Washington County Jail Roster Overview
Booking, custody, and release records in Washington County are sheriff records, not court records. The Washington County Sheriff's Office says it serves more than 600,000 community members and operates the only jail in the county. Its jail division handles intake, classification, housing, bail, visitation, and release. The office posts an adult in custody list, called the "Who is in custody?" page, that the public can use for free. That list is the official source for who is held in the county jail right now.
The Sheriff's jail division page is the hub for custody services and links to the roster, bail, deposits, and visitation pages. You can reach it through the Washington County Sheriff jail division page.
From that page, the custody list, bail posting, and contact links sit together, so most inmate questions start there.
The county roster does not cover everyone. It will not show people held in state prison, in federal custody, or in another county. A person booked and then released within hours may also drop off the list. For those situations, the Oregon state and federal search tools, plus the released inmates page, are the better starting points.
How to Use the Washington County Inmate Roster
The roster is not a plain open text search. The page first asks you to pass a security challenge, a captcha that blocks bots. After that, it shows links for each letter from A to Z. You pick the first letter of the person's last name, and the page lists everyone in custody whose last name starts with that letter. From there you open a booking report for the person you want.
Custody and release details, including the steps above, are explained on the Sheriff custody and releases page.
That page also points to the bail and contact resources you may need once you locate a person on the roster.
- Open the Sheriff's "Who is in custody?" page and complete the security challenge.
- Click the first letter of the person's last name from the A to Z links.
- Scan the results list for the matching name and booking entry.
- Open the booking report to view charges, bail, and booking details.
- Use the Download PDF button if you need a saved copy of the report.
The roster page notes that it works best with current browsers. If a letter returns no result, the person may not be in county custody, may have been released, or may be listed under a different spelling.
Roster Search Fields
The custody list uses a small set of inputs. There is no long form with many boxes. The main control is the alphabetical last-name link, and the rest of the interaction happens in the results grid and the booking report window. The table below lists what the page accepts and how each part works.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Security challenge | Captcha | Yes | Must be passed before the list or any search content loads. |
| First letter of last name | A to Z link list | Yes to browse | Each letter loads everyone in custody whose last name starts with it. |
| Results grid | Table | No | Dynamic list of matches; click a row to open the booking report. |
| Booking report | Modal window | No | Opens for the selected person with full booking detail. |
| Download PDF | Button | No | Saves the booking report shown in the modal window. |
Because the search is by first letter, common last names can return long lists. Read the full name and booking date on each row before you open a report.
What a Washington County Inmate Booking Report Shows
Each person on the roster has a booking report you can open. The report pulls together identity details, the booking number, and the charges that brought the person in. The fields below are the ones exposed in the official booking report for a Washington County adult in custody. Read them together, since a single charge line rarely tells the whole story.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name | The full name of the person held in the county jail. |
| Sex | The sex recorded at booking. |
| Race | The race recorded at booking. |
| Height | The height listed on the booking record. |
| Weight | The weight listed on the booking record. |
| Hair | Hair color noted at intake. |
| Eyes | Eye color noted at intake. |
| DOB | Date of birth used to tell apart people with similar names. |
| Booking Number | The unique number the jail assigns to the booking event. |
| Charges | The charges the person is held on, listed in the charges section of the report. |
The report also carries a note that the custody data is generally refreshed every couple of hours, plus the jail phone and a webmaster email for questions.
What "Security" Means on the Custody List
The custody list uses the word "security" where many people expect to see "bail." The Sheriff's page states plainly that the "security" amount is the amount of bail that must be paid. So a security figure on a booking report is the dollar amount tied to release for that charge. Not every person has a set amount, since some are held without bail or wait for a judge to set conditions at a first court appearance.
Posting a security amount is handled through official channels only. The Sheriff explains how on its posting bail page. Use that page or call the jail before you try to pay, and never send money to anyone who calls and claims a warrant or bail can be cleared by phone.
Note: Law enforcement will not call to demand bail or warrant payment over the phone, so treat any such call as a likely scam.
Washington County Jail Contact Information
Visitation, mail, and other custody questions are answered through the jail contact pages rather than the roster itself. The Sheriff keeps a single page for reaching or visiting a person in custody, and it covers visitor rules, mail handling, and communication options. Confirm current details there before you travel, because rules change and the static roster does not list visit times.
The full set of visit and contact rules sits on the contact or visit someone in custody page.
That page is the official source for visit scheduling, identification rules, and mail format, none of which should be guessed at in advance.
Washington County Jail
215 SW Adams Avenue
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Jail 503-846-2600
HQ and jail 503-846-2700
Sheriff's Office Records
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Records 503-846-2700
Non-emergency 503-629-0111
Note: Visitation schedules, video visit windows, and mail rules are posted on the official contact or visit page and should be confirmed there before any visit.
Booking and Release Process in Washington County
An arrest does not end at the door of the jail. After an arrest, a person is transported to the jail, processed through intake, booked, screened, photographed, classified, and then held until release, a court order, a posted security amount, a transfer, or another lawful outcome. Classification decides housing, and some of that information stays private for safety reasons.
Court events drive much of what happens next. First appearances, arraignments, and release orders are court functions, not jail functions. So even when the roster shows a person in custody, the date and result of the next hearing live in the court record. Confirm hearing dates through the court calendar or case file, which the Washington County court records and court dockets pages explain.
Release timing varies. Some people leave after posting a security amount. Others stay until a judge orders release or a case resolves.
How Often the Roster Updates
The booking report notes that the custody data is generally updated every two hours. That cadence matters when you search. A person booked in the last hour may not show yet, and a person just released may still appear for a short time. This is normal for a live roster and is not a sign the search is broken.
When timing is critical, the roster alone is not enough. Call the jail to confirm a current status, or check the 24-hour arrest and release log covered on the released inmates page. Allow time for the system to catch up before you draw a firm conclusion from a single search.
What Is Not Public on the Roster
The custody list shows booking basics, but it does not open every detail of a person's time in jail. Several categories are withheld by law or policy. Knowing what stays private helps set the right expectation before you search.
- Medical and mental health information about a person in custody.
- Classification and protective-custody details that affect safety.
- Victim information tied to a case.
- Juvenile custody, which is handled separately and is confidential.
- Active investigation details that may be exempt under public records law.
For the legal framework behind these limits, the public records page covers Oregon's access rules and the exemptions that apply to sheriff and jail records.
State, Federal, and Registry Searches
When a person is not on the county roster, the next step depends on where they are held. State prison custody is tracked by the Oregon Department of Corrections. Its Offender Search lets you look up people by name or by a state ID number. The tool is free and covers people sentenced to state prison rather than the county jail.
The state prison tool is the Oregon DOC Offender Search.
That search is the right tool once a county case ends in a state prison sentence.
Federal custody is its own system. The Bureau of Prisons runs an inmate locator that searches by register number or by name, and county jail custody is fully separate from it. The federal tool is the BOP Inmate Locator.
Use it when a case is federal rather than a state or county matter.
The Oregon State Police also publishes a public sex offender registry. It is not a jail roster, but people often search it alongside custody tools when checking on a name. The registry is the OSP sex offender registry.
More detail on all three tools, plus release notifications, sits on the released inmates page.