Erie County Jail – Buffalo, NY

Erie County Jail is in Erie County, New York and is the main jail for that region. Looking for somebody incarcerated at Erie County Jail? This guide gives you about everything related to Erie County Jail,like the following: How to locate an inmate. How to view Erie County Jail mugshots. The jail’s phone number and address. Posting bail. Intake procedures. Court information and records. And more…

The prospect of getting arrested and going to jail is a scary and daunting idea, not only for the person who goes to jail, but also their family, friends, and loved ones. The purpose of this guide is to offer info that you need to make the process a lot easier. If you have questions, just ask it, and please leave any feedback or comments that would be a benefit to others will be appreciated.

Do you know someone that has gone to jail and want to contact them?

Has someone that’s been arrested and you want to find out what jail they’re in?

To search who’s in jail at Erie County Jail you will need to navigate to their web site and use the inmate search.

The Erie County Jail Inmate List is an online list of persons who have been arrested and are in custody, which includes status, bail amount, and visiting schedule. Also, you are able to find the same information on anybody booked or discharged within the past 24 hours. Jail inmates are listed in alphabetical order by their last name. You can find their arrest information more quickly if you have your friend or family member’s first and last name, date of birth, or inmate ID.

If your friend or family member might be incarcerated at a different jail you can check our guide to other New York jails: New York County Jails Listing

A mugshot, or jail intake photograph, is a photograph that the police take during jail intake processing. A mugshot is make of one frontal photo and one profile photo. Your full name and intake number will appear on the photos, and they’re on file.

Mugshots of Erie County Jail inmates can be found on the Erie County Jail website, or you can go in person to the Erie County Jail. When you search for mugshots online you will need to enter the prisoner’s legal name, and the arrest date.

Want to have your mugshot taken off of the Erie County Jail website? This will be difficult, since the mugshot is a matter of public record. To get your mugshot removed you need to file a Petition to Expunge with the court. This means that all of your arrest records will be sealed, so no one will be able to access them. Depending on your situation, this may be a longshot.

To learn more about getting your mugshot removed, the different mugshot sites, and the websites that offer to remove your mugshot for you: How To Remove Your Mugshot from the Internet

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Obviously, once you are incarcerated, your only thought is about when and how you will get out. After booking, bail is determined using the bail schedule or the magistrate will decide it. If there is no bail set this might mean that you will either be free to go until your court date, or you must remain in jail until your trial.

If you are released from jail you are required to promise to show up for court, and until then you are not allowed to leave the area.

Usually, prisoners will earn time off in exchange for good behavior if they respect the rules and area a good inmate while in jail.

If you do exhibit good behavior and the jail believes you can be trusted, you might be allowed to do work release. Either you will have to go back to the jail every day when you’re finished at your job, or you might be allowed to sleep in a halfway house when you are not working.

Bail is money that you have to pay to the court system in order to be released from jail until your court date. The amount you will be required to pay is determined by what crime you are charged with and how serious it is. You will have to post 10 percent of the total that was set so you are able to be released. If you miss court, whoever put up your bail money will lose all of the bail money.

In order to find out how much someone’s bail is, you must call the jail. If you have all the pertinent information, like name, address and date of birth, they will tell you how much their bail is. You can also check their bail amount and status on the Erie County Jail site.

Needing to bail someone out of jail is an unpleasant situation, but fortunately, it’s really easy if you have the money. First, you need to know if their bail is a Cash Only Bond. If this is the case, you can’t use the services of a bail bondsman. Cash only – the jail can’t take a check. Once the cash bond has been paid, the person will get released. If they don’t violate the terms of their bail, you’ll get the bail money back.

If the bail amount is too high, or you can’t afford it, you should try a bail bondsman. They usually have a fee of 10-15% of the total amount of bail set, and usually have a minimum of $100. This money will not be returned to you and is typically cash only. If the bail is extremely high, the bail bondsman will usually use assets as collateral for the bond in addition to whatever their charges are.

To contact a bail bondsman visit our page about: How to find a bail bondsman

Have you ever had to use a bondsman either for yourself, a family member or friend? If you have, post a comment below and tell about it, and let us know how it worked out.

