The Mobile County, Alabama Jail Roster is a public tool that allows anyone to check who is currently in custody at the county jail. MobileALCourt.us provides access to publicly available information about current and recent inmates. Additionally, data can be obtained through the official Mobile County Sheriff's website, in person at the jail, or by calling the facility. The roster allows you to find out the detainee's name, booking date, and charges. It is maintained by the Mobile County Sheriff's Office, with updates occurring regularly throughout the day. The list is posted on the MCSO website.
Search Current Inmates in Mobile Jail
To find a person currently in custody, use one of the methods below.
Online Search
- Go to the "Who's in Jail" page on the Mobile County Sheriff's Office website.
- The page displays a list of all inmates currently in custody. The list can be browsed by scrolling.
- To find a specific person, use the search function in your browser (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) and enter the last name.
- Each entry displays: full name, booking date, and list of charges.
You can also search for publicly available court records related to a specific person on MobileALCourt.us.
In addition to the main roster, MCSO publishes a 24-hour booking report — useful if you are looking for someone recently detained.
What You Need for the Search
- Full legal name (last name and first name) of the detained person
- Booking number, if known
Juvenile offenders are not displayed in the public roster.
Phone Inquiry
Call the Mobile County Jail directly. The operator can confirm if a specific person is in custody if you provide the full name.
In-Person Visit
You can approach the information window in the jail lobby. Be prepared to provide the name or booking number of the person you are looking for.
Mobile County Metro Jail
If you are interested in active warrants, use the warrant search on the MCSO website. This tool shows warrants issued by Mobile County courts.
Find Mobile Jail Booking Records Online
A booking record is created every time a person is officially admitted to the jail following an arrest. This is not the same as a court case: booking records the fact of admission to the facility.
During the booking process, the following data is generated:
- Unique booking number
- Date and time of admission
- List of charges at the time of arrest
- Name of the agency that made the arrest (Mobile City Police, Sheriff's Patrol, etc.)
- Personal details of the detainee (name, date of birth)
The quickest way to view these records is the "Who's in Jail" page on the sheriff's website. It displays information only about those currently in custody. Once released, the record disappears from the public list.
To obtain archived booking records — for example, if the person has already been released — contact the Mobile County Sheriff's Office directly with a written public records request. Court documents related to criminal cases can be searched through the Alacourt system, which provides online access to Alabama state court materials. For state-level criminal history checks, the Criminal Records Identification Unit of ALEA is used.
Search the Mobile Jail Roster by Last Name or Booking Number
The roster on the MCSO website supports two main search methods.
Search by Last Name
The inmate list is sorted alphabetically by last name. Open the page and use the Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) function to enter the last name. A few practical tips:
- Enter the last name exactly as it might be recorded in official documents — without abbreviations or nicknames.
- If there are no results, try entering just the first few letters of the last name — this helps if the spelling differs from expected.
- Double last names are sometimes recorded with a hyphen, sometimes separately.
Search by Booking Number
If you know the booking number, enter it in the browser's search field. This is the most accurate method, as the number is unique to each record.
If the Search Yields No Results
The absence of a name in the roster could mean several things:
- The person has not yet been entered into the system (booking can take some time).
- The person has already been released — on bail, by court decision, or after serving the term.
- The arrest was made by another agency, and the person is held in another facility.
- You used an incorrect spelling of the name.
In any of these cases, call the jail at (251) 574-2423 for clarification.
Jail Roster Updates and Search Limitations in Mobile
The Mobile County Sheriff's Office updates the online roster throughout the day. New bookings typically appear on the page after the admission process is completed, which can take from a few minutes to several hours depending on the facility's workload.
There are several important limitations to be aware of:
- Delay between arrest and appearance in the roster. If a person has just been detained, their name may not yet be displayed. Check the 24-hour booking page or call.
- Records disappear after release. The roster shows only those currently in custody. It is not an archive of all past detentions.
- Data entry errors. Sometimes a name may be recorded with an error or in a non-standard format, complicating the search.
- Minors and some federal detainees are not displayed in this roster.
For access to historical records or criminal cases, contact the Circuit Criminal Division or submit a request through the Alacourt system. If you need a complete criminal history check of a person, Alabama Background Check by ALEA is the official state-level channel.