Search Modoc County Jail Inmates

Modoc County Jail Overview

Modoc County Jail is the only active county detention facility identified in official Modoc County sources. It is operated by the Modoc County Sheriff's Office and serves local adult custody in Alturas. The sheriff's corrections page says the jail houses adult females and adult males, including sentenced and unsentenced inmates, and that custody can involve misdemeanors or felonies. No separate county work-release center, jail annex, active municipal jail, CDCR adult prison, BOP prison, or ICE detention facility was found in Modoc County.

The jail is small, rural, and centralized. The sheriff's public page describes a 48-bed jail that is usually 55%-65% full. BSCC's 2026 rated-capacity spreadsheet and recent grand jury sources use 43 as the rated or maximum capacity. That discrepancy should be read as a source difference, not as a reason to ignore one number. For current jail custody, the official route is the Sheriff's Office. For state prison after sentencing, use CDCR CIRIS instead.

The sheriff's corrections page screenshot shows the facility information, capacity statement, mail rules, and phone rules used for this Modoc County Jail page.

Those official details are more reliable for this facility than third-party jail directories or commercial roster pages.

Modoc County Jail Population

Population data for Modoc County Jail comes from the sheriff's public corrections page, BSCC jail population sources, and grand jury oversight materials. The sheriff's source says 48 beds and 55%-65% average fullness. BSCC monthly data shows a 2025 full-year ADP of 27.5 and 506 bookings. The latest month located in the research was December 2025, with 28 ADP, 52 bookings, and a highest one-day population of 40. August 2025 reached 43 on the highest one-day count, matching the BSCC rated-capacity figure.

Using the BSCC capacity figure, the jail averaged about 64.0% occupied in 2025. Using the sheriff's 48-bed figure, the same average was about 57.3%. Those are calculated rates from researched inputs and should not be treated as a separate official occupancy table.

Lookup Modoc County Jail Inmates

No official Modoc County Jail online roster was located in the sheriff's public pages reviewed for this project. The Modoc Superior Court Criminal Division FAQ states that a person asking about someone in custody should contact the Modoc County Sheriff's Department at (530) 233-4416 or stop in at 102 S. Court Street, Alturas. That is the facility-specific lookup process. VINELink is linked from the sheriff's corrections navigation and can be used for custody notification, but it should not be described as a complete jail-record archive.

1. Call the Modoc County Sheriff's Office or jail at (530) 233-4416 with the person's full name and any known date of birth or arrest date.
2. Use the in-person channel at 102 S. Court Street if staff directs you there or if a phone confirmation is not enough.
3. Check VINELink for release or transfer notifications where Modoc custody data is available.
4. File a records request through County of Modoc NextRequest for existing booking or jail records not available by immediate custody check.
5. Search CDCR CIRIS when the person has been sentenced to state prison or transferred from the jail.

Modoc County Jail Contact

The jail and sheriff information line use the same public phone number across the sheriff's website. The stronger jail address source for mail, visitation, and custody context is the corrections and visitation material using 102 South Court Street in Alturas. The sheriff's bio and contact blocks also list 102 S Court St and the same phone line. Use the jail address for visits, inmate mail, and current-custody questions unless the sheriff directs otherwise.

Visit Modoc County Jail

The official visitation schedule is narrow and classification-based. Visits are held Wednesdays and Saturdays. Women, men, and protective-custody inmates have separate check-in windows and separate visit times. The source page says late visitors will be denied entry, so travelers should not treat the check-in period as flexible. Visitors need verifiable identification, such as a state driver's license or ID card. Probation or parole visitors need a signed letter from the relevant official, and court conditional-release visitors need written permission from the court or county probation.

The official page does not publish a dress code, child-visitor policy, locker rules, holiday schedule, attorney-visit schedule, or public parking details. Call before travel if any of those issues matter. The source also says a video phone visitation line is installed, data purchase uses a registration graphic, and video visitation is approved and scheduled by corrections staff. The vendor and fees were not published in accessible text.

Mail and Money at Modoc County Jail

Mail to a person held at Modoc County Jail should use the inmate's name, care of Modoc County Jail, 102 South Court Street, Alturas, CA 96101. The sheriff's corrections page says there is no limit to the volume of mail or number of pages or writing sides. Incoming and outgoing correspondence is checked for contraband. The page permits correspondence paper and envelopes, money orders for commissary, up to three photographs, and books, newspapers, or magazines only when sent directly from the publisher.

Modoc County Jail Phone Access

The jail phone rules are unusually specific. The official corrections page says the phone system will not connect to caller-ID blocked numbers or cell phones. Phone cards and calling cards do not work. Calls are collect or funded through account setup by phone or web link, but the public text did not expose the provider, pricing, or deposit phone number. Phone access is a privilege and can be denied if jail staff deem it a safety issue.

Booking at Modoc County Jail

Official Modoc sources do not publish a full booking checklist, but the custody path is local. A person arrested by the Sheriff's Office, Alturas Police Department, CHP, or another agency may be cited and released or taken to Modoc County Jail. Booking normally includes identity confirmation, property inventory, fingerprints, booking photograph, safety and medical screening, classification, and housing assignment. The research found no official booking duration or roster update cycle, so those details should not be stated as local facts.

Booking is also only the start of the court path. The Modoc Superior Court Criminal Division says a criminal case begins when a person is arrested and charges are filed through the District Attorney or by an agency. Filed charges can differ from booking charges. The court portal and clerk are the sources for formal case records, while the jail remains the source for current local custody and facility rules.

Modoc County Jail Conditions

Grand jury materials give local history and oversight context. The 2023-24 Grand Jury report says the current jail was constructed in 1978, with additions in 1985 and 1990, and lists maximum inmates as 43. It also discussed long-running new-jail planning and funding issues. The 2024-25 Grand Jury report continued to discuss maintenance, staffing, camera coverage, mental-health transport, future jail planning, and delay in a new jail, while noting BSCC's latest targeted inspection found Title 24 compliance.

BSCC's April 2024 adult and juvenile noncompliance attachment documented 2023 Modoc County Jail findings involving female staffing by shift and nonoperational washbasins in C, D, E, and F tanks affecting seven cells, with water available in dayrooms. That should be read as a dated compliance snapshot, not a current condition unless a newer source says it remains unresolved. Official jail program information was thin; realignment materials mention behavioral health, social services, alcohol and substance-abuse programs, education, probation, the sheriff, and the DA as local partners, but not a detailed in-jail program menu.