Niagara County Jail

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The Niagara County Jail is located at 5526 Niagara Street Extension in Lockport, NY and is a medium security county jail operated by the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department.

This guide tells you information about everything one might want to know about the Niagara County Jail, like how to locate an inmate, the jail’s phone number and address, intake procedures, court information and records, and much more.

Top 10 Searches for Niagara County Jail

1. Niagara County Jail Information
2. Niagara County Jail Inmate Search
3. Niagara County Inmate Search in Lockport, NY
4. Niagara County Jail Visitation Rules
5. Niagara County Jail Visitation Hours
6. Discount Niagara County Jail Inmate Calls
7. How to Send Inmate Care Packages to Niagara County Jail
8. What is Inmate Commissary?
9. How to Send Money to an Inmate at Niagara County Jail
10. How to Search Niagara County Arrest Records

Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to give information that you need to make going to jail a little less stressful. If you have questions, please feel free to ask it, and please leave any feedback or comments that might be a benefit to other people in the same situation is welcome.

Niagara County Jail Inmate Search

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Who’s In Jail

The Niagara County Jail Inmate Locator is an online list of individuals who were arrested and are now in jail, including current status, and schedule for visitation. You can also get info for anybody who has been arrested or discharged in the last 24 hours. Inmates are shown in alphabetical order by last name. You will be able to locate the information more quickly if you have the arrestee’s first and last name, birth date, or inmate ID Number.

Niagara County Jail Policies and Procedures

Intake Procedures

The intake procedure at the Niagara County Jail takes you through each of the following steps:

You will be placed in a waiting area or cell. If the jail is really busy, it will take a while to get processed.

You have to answer some basic questions, such as your full name, street address, birthdate and contact person, and you will also be asked about your medical and psychological history. Next, you’ll be given an inmate ID number and you will be fingerprinted. Then, all of your personal property will get taken away from you and stored until you get released from jail.

They will allow you to use the phone so you can talk to a member of your family, friend, or somebody else who can help you get out.

If you are expected to be released quickly, you might be allowed to keep wearing street clothes, but if you are not expected to make bail quickly you will be issued a jail uniform – the jumpsuit.

Discharge Procedures

When you post bail, you will get released from jail. Getting discharged from jail may take anywhere from 15 minutes to quite a few hours. Or, simply, the faster bail is posted, the faster you will get discharged from jail. It also can depend on whether or not you have a bond amount or if the magistrate must decide on the amount of bail to be set. For minor offenses, you will get booked and then released on your recognizance without having to pay bail. When you have served out your jail sentence and have a date of your release, you should expect to get released anywhere between the hours of 9am and 12pm.

Niagara County Jail Visitation

The inmate need to give each visitor’s full name to the Niagara County Jail in advance. This information will be entered into the visitation log for the requesting inmate. Each and every visitor will be required to provide identification. Any visitors that gets to visitation or that is not an approved visitor will not be allowed to attend visitation.

Jail visitation policies frequently change, so you should call the official Niagara County Jail at (716) 438-3356 before go to the jail to visit an inmate.

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Visitation Rules

Before you can visit someone at the Niagara County Jail you must be added to this person’s approved visitation list.

Be sure to take your up to date government issued ID or valid driver’s license when you go to visit or you will not be allowed to enter without it.

No cellphones at Niagara County Jail, and you will be searched before visiting. No personal belongings. Persons under must get the permission of both the superintendent and their individual supervising officer before they can visit. Such visitation is not approved.

If a visitor is younger than 18 years of age and is a family member of the inmate, they will have to be accompanied by an adult family member or guardian to include a member of the inmate’s extended family. If the visitor is younger than 18 years old and is not a family member of the inmate, the minor visitor must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Sending Mail to Inmates

This is what you need to know about sending letters, photos, postcards, greeting cards and even magazines to an inmate at the Niagara County Jail. Incoming and outgoing inmate mail at the Niagara County Jail is always searched and inspected for contraband that might threaten the security, safety or well-being of the facility, its staff, and inmates. Inmates can only receive metered, unstamped, plain white postcards no larger than 4″ x 6″ as mail. The writing on the postcard has to be in pencil or blue or black ink. If it has a stamp on it, it will get returned. If you write in green ink, then it will get returned. If you send any other kind of mail will be returned to the sender. If there is no return address on it, then the unauthorized mail will be stored in the inmate’s locker until the inmate gets release.

Do not include any of these things in the mail that you send to an inmate: any kind of threat to jail order, any description of the manufacture of weapons, bombs, incendiary devices, or tools for escape; do not encourage or advocate any kind of violence, hate speech, or racial or ethnic supremacy. Inmates are not allowed to write to other inmates.

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Sending Other Things to an Inmate

There are strict procedures that you must follow to send anything to an inmate at the Niagara County Jail. This includes sending money for to spend in the commissary, sending regular mail or photos, sending money for phone calls, and even postcards.

This page covers everthing you need to know about the Niagara County Jail to help you follow these procedures and guidelines. If you have questions, or there is something that you were looking for, but did not find, please contact us using the contact link in the site menu.

