters such as location, race, gender, or age range only when needed.
4. Read and agree to the locator disclaimer.
5. Review the matching VADOC result and confirm key facts with the source agency when timing matters.

The VADOC locator page is the search form used for the VADOC inmate population.

The locator is updated daily, but VADOC warns that data may be inaccurate or outdated.

VADOC Prisons and Facilities

VADOC's May 2026 institutional report counted 37 facilities: 25 major institutions with ADP of 21,601, 7 field units with ADP of 584, 4 work centers with ADP of 449, and 1 secure hospital unit with ADP of 11. The public facilities-and-offices directory is broader than the monthly report because it includes community corrections, probation and parole, administrative offices, CCAP, and other office types.

The VADOC facilities and offices directory is the statewide source for prison and office listings.

The statewide facility directory uses this source for VADOC prisons and combines it with local jail research.

VADOC Intake and Classification

VADOC's incoming-inmates page explains the custody path after sentencing. A judge imposes the sentence, VADOC receives the sentencing order, and the agency evaluates, drug tests, interviews, and classifies the inmate. VADOC uses six security levels, plus work center and field unit categories. Facility assignment is tied to offense, behavior, sentence length, and security classification.

The VADOC incoming-inmates page explains security-level and intake basics.

That intake process is why a person may leave a local jail roster before a permanent VADOC facility assignment appears.

VADOC Release and Time Computation

Release dates in Virginia depend on sentence type, offense date, class level, jail credit, disciplinary record, and statutory credit rules. VADOC distinguishes Good Conduct Allowance sentences and Earned Sentence Credit sentences. GCA sentences generally relate to older felony offenses and certain misdemeanor offenses, while ESC sentences generally relate to felony offenses committed on or after January 1, 1995. The research notes ESC-1 and ESC-2 credit ranges described by VADOC, but the statewide page should not calculate release dates for a person.

The VADOC Time Computation page is the official release-date and sentence-credit reference.

Use the official page for credit rules, and verify any individual projected release date with VADOC or counsel.

VADOC Records Requests

VADOC handles records requests under Virginia FOIA. Its FOIA page says requests may be made by mail, fax, email, in person, or by phone, and that written requests are preferred because they reduce misunderstanding. VADOC says requests must identify existing records with reasonable specificity. It also says the agency may ask for the requester's name and legal address and cannot require a reason for the request.

The agency identifies Anne-Cabrie Forsythe as a legal/general FOIA contact in the research, with phone (804) 963-2953, email FOIA@vadoc.virginia.gov, and mailing address Virginia Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 26963, Richmond, VA 23261. FOIA timing is five working days from receipt, with day one as the first workday after receipt. Inmate-specific records are routed to the unit manager, warden, superintendent, or probation and parole district chief that maintains the record.

The VADOC FOIA page explains the records-request process and confirms the VADOC abbreviation.

FOIA is for existing records, not for custody advice, legal advice, or newly created answers.

VADOC vs County Jail Search

A VADOC inmate population search is the right choice when the person is in state prison, under VADOC authority, or supervised by VADOC. A county or regional jail search is the right choice when the person has just been arrested, is waiting for court, is serving a local sentence, or is held by a sheriff or regional jail authority. The distinction is practical. VADOC can show a prison result while the court still holds case records, and a local jail can show a booking long before VADOC has a custody record.

Note: A same-day arrest usually starts with the local or regional jail, not the VADOC inmate locator.