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• Get Time Off For Good Behavior
• Work Release
• Released For Time Served
• Get Out on a Pre-Trial Release Program
• Get Released on House Arrest
• Own Recognizance

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The intake procedure takes you through the following steps:

• They’ll put you in a holding cell. If the jail is busy, you may not be processed immediately.
• You must answer a bunch of questions, like your full name, home address, birthdate and an emergency contact.
• You will also be asked about your psychological and medical history.
• You’ll be given an inmate ID number.
• You will get fingerprinted.
• You will have a front and profile photo taken for your mugshot.
• Any property you have will get taken away from you and stored until you get released.
• You will then be allowed to use the telephone in order to get in touch with a member of your family, friend, or bondsman to arrange bail.
• If they expect that you will make bail and be released quickly, you might be allowed to keep wearing street clothes, but if you are not expected to make bail quickly you will be issued a jail uniform – the jumpsuit.

Have you ever been arrested and gone through the jail intake procedure? If you have, you should tell your story so other people can learn from your experience. How long did it take? Were you treated fairly? Do you know any secrets that might help other people that get arrested get through the procedure?

Speak Your Mind

When you post bail, you will be allowed to go home after you get discharged. The discharge process may take between 10 minutes to hours or even all day long. Or, simply, the quicker you post bail, the faster you will get discharged from jail. How quickly you get discharged depends on whether or not you’ve been given a cash bond amount or if a judge still needs to determine the bail amount. For minor offenses, you will simply be booked and released on your own recognizance. When you have served your sentence and have a date of your release, plan to get released at any time that day – but usually in the morning.

If the police have a, or if you must start your sentence, you really should follow the rules and go down to the jail and turn yourself in. If it is for a warrant, go down to the jail reception area, and tell them that think that there is an outstanding warrant for your arrest. They will do a record check, and if they find one, you will be taken into the sheriff’s custody. If you have a jail sentence to serve, go down to the jail at the time and date that the sentence order states. Ensure that you are not late to report. Only bring approved items when you go to jail, such as your driver’s license or even ID, prescription medication, and a sentencing order.

In order to have visitors, inmates need to give each visitor’s name and date of birth to the jail. Your visitor’s information will be put into the visitation log for the inmate. Each and every visitor must provide acceptable photo identification. Anyone showing up late or any visitors that are not approved to visit will not be able to attend visitation.
The Erie County Jail visitation procedures can change, so make sure that you check the official jail site before go to the jail to visit an inmate.

Phone calls that inmates are allowed to make from jail are with a pre-paid phone card or account, or are collect calls . These phone calls are typically more expensive than phone calls made outside of jail. Phone calls are restricted on when you can make phone calls, how long you can talk, and how often you can make calls, but bear in mind that there are a limited number of phones, so all the inmates must share phone time. If you break the jail rules, phone privileges might get cut back or eliminated completely.

The Erie County Jail phone number is: (716) 662-6150

All mall sent to inmates has to be sent via US Postal Service. You must not use any other method of mail delivery. You should write the prisoner’s name, prisoner number, and jail address on the letter that you send. Do not send anything in a package or box, padded envelope, bag, or an envelope containing metal parts. All mail is opened and read and examined by staff, and will get returned if they decide it is inappropriate.

The address that you should use if you are sending a letter to an inmate at Erie County Jail is:

Erie County Jail
10 Delaware Ave
Buffalo, NY 14202

Here is how you should address the letter:

[INMATE’S FULL NAME]
[INMATE ID]
Erie County Jail
10 Delaware Ave
Buffalo, NY 14202

The Erie County Jail inmate mail policy can change, so we suggest that you double check the official Erie County Jail site when you send a letter to an inmate.

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Even if you’ve been arrested, you still have certain rights, one of these is the right to request an attorney. You don’t get to make many phone calls when you get arrested, so it is a good idea to get a friend or relative to locate a lawyer for you. You may be thinking ‘do I really need a lawyer?’ You’re not required to have an attorney in all cases, a criminal attorney can advise you of your rights, help protect your interests and help you find your way through the court system in Erie County. The quicker you hire a lawyer to represent you and work on your charges, the better.

