The Colbert County Inmate Population
The Colbert County inmate population is held across two facilities, divided by gender. The Colbert County Jail in downtown Tuscumbia is the primary county jail, run by the Colbert County Sheriff's Office, and the sheriff's page states that male prisoners are housed there. Female prisoners are housed at the Tuscumbia City Jail, a municipal police facility. The sheriff publishes a public roster that lists current inmates and people released within the last 48 hours.
The count is not fixed. New bookings push it up, and releases, bond, and transfers pull it down. When a person is convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, that person leaves the county count and joins the state prison population under the Alabama Department of Corrections. So the Colbert County inmate population reflects mostly pre-trial and local custody, while long sentences are served in the state system.
Colbert County Inmate Population Statistics
The official sheriff jail page states the Colbert County Jail was built in 1962 to house 62 prisoners. On the inspection date in May 2026, the public roster showed 114 current inmates across six pages, with 5 people on the 48-hour release list. That roster count is a point-in-time figure, not a certified average daily population, but it sits well above the historic 62-prisoner capacity. The figures below keep each source separate.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Historic jail capacity | 62 prisoners | Sheriff jail page, 2026 |
| Current roster count | 114 inmates | Sheriff roster, May 2026 |
| 48-hour release list | 5 entries | Sheriff release roster, May 2026 |
| New jail planned capacity | Up to 260 | WAFF news report, April 2026 |
| ADOC statewide inmates | 27,601 | ADOC inmate search page, May 2026 |
The statewide ADOC total of 27,601 inmates, made up of 25,007 males and 2,592 females, is where sentenced Colbert County residents are counted after transfer. It is a state prison figure, not a Colbert County jail count.
Colbert County Inmate Population Trends
The clearest trend is pressure on jail space. The current facility was built for 62 prisoners in 1962, yet the live roster showed nearly twice that on the inspection date. That gap is why the county is replacing the jail. In April 2026, local news reported a groundbreaking for a new jail expected to hold up to 260 inmates with a separate area for female detainees. The table below sketches the capacity path from the old jail to the planned facility.
| Stage | Capacity Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 jail, built | 62 prisoners | Stated capacity on the sheriff jail page. |
| May 2026 roster | 114 inmates | Point-in-time public roster count, above stated capacity. |
| New jail, planned | Up to 260 inmates | Reported at the April 2026 groundbreaking, with a female area. |
Note: the roster count is a single-day snapshot and not a certified average daily population, so it should be read as a sign of pressure rather than an exact yearly figure.
Who Makes Up the Colbert County Inmate Population
The official sources do not publish an aggregate breakdown by race, age, or charge level. The roster shows those details for each person, and the gender split is built into the facility setup. The categories below describe how the county divides custody between the two jails and the state.
- Male county inmates - housed at the Colbert County Jail, including pre-trial, sentenced local, and agency-hold inmates when shown.
- Female county inmates - housed at the Tuscumbia City Jail, the only facility in the county that maintains female inmates.
- Per-person roster details - each entry shows age, gender, race, booking date, charges, and bond, but no aggregate totals.
- Sentenced felons - counted by the state, not the county, once transferred into Alabama Department of Corrections custody.
Because no certified pretrial-versus-sentenced or charge-type totals were located, the safest reading is general. Most of the Colbert County inmate population is adult and local, with felony defendants moving to the state count after sentencing.
Colbert County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding
Capacity is the central story for Colbert County. The 1962 jail was built for 62 prisoners, and the public roster showed 114 on the inspection date in May 2026. Without a certified average daily population report, that gap should be read as a single-day count rather than an official overcrowding rate, but it clearly exceeds the stated capacity. The female-housing arrangement adds pressure, since female inmates rely on a limited number of beds at the Tuscumbia City Jail.
The county is acting on the strain. Local news reported an April 2026 groundbreaking for a new $35 million jail to replace the downtown Tuscumbia facility, with capacity for up to 260 inmates and a separate area for female detainees. Note: no DOJ consent decree or federal jail lawsuit was located in the official sources reviewed.
Laws Governing the Colbert County Inmate Population
Alabama law sets a presumption that public writings can be inspected and copied, which supports the public roster the sheriff posts. It also protects juvenile, expunged, and sealed records. For the Colbert County inmate population, that mix is why the roster, charges, and bond are public while certain records stay restricted. The statutes below frame what is open and how access works.
Key Statutes:
Alabama Code § 36-12-40 - gives Alabama citizens a right to inspect and copy public writings unless a law provides otherwise.
