The Oregon Inmate Population
The Oregon inmate population is not one database and not one count. The clearest statewide number in the research is the Oregon Department of Corrections prison count: the DOC Current Adults in Custody Population profile reports 12,119 adults in custody on July 1, 2026. That figure counts people in Oregon DOC prisons. It does not count people held only in a county jail before trial, people in municipal holding cells, youth held by the Oregon Youth Authority, immigration detainees, or federal prisoners at FCI Sheridan.
County and regional jails form the local side of the Oregon inmate population. Sheriffs, regional jail authorities, and city police departments handle arrests, booking, local holds, short jail sentences, probation or parole sanctions, and some contract holds. Oregon DOC handles adults sentenced to more than 12 months of incarceration, state-prison intake, custody classification, prison placement, public prison records, and state offender search. That split explains why an Oregon inmate search may start on a county roster one day and later move to Oregon Offender Search after sentencing and transfer.
The Oregon DOC home page is the statewide agency starting point for prison custody.
Use that agency source for prison-system context, then use county rosters for recent jail bookings and local custody questions.
Oregon Inmate Population Statistics
Oregon DOC's July 1, 2026 profile is the current statewide prison snapshot in the research. It reports 12,119 total AICs, with 11,189 male AICs and 930 female AICs. The same profile reports custody-level totals: 4,732 at Level 1, 570 at Level 2, 2,138 at Level 3, 4,067 at Level 4, 310 at Level 5, and 302 unclassified. Those figures describe the state-prison side of the Oregon inmate population, not the daily population in each county jail.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Date |
|---|---|---|
| State-prison adults in custody | 12,119 | DOC AIC Population Profile, July 1, 2026 |
| Female AICs | 930 | DOC AIC Population Profile, July 1, 2026 |
| Male AICs | 11,189 | DOC AIC Population Profile, July 1, 2026 |
| Oregon prison facilities | 12 | DOC Locations and Divisions |
| County folders routed by the apex directory | 36 | Research-Oregon locality directory |
The Oregon DOC reports and statistics hub is where DOC publishes current profiles, trends, Quick Facts, and other statewide corrections reports.
The reports hub is the right source for prison population figures because local jail rosters are live operational tools, not a statewide statistical report.
Oregon Inmate Population Trends
The statewide prison trend should be described carefully. Oregon DOC's prison population trends PDF shows the state-prison count moving around the low-12,000 range in recent years: 12,079 on April 1, 2022, 12,232 on April 1, 2023, and 12,056 on April 1, 2024. DOC's 2025 Quick Facts brief reported 12,299 AICs as of August 31, 2025. The current profile reports 12,119 on July 1, 2026. That is a stable to modestly fluctuating post-pandemic population, not a rapid-growth story.
| Date | State Prison Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| April 1, 2022 | 12,079 | DOC prison population trends PDF |
| April 1, 2023 | 12,232 | DOC prison population trends PDF |
| April 1, 2024 | 12,056 | DOC prison population trends PDF |
| August 31, 2025 | 12,299 | DOC 2025 Quick Facts issue brief |
| July 1, 2026 | 12,119 | DOC Current AIC Population Profile |
DOC's 2025 forecast expected a modest increase after 2026, but the research warns not to blur forecast values and actual counts. For public use, exact dates matter. A jail roster count observed in a county file is a point-in-time live custody count. A DOC profile is a statewide prison report. A court case count is something else entirely.
Who Makes Up Oregon Custody
The Oregon inmate population includes several custody groups. State-prison AICs are adults sentenced into DOC custody. County jail detainees include people awaiting arraignment or trial, people serving short local jail sentences, people held on warrants, and people held on probation, parole, or post-prison supervision sanctions. Regional jails handle some counties that do not run their own full jail roster. Municipal jails may hold people for short periods. Youth facilities are operated by OYA and should not be treated as public adult inmate roster systems.
- State prison: Oregon DOC custody after a prison sentence, transfer, or supervision status.
- County jail: Recent local arrests, pretrial holds, short sentences, warrants, and local sanctions.
- Regional custody: NORCOR, Union, Umatilla, and Grant appear in county research as multi-county or contract paths.
- Federal custody: BOP custody is searched through the federal locator, with FCI Sheridan in Yamhill County.
- Immigration custody: ICE uses the Online Detainee Locator System and separate facility tools.
Oregon DOC's age distribution in the July 2026 profile is concentrated in the 31-to-45 range, with 5,545 AICs in that group. The profile also reports 3,132 AICs ages 46-to-60, 1,564 ages 25-to-30, 1,319 ages 61 and older, and 559 ages 18-to-24.
Oregon Inmate Records Laws
Oregon public-records law is in ORS 192.311 to 192.478. It governs public records, response duties, exemptions, fees, redactions, and petition or review procedures. Local jail records are requested from the custodian that created or holds the record. That may be a sheriff, regional jail authority, city police department, district attorney, court, DOC, OYA, BOP, or ICE, depending on what the record is.
Key Oregon rules:
ORS chapter 192 governs Oregon public-records access, exemptions, fees, and review procedures.
ORS chapter 169 covers local correctional facilities, inspections, emergency-release provisions, and prisoner-expense rules.
OAR 291-097 defines earned time credits for eligible DOC sentences under Oregon rules.
The statewide inmate population must also be read with booking-photo limits in mind. County research repeatedly notes that Oregon law and HB 3273 changed how some jail rosters display or release booking photos. Benton County says its roster no longer provides AIC photos online to comply with HB 3273 effective January 1, 2022. Yamhill's roster language says booking photos generally may not be released to the public unless a law-enforcement purpose exists or upon conviction.