For more detailed information on how to find an attorney, visit: How to Find a Lawyer

If you can’t afford a lawyer, you will be assigned a public defender. The Public Defender’s Office has access to private investigators, experts in forensics as well as social case workers. You will be reassured to know that Public Defenders are bona-fide lawyers that are admitted to the State Bar and are fully licensed to handle your case.

Have you or someone you know used the services of a Public Defender? How did they do?

Erie County court records are public and available to anyone who requests them. They include a court case file containing a docket sheet and each of the documents and motions that have been filed in your case. You can access your court records with the online service, or by going to the Erie County Clerk of Court.

The Erie County Clerk of Court is an officer and clerk of the court that maintains court records and controls access to them. The Clerk of Court also administer the oath for all court participants, and also read the court verdict when the jury has finished deliberations. All records associated with your case are kept at Clerk of Court.

Court fees are all costs from your case, which include filing fees, motion and claim fees, and court charges. If you don’t have the money to pay these fees and have court appointed legal counsel or a Public Defender, you may not have to pay them.

The Erie County magistrate is the type of judge that will preside over your case in court. Magistrates do different tasks, like deciding a bail amount, issuing warrants for arrest, and presiding over preliminary court appearances and detention hearings.

A defendant’s pre-sentencing report is prepared with information about your background and as much detail about the defendant’s life history, which the magistrate will review and take into consideration when decide your sentence. Information, details, and character witnesses will be requested from the person on trial, their family, and in some cases the victim of the crime. Be sure to remember that you should ask to receive a copy of this report before sentencing, so you have the opportunity to go over it and correct any mistakes in it.

When you are convicted of a crime, you will then get sentenced. The judge will have several different options when sentencing you, ranging from community service to probation, to incarceration in either jail (short term) or prison (long term). Depending on sentencing guidelines and the severity of your crime, you might get taken into custody immediately, or you could be given a date that you must report to jail to serve your sentence.

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Do you need to find out if someone is currently in jail, or has ever been locked up?

This is pretty easy to do, simply you should go to the jail website and do an inmate search, and search by:

• The inmate’s name.
• Birth date.
• Their booking date if you know it.
• and their jail ID.

If you’re not sure if this person is in jail or not, you should call the jail get confirmation.

If you think you might have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you can check arrest warrants inquiry on the Erie County jail website or you can call the jail directly. You have to have the person’s first and last name. Or, you can just go down to the jail and inquire at the information desk. Keep in mind that if you do have an outstanding warrant, you should be prepared to get taken into custody immediately.

If you know the person’s name, as well as the date of their arrest, contact the jail, on the phone, go there in person, or find out online. Records of arrests are a matter of public record and these records are accessible to anyone.

Civil processes are when you are served with legal papers, such as warrants. You can find these by getting in touch with the Erie County Sheriff’s office, on their website or by phone.

All convicted sex offenders are registered and listed on both a national and state sex offender database. The people listed on these databases have been tried by jury and convicted in a court of law of a sex offense. You are able to see sex offenders on the internet, but remember that you will not see the precise address, but only the address block that they live on.

Court Records are public, and are accessible by anyone. These records include a case file that contains a court docket and all filings and documents filed in the case. You are able to access court records via the internet service ‘Public Access to Court Electronic Records’, or at the Erie County Clerk of Court in the county where the case was filed.

Every state keeps a record of their state citizen’s criminal past. These state databases are connected so you can track criminal convictions from another state. You are able to go to county courthouse and check in person, or you can check online. It is helpful to know the county, and in the event that the crime was in a different state entirely, you might have to pay for a more comprehensive search.

When you look up a person’s criminal records you will be able to get a report detailing any arrests, charges, or convictions that may be on a person’s record for crimes, which include:

• Driving Under the Influence (DUI).
• Drug Possession.
• Kidnapping.
• Sexual offenses including rape, assault.
• Violent crimes like assault or murder.
• Theft, breaking and entering.

