# Are some inmate records available and others not? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-inmate-records-available-and-others-not/482843 "2009-01-24T22:33:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-inmate-records-available-and-others-not/482843/1 "2009-01-24T22:33:17Z")
There’s a guy who had been dating my sister last year, and he did a lot to harm her and our family. At the time, I had a full-time job working for the National Guard, and, by getting his first and last name, a recruiter friend of mine was able to search his criminal records: he had committed about 30 different crimes, ranging from selling drugs to burglary to assault. Really, he was a bad guy. My sister finally dropped the guy, after she discovered that he had been cheating on her with her best friend. It was about the least surprising thing I had ever heard. Anyway, that was great news… except, through a chain of meeting people from his new girlfriend (and my sister’s old best friend), he has gotten to know a person about whom I care a lot. She believes that he’s a scumbag, I think, or at least she says he does. Still, I’m concerned about his ability to almost brainwash the people he gets to know. Anyway, I live in Montgomery County, PA. Through [this](http://webapp.montcopa.org:8080/inmatelookup?client=public) website, which can be found at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility’s homepage, I can search for current and former inmates there. He has been there six or so times. However, I know he’s spent a lot more time in jail, presumably in the Philadelphia prison system. Looking around their website, I can’t find anything that would provide the service that Montgomery County does: letting me search for current and former inmates. I realize this has been a long heap of crap, but my question ultimately is, does the ability to search for inmates–past and present–vary from county to county? I thought all that stuff was public record. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-inmate-records-available-and-others-not/482843/2 "2009-01-24T22:43:30Z")
It’s er. . . complicated. First, not every state makes all criminal records available. Second, not all states offer access to them for free. Third, not all states offer a search engine for them. When I’m looking for criminal records, I start here: [http://www.virtualchase.com/topics/criminal\_records\_state.shtml:](http://www.virtualchase.com/topics/criminal_records_state.shtml:) > [@](#): > > [http://www.psp.state.pa.us/patch/site/default.asp](http://www.psp.state.pa.us/patch/site/default.asp) > 18 August 2003. The Pennsylvania State Police maintain this Web site, which provides criminal history data from the state repository. While anyone may access PATCH, criminal histories may be edited in accordance with state law. Searches incur a small fee per person investigated, and require a full name and date of birth. If the search is finds no records, users receive an immediate report. Reports indicating a criminal past are mailed in about two weeks. > > The system offers no information about dates of inclusion, but because the data comes directly from the state repository, it appears to contain whatever the repository currently has on file. In other words, while not foolproof (The individual could have a criminal record in another state.), this is an excellent way to find out whether someone has a criminal history in Pennsylvania You’ll see there is a separate search engine for those under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections. ---
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-inmate-records-available-and-others-not/482843/3 "2009-01-25T00:34:40Z")
Thank you for providing such a fast answer to my question, **Gfactor**. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-inmate-records-available-and-others-not/482843/4 "2009-01-25T03:39:41Z")
I hope it helped.