Oregon DOC State Prisons
Oregon DOC says it operates 12 prison facilities. The official list includes Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland, Deer Ridge Correctional Institution in Madras, Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City, Santiam Correctional Institution in Salem, Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, South Fork Forest Camp near Tillamook, Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla, and Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview.
The Oregon DOC prison locations page gives the official statewide prison list used to separate state prisons from county jails.
That list matters because a person sentenced in any Oregon county can be sent to any DOC facility after intake and classification.
Classification drives placement. DOC's custody and classification page says a counselor determines initial custody classification after files and assessments are complete. DOC uses a risk scale and a validated tool to assess public safety and institutional risk. Levels run from Level 1, the lowest, through Level 5, the highest. People may earn lower custody levels through positive behavior, compliance, and case-plan progress.
How to Search Oregon Inmates
Start with the custody type. If the person was recently arrested, awaiting arraignment, serving a short local sentence, or held on a warrant, search the county or regional jail roster. If the person was sentenced to more than 12 months, transferred from jail to prison, or is on state supervision, search Oregon Offender Search. If the case is federal, use BOP. If the issue is immigration detention, use ICE. If release or transfer alerts matter, use VISOR.
- Decide whether the person is in local jail, state prison, federal custody, or immigration detention.
- For recent local custody, open the Oregon County Directory and choose the county or regional jail path.
- For state prison or Oregon DOC supervision, use Oregon Offender Search by name, partial name, wildcard, or SID Number.
- For custody alerts across county and state facilities, search VISOR and register for release or transfer notifications.
- For court filings after booking, use Oregon Judicial Department case and calendar tools.
The Oregon Offender Search form is the direct DOC locator for state-prison and offender-status searches.
The search form supports first, middle, last, and SID Number fields, and the research notes that wildcard asterisks may be used for uncertain names.
Oregon Jail vs DOC Search
County jail rosters and Oregon DOC search solve different problems. A county roster is the right place for a new arrest, bail question, local charge, booking date, recent release, or local hold. Oregon Offender Search is the right place for sentenced state-prison custody, state facility placement, SID-based lookup, or post-prison supervision status. A person can move from one system to the other after sentencing, and there can be a short period where county and DOC records do not update at the same pace.
| Question | County or Regional Jail | Oregon DOC |
|---|---|---|
| Recent arrest | Usually yes | Usually no |
| Sentenced to prison | Before transfer only | Yes |
| Booking photo | Varies by county and Oregon law | Not a county mugshot gallery |
| Release notifications | Use VISOR where available | Use VISOR and DOC records |
| Official certified record | Request from local custodian | Request through DOC Public Records Center |
Oregon VISOR, BOP, and ICE
Oregon uses VISOR, the Victim Information System in Oregon, as a free custody search and notification service. The Oregon DOJ VISOR page says VISOR can check custody status in a county or state facility and register a person for automatic notification when an individual in custody is released or transferred. VISOR is useful when a county roster is thin, when release alerts matter, or when a person may have moved between local and state custody.
The VISOR search and notification portal is a statewide bridge between jail custody, prison custody, and release notification.
VISOR does not replace the jail roster or Oregon Offender Search, but it helps users track release or transfer status across Oregon custody systems.
Federal and immigration custody use separate systems. The Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to the present and can search by number or by name. ICE's Online Detainee Locator System applies when a person is in immigration detention or has been in CBP custody for more than 48 hours. Those systems are separate from Oregon county jail rosters and Oregon DOC prison records.
The BOP inmate locator is the source for federal sentenced custody, including searches related to FCI Sheridan.
Use BOP for federal prison custody even when the person was arrested, charged, or sentenced in Oregon.
Oregon Court Records After Custody
Custody records and court records answer different questions. A jail roster shows current or recent custody. Oregon Offender Search shows state prison and offender status. Court records show the case: charges filed, calendars, docket events, judgments, and related court activity. Oregon Judicial Department provides free records and calendar search pages for calendars and basic case information, and OJCIN OnLine for subscription access to circuit, tax, appellate, and Supreme Court records through OECI and ACMS portals.
The Oregon Judicial Department records and calendar page explains the free online access points for case and calendar information.
Use OJD for filed cases and calendars, then use jail, DOC, VISOR, BOP, or ICE tools for current custody status.
Oregon Detention Facilities
The Oregon inmate population is held across county jails, regional facilities, state prisons, work-release centers, municipal jails, OYA secure facilities, and FCI Sheridan. The statewide facility directory is alphabetized and de-duplicated from the county research files. Covered facilities link forward to their county subdomain page through the APEX_DOMAIN_TBD placeholder. Uncovered OYA gap rows show official basic information only and do not invent adult inmate-search pages.
Regional custody is especially important. NORCOR appears in several county files but belongs once in the statewide list. Union County Correctional Facility also serves Wallowa pathways. Umatilla can be the contract route for Morrow. Grant County Jail can appear in Wheeler placement context. These relationships explain why the arrest county and holding facility may not match.
Oregon Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Oregon inmate population?
The researched statewide prison figure is 12,119 adults in Oregon DOC custody on July 1, 2026. That is the prison count, not a total of every person in every county jail. County jail populations are distributed across local and regional facilities and change throughout the day.
Where should an Oregon inmate search start?
Start with the custody path. Use a county roster for a recent arrest or local jail hold. Use Oregon Offender Search for DOC custody or supervision. Use VISOR for release or transfer notifications. Use BOP for federal prison custody and ICE ODLS for immigration detention.
Does Oregon have one statewide jail roster?
No. Oregon has a statewide DOC locator, but local jail records are maintained county by county or through regional jail systems. Some counties have searchable rosters, some have simpler lists, and some rely on phone or records-request channels.
Are Oregon booking photos always public?
No. County research shows that Oregon law and HB 3273 changed how some public rosters handle booking photos. Some counties omit photos, restrict release, or require a records request subject to law and redaction.
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