If you do a criminal records check, in most cases won’t see if that person has had any:

• Speeding or reckless driving.
• Drivers license suspended or revoked.
• Been in a traffic accident.
• Minor infractions or moving violations.
• Parking Tickets.

To search for driving records, you must do a driving history search.

Have you ever searched for criminal records? Was it an easy process? Did you search online or did you have to call the local courthouse? Did you get information that was correct? There are plenty of reasons that folks look up criminal records and backgrounds, and your feedback may help other people that are in the same situation.

Click here to post a comment

Most Wanted

The FBI has a listing of the Top Ten Most Wanted Criminals. In Erie County, the Erie County Sheriff keeps their own list of most wanted criminals and fugitives.

FBI Top Ten Most Wanted List: Link


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Life In Jail / What Its Like

Daily Life

While the prospect of serving a jail sentence in Erie County Jail is very scary, you will soon get accustomed to the daily routine. You will get an alarm for wake-up each morning at six in the morning, and next you’ll have roll call. Next, you will get breakfast. When you finish breakfast you will be required to work in the work program that you’ve been assigned to. This could be working in the kitchen, laundry, or some sort of manufacturing job. While this may seem tedious, it may help you when you leave jail, as you are gaining experience in a certain field of work. Other inmates go to school, while some take part in mandated treatment programs. After lunch, there will be another roll call, then back to work. Your evening will be spent either in your cell or a common room. During this time dinner is served and you will be expected to take a shower. After another roll call, it’s lights out. Even though you will be confined to your cell, there may be enough light to read or write letters. Then again, most inmates welcome lights out, and try to get as much sleep as they can.

Most people are frightened at the idea of jail because they don’t know what to expect. If you have spent any time in Erie County Jail, your experiences would be welcomed, if it can help another person to deal with it.

Dress Code

When incarcerated, all inmates are expected to wear the Erie County Jail uniform. This is normally a jumpsuit or scrubs. Of note to anyone visiting an inmate – you must be properly dressed. Any clothing considered inappropriate will not be permitted.

How To Send Money to an Inmate

You will have your own ‘bank account’ while in jail. This money is used to purchase items from the Commissary. Family and friends can deposit money into this account for you, and any money you earn while in prison will also be deposited into your account. Outside money can be paid in to your account via a money order, cash or check. If someone sends a check or money order, make sure that they write your inmate ID on it. The maximum amount you are allowed in your account is $290 per month.

The process for sending funds to jail inmates is likely to change, so double check the site before you send any money.


Commissary

The commissary is the jail store. You can purchase a number of things here, such as toiletries, snacks and writing supplies. Bear in mind that you will probably want to use the commissary daily, and any infractions will get that privilege taken away from you.

Inmate Medications

If you are on any type of prescription medication, you will be allowed to continue taking it while in jail. When you are first processed, you will be asked what medication you take. You will then be referred to the jail nurse or doctor who will be in charge of monitoring your health and prescribing your medication.

Meals

You will get three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. As expected, they are very basic, but healthy. A typical breakfast might be cereal, toast, coffee and fruit. Lunch might be spaghetti, salad, bread and milk. Dinner could be chicken casserole, rice, vegetables, dessert and milk. Contrary to popular belief, prison food has greatly improved over the years, and you might find that it’s not much different from what you would eat at home.

Pods / The Yard

The jail is designed in a ‘pod’ layout, with self-contained housing arranged around an outdoor yard. Each pod has a central control station and a common room, and the inmates take turns in using the yard. The jail is designed this way to keep certain inmates together, and others away from the general population.

Gangs

As with life in general, gangs are a part of prison life. Obviously it is best to avoid becoming a part of this environment as it will only lead to trouble. When you first enter prison, you might find yourself being ‘primed’ to join a gang, or worse, you might get their attention in a negative way. The best thing to do is keep your head down and don’t get involved.


