Inmates are in prison for many reasons. This guide will explain how to find out what crime an inmate committed by uncovering inmate records with a first and last name directly online using a few proven methods. Let’s get started.
If you want to find out what crimes were committed by inmate but are not sure where to find this information then read one We get asked a lot “how to find out what crime an inmate committed”? We will show you how to locate this data and find out why the inmate is in prison, what prison the inmate is serving time, and all other types of data on that inmate with just a first and last name or unique inmate number search.
What are inmates?
Inmates or prisoners are people that have broken laws and are sentenced by the courts to serve out a set amount of time at a correctional facility. They are the property of the state correctional facility and will live within the facility until their sentence has been met. Life sentences without the possibility of parole mean that the person will never be able to leave that facility while living. However, the majority of inmates will serve far less time for crimes that are not as severe as life sentences.
Crimes committed by inmates that get them into prison

There are many types of crimes that are committed each day by people within the United States that get them to put behind bars. According to the FBI and the Beaure of Justice Statistics, there are over 10.5 million arrests that are made each year within the United States. Out of these arrests, drug-related charges, non-criminal offenses, and lower-level offenses make up the bulk of the arrest. This data is taken from the 18,000 law enforcement agencies around the country.
The below data will explain what are the most common types of crimes an inmate will have and what type of sentences an inmate could face per the crime.
Every three seconds someone is arrested in the United States
Drug-related
Drug charges are a huge portion of why an inmate would be in prison. in-fact its is one of the largest contributors to inmates behind bars today. From 1980 to 2016 drug offense charges has gone up a staggering 171% There was 1,572,579 in 2016.
How to find inmate records
To locate inmate records you would want to know a few key pieces of information before you start. One, The inmates first and last name and the state the inmate would be located in. If you have this information it will not be hard to find out what crime an inmate committed.
You want to find the department of corrections website for the state the inmate is being held. This will allow you to perform a search by name.
Let’s use California for an example. Click here to learn more about finding inmate data in CA.
From the above link, you can find the California Department of Corrections website. Find there inmate search and you would then input the inmates first and last name to bring back there information.
To find your state department of corrections website or the state you know where the inmate is being held you can use a Google search like this:
“Texas Department of Corrections” or “Florida Department of Corrections” just change the state to the stat you want to find the department in. This will bring up the official corrections website at the top of the search.
finding out what crime an inmate committed
Once you run the name search within the department’s website you should see the inmates data. What you typically will see is the inmate’s full name, DOB, the facility the inmate is being held at, and the inmate’s unique ID number. Keep in mind that each department of corrections results will be different. The below example is from the California Department of Corrections results page.

Clicking on the inmate’s name usually brings up more detailed information including the crime the inmate was charged for. It is important to understand that not all crimes committed by the inmate may be listed. There may be no crimes posted within this section of the inmate’s data once you find it. It will depend on what data the corrections department adds into the results.
Use a search service to find out what crime an inmate committed
Try using a third-party search service to uncover criminal and arrest records on someone. A search service uses federal, state, and county resources to bring back some of the best public records data available within a single name search. This is a great tool to find all types of public records on someone when looking within the United States. When searching for someone you could find:
- Criminal and arrest records
- Phone numbers
- Emails
- Related Persons
- Sex offender data
- Bankruptcy data
- Vital records
- Warrants
- And much more
Check out the best search service for 2019 and how it can help you locate and view inmate data and much more with a single name search.
Regardless of what method you use you can find out what crime an inmate committed by accessing data from the department of corrections website that the inmate is being held at or by trying to access the crimes committed by a search service. Using these methods in conjunction will allow you to find a lot of public records data on someone relatively quickly.
[…] you make a match by searching an inmate you will see A lot of information regarding the inmate The following will be found on the results […]