Public Records

Warrant Inquiry

If you believe you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you can check the court records on the Niagara County jail website or you can call the court. You have to have the person’s first and last name. Or, you can just go the jail in person and ask them. You should know that if there is an arrest warrant out for you, you will be taken into custody immediately.

Arrest Record Search

If you know the person’s first and last name, and possibly an arrest date, contact the jail, by phone, go there in person, or look online. An arrest is public record and this information is accessible by the public.

Court Records

Court Records are public, and are accessible by anyone. Court Records include a case file that includes a court docket and all of the documents filed in the case. You can access the court records via the internet service ‘Public Access to Court Electronic Records’, or at Clerk of Court in the county where the case was filed.

Criminal Records

Every state maintains a record of people’s criminal history. These state databases are all linked so you can track criminal backgrounds from any other state. Go to county courthouse and inquire, or you can check online. It is helpful to know the county the crime was committed in, and if it was in a totally different state, you may have to pay a fee for a more comprehensive search.

A criminal history search you can find out if someone has been arrested, charged, or convicted for the following crimes, drug offenses such as possession or trafficking, kidnapping, sexual offenses including rape, assault, violent crimes including assault, battery and murder, or breaking and entering, theft, larceny.

Money & Commissary

The rules for sending money to someone in jail at the Niagara County Jail are always changing, so be sure to review the Niagara County Jail site when you send funds to an inmate.

How To Send Money to an Inmate at Niagara County Jail

You will have your own ‘bank account’ while in jail. This money is used to purchase items from the Commissary. Family and friends can deposit money into this account for you, and any money you earn while in prison will also be deposited into your account. Outside money can be paid in to your account via a money order, cash or check. If someone sends a check or money order, make sure that they write your inmate ID on it. The maximum amount you are allowed in your account is $290 per month.

Guidelines For Sending Money To An Inmate

Before you send any money you should find out what online money transfer companies the jail your inmate is incarcerated in uses. The exact method that the Niagara County Jail uses changes frequently, so it is best to call them at (716) 438-3356 to get the current payment method.

You may be required to be on the inmate’s visitation list in order to send them money, and be aware that they may have a limit on how much you deposit at one time, like $200-300 at a time, or a limit on how much money may be in the inmate’s account at one time.

Some of the money transfer firms being used by various facilities include JPay, MoneyGram, AccessCorrections, OffenderConnect, Touchpayonline, JailATM, WU, smartdeposit, and tigercommissary.

If an inmate has fines or are required to pay restitution then they will be subject to garnishment of their commissary/trust account. If the inmate has a garnishment, then money to pay them will be taken from the inmate’s bank account. In some cases it may be a percentage or the entire amount of the obligation, but the actual percentage depends on the circumstances. We recommend that inmates talk to the counselor at their facility and try to find out. You can also try to make an arrangement so that only a percentage of your commissary funds are taken, instead of all your funds take at one time.

Commissary

The commissary is the Niagara County Jail store. An inmate can buy different things here, like personal items, food, and things for writing. Remember that you will most likely want to buy things from the commissary every day, and any infractions will cause you to lose commissary privileges.

The Commissary will sell an assortment of different items that inmates can buy if they have money in their trust account. These items include clothes, shoes, small snacks and other food items, in addition to hygiene products including soap, shampoo, and disposable razors for shaving. The commissary also sells other things like books and magazines, televisions and radios, playing cards, headphones, MP3 players, and electronic tablets. They also sell everything need to write home to family, friends, and loved ones: paper, envelopes, and stamps. If an inmate is indigent and cannot afford paper and stamps, the jail will provide these things to an inmate who has not had any money in their commissary account for at least 30 days.

Phone Calls & Phone Usage Policy

All phone calls from the Niagara County Jail are with a pre-paid phone card or account, or are collect calls . Phone calls made in jail are much more expensive than phone calls made outside of jail. There is no limit to when and how often you can use the phone, but bear in mind lots of people want to use the phone – so you have to share. If you are under any sort of disciplinary procedure, an inmate’s phone privileges could be reduced or eliminated altogether.

The Niagara County Jail phone number is: (716) 438-3356

How To Save Money on Inmate Calls

Correctional facility phone service providers have a monopoly at each facility that they operate the phone services for, which means that they they control the prices. The money these phone service providers make from all inmate phone calls are split with the facility, so there is no incentive for the jail or the counselors at the facility to show inmates or their family how to save money on inmate phone calls at the Niagara County Jail. The rates are posted and there are at least two pricing tiers based on where the inmate is calling. These three things will determine the cost of an inmate phone call: Where you are located; Where your inmate is located, What type of phone number you have.

For example, if your inmate is in federal prison, if you get a new local number then this will decrease your inmate’s phone call rate from $.21 per minute to only $.06 per minute.

For state prisons and local jails figuring out how to decrease your inmates phone charges is more difficult. ArrestedResources.com is an expert in keeping up with all of the changes that affect your inmate’s calling rate and in most cases is able to offer you an inmate calling number that will save you significantly on calling your inmate. In some cases, we will not be able to save you any money, and therefore we will not offer you an inmate calling number. In cases like this, the jail or prison has set their inmate calling prices so high that nobody can save you money.

For more detailed information on how to save on inmate calls at Niagara County Jail, click the link below.

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