Search San Francisco 72 Hour Booking
San Francisco County 72 hour booking records are handled by the San Francisco Sheriff's Office. San Francisco is unique in California because it is both a city and a county at the same time. This means one sheriff's department runs all jail operations for the entire area. The main detention facility is County Jail #2 at the Hall of Justice, located at 850 Bryant Street. There is also County Jail #5 in San Bruno. The sheriff posts booking data through a "Find a Person in Jail" tool on its website. Anyone can use this tool for free. No login is needed. The search covers all people currently in custody at San Francisco County jails.
San Francisco County Booking Quick Facts
San Francisco Booking Law
California state law requires all booking records to be public. Government Code 7923.610 spells out the details. The law says that when someone is booked into jail, the public has a right to the person's full name, date of birth, charges, bail amount, time and date of arrest, time and date of booking, and where they are held. This applies in San Francisco County just like every other county in the state.
The San Francisco Sheriff's Office follows this law by posting booking data online through its search tool. Some counties make you visit in person or send a written request to get booking records. San Francisco gives you a direct way to search from any device. The tool pulls live data from the jail management system and updates throughout the day as new bookings and releases happen.
Arrested people in San Francisco County also have rights during booking. Penal Code 851.5 gives each person at least three free phone calls within three hours of being booked. The calls can go to an attorney, a bail agent, or a relative. The jail cannot block or charge for them.
Note: San Francisco County booking records are part of the California Public Records Act and cannot be withheld by the sheriff's office.
San Francisco Find a Person in Jail
The San Francisco Sheriff runs its booking search at sfsheriff.com/find-person-jail. This is the "Find a Person in Jail" tool. You enter a name and the system returns results showing anyone in custody who matches. The results include the person's name, booking number, charges, bail amount, and which jail they are in. It is straightforward. No account is needed.
The San Francisco Sheriff's "Find a Person in Jail" search page at sfsheriff.com provides free access to current San Francisco County booking and custody records.
Search results update as the jail processes new bookings and releases. If someone was just arrested, it could take a couple of hours before they appear in the system. Processing at the Hall of Justice booking area can be slow during busy times. Weekend nights and holidays tend to have higher booking volumes. Give the system time and try your search again if you do not see results right away.
San Francisco's tool is one of the simpler ones in the state. There are no filters to set and no drop-down menus to deal with. Just type the name and hit search. The results page is clean and easy to read. This is a good thing for people who just want a quick answer about whether someone is in custody.
San Francisco County Jails
San Francisco County operates two main jail facilities. County Jail #2 is at the Hall of Justice, 850 Bryant Street, in the South of Market area. This is the primary booking location for people arrested by San Francisco Police or brought in by other law enforcement. The Hall of Justice also houses the San Francisco Superior Court, so inmates with court dates are often held here temporarily.
County Jail #5 is at 1 Moreland Drive in San Bruno, which is technically in San Mateo County but operated by San Francisco. This facility holds inmates who are past the initial booking phase and awaiting trial or serving sentences. Both jails feed into the same booking search system. When you use the Find a Person in Jail tool, it checks both locations.
The city-county also contracts with the state for certain housing needs. But for booking records, the San Francisco Sheriff handles everything locally. All 72 hour booking data for San Francisco County goes through the sheriff's office, no matter which agency made the arrest.
San Francisco Booking by Mail
If you want a physical copy of a San Francisco County booking record, you can request one from the sheriff's office. Send a written request to the San Francisco Sheriff's Office, Records Unit, at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, City Hall, Room 456, San Francisco, CA 94102. Include the person's full name, date of birth if known, and an approximate booking date. The office may charge a small fee. Response times should fall within 10 business days under the California Public Records Act.
Phone requests work too. Call the sheriff's records line to ask about a booking. They can give basic information over the phone in many cases. For certified copies or formal records needed for court, submit a written request. Walk-in requests are accepted during office hours at the Hall of Justice.
San Francisco Arrest Records
Booking records and arrest records are related but different. The booking record is what gets created when the jail processes someone. The arrest record includes the police report, which has more details about the incident. In San Francisco, SFPD handles arrest reports since it is the main law enforcement agency for the city-county. The sheriff handles the jail side.
To get an arrest report from San Francisco, contact the San Francisco Police Department's Records Division. They are located at the Hall of Justice as well. You can request incident reports and arrest reports from SFPD directly. The 72 hour booking record, though, is always available through the sheriff's search tool. It is always public under state law.
San Francisco also has a District Attorney's office that handles charging decisions. Not every booking leads to charges being filed. The DA reviews the case and decides what to do. The booking record still exists either way. Even if charges are dropped, the fact that a booking took place is part of the public record.
Note: For federal arrests that happen in San Francisco, check the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator instead of the county tool.
City of San Francisco
Because San Francisco is both a city and a county, there is no separate city booking system. Everything goes through one office. If someone is arrested anywhere within San Francisco city limits, the booking goes to the San Francisco Sheriff. This is different from most California counties where multiple cities may have their own police departments but share a county jail. Here, the city and county are one and the same.
San Francisco Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency, but the sheriff's office runs all jails and maintains all booking records. The two offices work together but handle different parts of the process.
Nearby County Booking Records
Looking for booking records in counties near San Francisco? These adjacent counties have their own jail search tools.
- Marin County
- San Mateo County
- Contra Costa County (across the bay)