Search Shelby County Iowa Inmate
Searching for inmate in Shelby County in the state of Iowa
There are many reasons why you might want to search the past or present inmate population of the jails and prisons in Shelby County in the state of Iowa. If you are checking up on the past of a new partner or employee and want to know if they have ever spent time in prison, or perhaps someone you know has gone missing and you want to make sure they haven’t ended up in jail before you report it to the authorities, or even if you want to use inmate records to research your family history, these documents are full of useful information. Be warned if you plan to use the information to make important decisions that just because someone spent time in prison it doesn’t have to mean that they have ever been found guilty of a crime. Many people in Shelby County are kept in prison while awaiting their trial; trials at which they are then found not guilty of the charge. Once you have established that your new boyfriend, babysitter or employee has spent time in prison, you can then use that information to do more research and find out the circumstances behind their incarceration.
Obviously, records of past and present inmates contain a lot of personal information, such as full name, date of birth, previous addresses and even a physical description. This can be useful in making sure that you have found the right person, as well as those who are using more historic documents to research their family history. No-one wants to find out that their ancestors spent time in prison, but if the data in Shelby County inmate records help you build a picture of your family tree, then you probably won’t worry too much! Of course, the fact that these records contain so much personal information does mean that they are somewhat restricted; unless you have a good reason for being able to see the whole document, such as being a relative of the person or a potential employer who has been given written permission to carry out a full background check, most details in the more recent inmate records found in Shelby County and throughout the state of Iowa will be hidden from the general public. Older records do not have the same restrictions, however.
Inmate records are maintained either by the police or the courts system, and each will have their own computer databases and older paper archives of inmate records. If a friend or relative of yours is missing and you want to check if they are in custody before reporting their disappearance to the authorities, check the website of the Shelby County police as they often have areas where you can search through the people currently being held in police cells to see if the person you are looking for is there. Only the minimum information will be given in these lists, but it might be enough to put your mind at rest.
When searching either the current or past prison population in Shelby County, there are commercial websites that have pulled together information from many different sources throughout the state of Iowa and even from the rest of the US. This can be helpful if you are not sure what kind of facility they are being held in and where. If your search of inmates in Shelby County draws a blank, you could always widen the search to the rest of the state of Iowa or the rest of the country and see if you get any hits on the name you are looking for. You may have to pay a fee if you want to see the full list of information that these sites come up with, but if your search is unsuccessful they will usually refund any money you have already paid out.
Not all inmates records in Shelby County have been transferred to the computer databases that these commercial sites use. If you are using inmate records to research your family tree, you may just have to head down to the local courthouse archives and go through the paper files, these will be indexed to help you search the right area of Shelby County and the right time period. The staff at the archives will be able to help you too.
