Merced County 24 Hour Booking Search

Merced County 24 hour booking records are available through the Sheriff's Office inmate inquiry portal. The county offers a free online tool where you can search for people booked into the Merced County jail. This Central Valley county processes arrests from cities like Merced, Los Banos, and Atwater, all through one jail system. Booking data includes names, charges, bail, and custody status. Anyone can search the Merced County booking records without creating an account. The system updates as new bookings are processed, giving you a current look at who is in jail or who was recently arrested in the county.

Merced County Inmate Inquiry Portal

The Merced County Sheriff's Office runs an inmate inquiry tool at inmateinquiry.co.merced.ca.us. This is the primary way to search 24 hour booking records in Merced County. The portal uses the New World Systems platform, which is the same software used by several other California counties for jail management. You search by name and the system returns all matching booking records from the Merced County jail.

Each search result shows the person's name, booking date, charges, bail amount, and current status. The system covers everyone currently held at the Merced County John Latorraca Correctional Facility on West 22nd Street in the city of Merced. It also shows people who were recently booked and have since been released. The Merced County inmate inquiry is free to use. It works on any device with a web browser. No login or account is needed to search for booking records.

Below is a view of the Merced County inmate inquiry portal where you can look up recent booking and arrest records.

The image above shows the Merced County inmate inquiry interface for searching 24 hour booking records.

How Merced County Processes Bookings

The Merced County jail at 700 West 22nd Street in Merced handles all local bookings. When law enforcement makes an arrest anywhere in Merced County, the person goes to this facility for processing. The Merced Police Department, Los Banos Police, Atwater Police, Livingston Police, and the Merced County Sheriff's Office all bring arrested individuals here. This gives the county one central booking system that captures every arrest.

During booking, jail staff photographs the person, takes fingerprints, and records their personal information. The charges from the arresting agency are logged into the system along with the bail schedule amount. Once the booking is complete, the record shows up in the online inmate inquiry tool. On a typical day, the Merced County jail processes a steady stream of bookings. The system updates in near real time, so a new arrest usually appears in the search tool within a few hours of the person arriving at the jail.

People held for minor offenses may post bail and leave quickly. Their booking record still stays in the Merced County system.

Merced County Arrest Record Details

State law under Government Code Section 7923.610 requires California law enforcement to make arrest information public. Merced County complies by running the inmate inquiry portal. The information shared for each booking record follows what the law requires: the arrested person's name, physical description, date and time of arrest, location where the arrest occurred, charges, bail, and current custody status.

Merced County booking records also show:

• Booking number assigned at intake
• Arresting agency name
• Date of birth of the arrested person
• Housing location within the jail
• Scheduled court dates when available

The level of detail can vary from one record to the next. Some entries have more fields filled out than others, depending on the circumstances of the arrest and how much information was available at the time of booking. Under Government Code Section 7923.600, certain investigative records can be held back if they would interfere with an active case. This exemption rarely affects basic Merced County booking data, but it can limit what is shown in some situations.

Public Records in Merced County

The California Public Records Act protects your right to access booking records from Merced County. You can learn about the statewide process on the California DOJ public records page. If the record you need is not in the online system, you can file a written request with the Merced County Sheriff's Office. They have 10 days to respond under state law. A 14-day extension may apply in some cases. Copy fees depend on the agency, but the state DOJ rate is 10 cents per page.

Under Penal Code Section 851.91, people arrested but not convicted can petition to seal their arrest records. If a Merced County booking record has been sealed, it will not appear in the inmate inquiry tool or any other public search. Local summary criminal history information, as defined in Penal Code Section 13300, is maintained by local agencies like the Merced County Sheriff and includes booking numbers, arrest dates, and dispositions.

Note: The Merced County inmate inquiry shows current and recent records and is not a complete archive of every booking ever processed at the county jail.

Merced County Jail Contact

Call the Merced County jail at (209) 385-7410 for booking questions. Staff can check custody status and share basic information about a person's booking record over the phone. The jail is at 700 West 22nd Street in the city of Merced, California 95340. Walk-in requests for booking records are taken during business hours. Bring the person's full name and any other details you have to help staff find the right record.

For broader data, the California OpenJustice data portal includes arrest statistics for Merced County broken down by year, age, gender, and race. This can be useful for research purposes or for understanding overall trends in Merced County arrests and bookings beyond individual records.

Cities in Merced County

Merced County does not have any cities over the 100,000 population mark. The city of Merced is the largest and serves as the county seat. Los Banos, Atwater, and Livingston are other communities in the county. All arrests from these cities are processed at the Merced County jail and show up in the inmate inquiry system.

Nearby California Counties

These counties neighbor Merced County. Each has its own jail booking search tools.