Search San Mateo Inmate Population

San Mateo County inmate population records are managed by the Sheriff's Office, which operates the Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City. This is the main county jail on the San Francisco Peninsula and holds several hundred inmates on a typical day. The San Mateo County Sheriff provides information about the corrections division on the department website, and the county works with ICSolutions for some inmate services. You can search for inmates and check custody status through several methods. San Mateo County is densely populated with over 760,000 residents, and the jail serves the entire county including cities like Daly City, San Mateo, and Redwood City. This page covers the tools you can use to find San Mateo County inmate population information.

San Mateo Sheriff Corrections Division

The San Mateo County Sheriff's Corrections Division manages the Maguire Correctional Facility and the county's Maple Street Correctional Center. Maguire is the primary booking and housing facility. It opened in 2016 as a replacement for an older jail. The facility sits at 300 Bradford Street in Redwood City. San Mateo County provides corrections information through the sheriff's website where you can learn about the jail, inmate services, and visiting procedures. The Corrections Division handles all bookings, releases, and inmate transfers in San Mateo County.

San Mateo County uses its own system for managing inmate records. The sheriff's site provides information about the corrections division and how to reach staff for questions about people in custody. For direct inmate lookup, the county also works with third-party communication vendors. Phone calls and messaging for San Mateo County inmates go through ICSolutions. These services are separate from the custody search itself. If you need to confirm someone is in San Mateo County custody right now, calling the jail directly at (650) 599-3000 is a reliable option. Staff can check the system and confirm whether a person is booked in.

Note: San Mateo County jail records are separate from state prison records. The sheriff's system only covers people held at the county level.

Find San Mateo County Inmates

There are several ways to search for San Mateo County inmate population data. Start with the sheriff's website for corrections information. If you need a statewide search, VINELink covers all of California. VINE lets you look up inmates by name across every county jail in the state. It works well when you are not sure if someone is in San Mateo County or a neighboring county like San Francisco or Santa Clara. Register for alerts and VINE sends you a notification when an inmate's status changes. Call 1-877-411-5588 to use VINE by phone.

State prison inmates who were sentenced in San Mateo County show up in the CIRIS inmate locator run by CDCR. CIRIS is free and covers all California state prison facilities. It does not include county jail data though. San Mateo County jail holds people who are awaiting trial, serving shorter sentences, or recently booked on new charges. State prison is for people convicted and sentenced to longer terms. Once a person transfers out of San Mateo County jail into the state prison system, they leave the county's records and appear in CIRIS instead.

For San Mateo County jail population trends, the BSCC Jail Profile Survey collects monthly data on average daily population, bookings, and rated capacity from every California county. This tool is useful for researchers, journalists, and anyone studying inmate population patterns in San Mateo County over time.

San Mateo Inmate Records and Law

Booking data in San Mateo County is public. Government Code 6254(f) requires law enforcement in California to share arrest and booking information. Names, charges, bail amounts, and booking dates are not private. This is the legal basis for any public inmate search tool in San Mateo County. The law treats this information as routine disclosure.

Criminal history records are a different matter. Penal Code 11105 restricts who can see full criminal background files. The California DOJ manages those records. The San Mateo County Sheriff does not have the authority to release someone's full criminal history to the public. San Mateo County inmate population data is just a current view of who is in jail. It is not a full background check. For your own criminal record, submit fingerprints at a Live Scan location in San Mateo County. The state charges $25. Processing usually takes a few days. Several Live Scan providers operate in Redwood City, San Mateo, and Daly City.

San Mateo Corrections Information

You can find information about the San Mateo County Sheriff's Corrections Division at smcsheriff.com shown below.

The corrections page provides details about the Maguire Correctional Facility, visiting hours, and how to reach the jail. From here you can find information about San Mateo County inmate services and contact numbers for the corrections staff.

San Mateo County Cities

Several cities in San Mateo County have populations that qualify for their own pages. These cities rely on the county sheriff for jail and inmate services.

Nearby Counties

Counties next to San Mateo have their own jail systems and inmate search tools. Check these pages for inmate population records in surrounding areas.