Alabama Code § 41-13-1 - defines public records and records-management terms for state and local government records.
Alabama Code § 12-15-133 - makes many juvenile court and social records confidential except where the law permits access.
Alabama Code § 15-27-1 - sets expungement eligibility for certain non-felony records, which can remove an arrest from public access.
Alabama Code § 15-27-2 - sets expungement eligibility for certain felony charges under listed conditions.
These rules support the sheriff's public roster with booking photos and charges, and they explain why an old arrest may disappear from public view after an expungement order.
Colbert County and the State Prison Population
No Alabama Department of Corrections prison sits inside Colbert County on the current ADOC facilities list. Sentenced felons from the county are transferred into state custody and then counted statewide. After sentencing and intake, the county roster no longer shows that person, and a search there will come up empty even though the person is still incarcerated.
At that point the ADOC inmate search becomes the correct locator. ADOC lists only current state inmates and excludes Youthful Offender Act inmates. The underlying court case stays with the Colbert County Circuit Clerk even after the person moves to prison.
How to Search the Colbert County Inmate Population
The fastest way to search the Colbert County inmate population is the official sheriff's roster, which has a current-inmate view and a 48-hour release view. The roster lets you search by name, sort by date, and open a profile with the mugshot, charges, and bond. If the person was sentenced to state prison, use the ADOC locator instead, since the county roster does not track prison custody.
Before you start, have the person's last name ready, and an approximate booking date helps when the list runs across several pages.
- Open the Colbert County roster and choose Current Inmates or 48 Hour Release.
- Use Search By Name to narrow the list, or use Show All and sort by name or date.
- Read the list fields first: booking number, age, booking date, charges, and bond total.
- Click View Profile to open the full record with the mugshot and charge detail.
- For a female inmate, call the Tuscumbia City Jail at 256-383-3121; for a sentenced prisoner, use the ADOC locator.
The Colbert County roster landing page lets you choose the current-inmate view, the 48-hour release view, or the disclaimer screen.
Pick Current Inmates from this screen to reach the searchable table that drives a Colbert County inmate population lookup.
Current Inmate Lookup in Colbert County
The live roster shows people currently at the Colbert County Detention Center, sorted by booking date with pagination when the count is high. The 48-hour release view adds a release date for recent departures. The table below lists the search and sort controls the roster offers. The sheriff warns that charges and bond can change after court, so call the jail for the official figure.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search By Name | Text | No | Free-text name search; no wildcard instructions published. |
| Name / Date | Sort link | No | List or sort by name or by booking date. |
| Current / Released | Tab | No | Switch between current inmates and the 48-hour release list. |
| Newest / Oldest | Sort link | No | Reverses the booking-date sort. |
| Show All | Button | No | Lists every entry; use with pagination on long lists. |
| View Profile | Link | n/a | Opens the full record with mugshot, charges, and bond. |
A missing roster entry does not always mean a release. The person may still be in booking, may have just been sentenced and transferred, or may be a female inmate held at the city jail.
The Colbert County Public Safety app gives the sheriff's office another channel for inmate population alerts and notices.
The app supplements, but does not replace, the live roster check described above for current Colbert County inmates.
Past and Released Inmate Records
Colbert County is unusual in offering a built-in release view. The 48-hour release roster lists people released from the detention center within the last two days, with the release date, charges, and bond. Beyond that window, there is no public archive of older bookings to browse. The court file is the better trail, since a criminal case can stay searchable after release through the Colbert County Circuit Clerk and the Alacourt system.
For an older booking record, send a written public-records request to the sheriff's office at 201 North Main Street in Tuscumbia, and avoid sending sensitive information through the unsecured contact form. If the person was sentenced to state prison, the ADOC locator shows current custody, since ADOC does not post historical data online. Note: do not assume a person was released just because no roster result appears, because new bookings and transfers can lag.
What a Colbert County Inmate Record Shows
The Colbert County roster profile carries real detail. A typical record shows the mugshot, booking number, age, gender, race, a city-and-state address, booking date and time, charges in plain English, and a total bond amount. It does not show a date of birth, street address, arresting agency, housing unit, or court date. The table below walks through what appears.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Mugshot | A booking-photo thumbnail in the list and a larger image on the profile. |
| Name | LAST, FIRST in the list; full name on the profile. |
| Booking # | A numeric local booking identifier. |
| Age / Gender / Race | Age in years and single-letter gender and race fields. |
| Address | City and state only; no street address is shown. |
| Booking Date | Date and time booked into the jail. |
| Charges / Bond | Plain-English charge labels and a total bond amount; both may change after court. |
Booking photos for current inmates are covered further on the jail roster mugshots page, which explains what is and is not public.