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News and Media

News

Photos / Pictures

Videos


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Jobs

Types of Jobs at Erie County Jail

The Deputy Sheriff is the second in command at the Erie County Jail, overseeing the day to day operations and administration of the jail. An inmate is unlikely to have much interaction with the Deputy Sheriff, unless they have committed an infraction. Detention Officers are responsible for the custody and care of the inmates. They maintain order in the jail, and handle security. A Detention Officer is assigned to a certain pod, and therefore is responsible for the same inmates each day. They get to know the inmates on a certain level and are well equipped to handle any problems that may occur.

Apply for a Job at Erie County Jail

Requirements:

• You must be over the age of 21.
• You must possess a High School Diploma or GED
• You must be a US Citizen.
• You must pass a Criminal, Credit and Driving History background check.
• You must pass a drug test.
• You must have a good level of fitness.
• You must be in good health.
• You must have a valid Driver’s License
• An applicant for Deputy Sheriff must possess a Law Enforcement Certification.


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Family Resources

There are resources for families of both the perpetrator of the crime and the victim. The social and emotional impact of crime is far reaching, affecting many. Families can receive professional counseling, court related assistance, social services assistance and help in navigating the criminal justice system.

If you are a family member, which resources did you find to be particularly helpful? Please let us know, as this will be helpful to other families in the same situation.

Tell Your Story


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Victim Resources

Important Note: If you, or someone you know, are in immediate danger, call 911.

Victim’s Rights

The Victim Rights Act grants victims the following rights:

• The right to protection from the accused.
• The right to notification.
• The right to attend proceedings.
• The right to speak at criminal justice proceedings.
• The right to consult with the prosecuting attorney.
• The right to restitution.
• The right to a speedy trial.
• The right to be treated with fairness, dignity and respect.

The definition of victim includes:

• Spouses and children of all victims.
• Parents and guardians of minor victims.
• Parents, guardians and siblings of mentally or physically incapacitated victims or victims of homicide.
• Foster parents or other caregivers, under certain circumstances.

There are a number of services and programs designed to help victims and their families. You can find out about these services by contacting the courthouse, or local law enforcement agency.

Victim Notification

The Department of Justice Victim Notification System (VNS) is a system that provides victims with information pertaining to their case and/or any defendants in the case. You will receive a Victim Identification Number (VIN) and a Personal Identification Number (PIN) that will allow you to access VNS via the internet or by phone. Here, you will find information about future court hearings, historical court events, and detailed information about the defendant. This will include criminal charges filed, the outcome of charges, sentence imposed, custody location, projected release date and any other release information. The VNS website is updated daily. You will also receive any ongoing information by mail or email.

Have you, a family member or friend ever used the Victim Notification System? If so, was it effective? Did you get the information in a timely manner? Was the system difficult to use? We would like to hear from you, so please post any comments here.

Click here to comment

Sex Offender Information and Search

All people registered as sex offenders are registered on either a national or state sex offender database. The people on these databases have been convicted of a sex or kidnapping crime. You can access this information online, but bear in mind that you will not get the exact address, rather the block that they live on.

Domestic Violence

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, there are services to help you. Your county will have a Domestic Violence Services office. They provide free and confidential services, such as emergency shelter information, legal advocacy, support groups and domestic violence education. They will work to help you create a safe and violence-free life, and heal from the trauma of abuse.

Important Note: If you, or someone you know, are in immediate danger, call 911.


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Reviews

Reviews of this Jail

Have you ever spent any time at Erie County Jail? Do you know anybody that is a prisoner there? Have you ever been to visit an inmate in this jail?

If so, then we would like you to write your review about it. Tell us about what you experienced so that others can learn what to expect.

Things you could include in what you write:

• Conditions at the jail.
• Jail, yard and pod layout and facility
• Jail staff and Guards
• Commissary and food
• Visitation
• The other inmates.
• Safety
• Gangs
• Programs and activities


Let Everyone Know

Tell Your Story

Anyone who’s ever been arrested and sent to jail has a story about it. Why’d you end up in jail? Were you fairly treated? What was it like in jail? Tell us about the other inmates. Did going to jail affect your life? How?

Click here to tell your story about Erie County Jail

Send a Message to Your Cell Mate

Did you make friends in jail? Trying to talk to a friend from jail? Send a message to them here.

Send a message to someone incarcerated at Erie County Jail


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