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
Readers often mix up the county jail and state prison, which sends them to the wrong tool. Pre-trial detainees and short-sentence inmates stay in the county jail. Sentenced felons move to a state prison run by ADOC, which keeps its own locator. The comparison below shows which system covers which part of the inmate population.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial and short sentences | Sentenced felons |
| Run By | Colbert County Sheriff's Office | Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) |
| Where to Look | Colbert County online roster | ADOC inmate search |
| How to Find | Search or sort the roster by name | Search by AIS number or name |
State and Federal Inmate Search
Each level of custody has its own locator, and each covers a different slice of the inmate population. Sentenced state prisoners appear in the ADOC search. Federal inmates appear in the Bureau of Prisons system, and immigration detainees appear in the ICE locator. None of these is a county jail roster, so use the one that matches the person's situation.
- State prison: the ADOC inmate search for currently incarcerated Alabama prisoners.
- Federal prison: the Federal BOP inmate locator for federal inmates held from 1982 to the present.
- Immigration: the ICE detainee locator, which needs a full name with A-number or date of birth and country of birth.
- Notification: VINELink for custody-status and release alerts where Alabama data is available.
Note: Colbert County sits in the U.S. Marshals Northern District of Alabama for federal pretrial custody, and BOP warns that release dates can change under First Step Act reviews.
The Federal BOP inmate locator offers number and name search tabs for anyone in federal custody from a Colbert County case.
Federal detainees never appear on the county roster or the ADOC locator, so this is the system to use for them.
Colbert County Detention Facilities
Colbert County's detention map has two facilities, split by gender. The Colbert County Jail in Tuscumbia holds male inmates, and the Tuscumbia City Jail holds female inmates. No state prison, federal prison, or ICE facility sits inside the county. Each facility below holds a different part of the local inmate population.
- Colbert County Jail - the primary county jail in Tuscumbia for male prisoners, including pre-trial and sentenced local inmates.
- Tuscumbia City Jail - a municipal police facility that houses female county inmates and short-term city custody.
Colbert County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Colbert County inmate population?
The sheriff jail page states the 1962 jail was built to house 62 prisoners, and the public roster showed 114 current inmates on the inspection date in May 2026, plus 5 people on the 48-hour release list. That roster count is a point-in-time figure, not a certified average daily population, but it sits above the stated capacity. The county broke ground in April 2026 on a new jail planned to hold up to 260 inmates. To learn the current count, read the live roster or call the jail at 256-386-8551.
How do I search the Colbert County inmate population?
Open the official Colbert County roster and choose Current Inmates or 48 Hour Release. Use Search By Name to narrow the list, or use Show All and sort by name or date. Read the booking number, age, booking date, charges, and bond, then click View Profile for the full record with the mugshot. For a female inmate, call the Tuscumbia City Jail at 256-383-3121. For a sentenced prisoner, use the ADOC inmate search by name or AIS number.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
Yes, for recent releases. The 48-hour release roster lists people released from the detention center within the last two days, with release date, charges, and bond. Beyond that window, there is no public archive of older bookings. The court case is the better trail, since it can stay searchable after release through the Colbert County Circuit Clerk and Alacourt. A person moved to state prison shows current custody in the ADOC locator.
Why are male and female inmates in different jails?
The sheriff jail page states that male prisoners are housed at the Colbert County Jail, while female prisoners are housed at the Tuscumbia City Jail. The City of Tuscumbia confirms its police department is the only facility in the county that maintains female inmates. This is why a female-inmate question routes to the Tuscumbia City Jail at 256-383-3121, and why the planned new jail will include a separate area for female detainees.
What is the difference between the county jail and state prison count?
The county jail count covers pre-trial detainees and short-sentence inmates held locally by the sheriff. The state prison count covers sentenced felons in Alabama Department of Corrections custody after transfer. A Colbert County resident sentenced to prison leaves the county count and joins the statewide ADOC total, which stood at 27,601 inmates when the ADOC page was reviewed in May 2026.
Does the roster show charges and bond, and are they accurate?
The roster profile shows plain-English charges and a total bond amount, but the sheriff warns that both can change after court appearances and may not be current. Bond companies and people posting bail should contact detention center staff at 256-386-8551 for the correct bond amount, charges, and case numbers. Booking charges can also differ from the formal charges a prosecutor later files in court.