Search the Lassen County Inmate Population

Lassen County Inmate Population Overview

The local jail part of the Lassen County inmate population is centered at the Lassen County Adult Detention Facility, a Type II local detention facility operated by the Lassen County Sheriff's Office. Type II means the jail may hold adults before arraignment, during trial, after sentence, and while short local sentences or other release issues are resolved. The jail receives people arrested or sentenced for state crimes in Lassen County, including bookings from the Sheriff's Office, California Highway Patrol, Susanville Police, Probation, CDCR, Cal-Fire, Herlong Security, the FBI, and other agencies with arrest power in the county.

That local count is different from the much larger prison population physically located in Lassen County. High Desert State Prison is run by CDCR and houses sentenced state prisoners. Federal Correctional Institution Herlong is run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and houses sentenced federal male offenders. A person can be in Lassen County but outside county jail custody, so the right lookup path depends on whether the person is a county jail inmate, a CDCR prisoner, a BOP prisoner, or an immigration detainee in another location.

Lassen County Inmate Population Statistics

Official sources report more than one capacity figure for the Lassen County inmate population because the figures come from different documents and dates. The county jail page gives the public-facing operating figures: rated capacity of 156 inmates, an average daily population of 120, and about 1,400 bookings each year. The 2023 jail medical-services RFP gives a rated capacity of 228 and 2,022 bookings in 2022. The 2019 PREA audit gives a BSCC-rated bed capacity of 231 for the main jail. Those figures should be read with their source labels rather than merged into one number.

The image below comes from the official Lassen County jail page, the county source for the 156-capacity, 120-ADP, and annual-booking figures used above.

The BSCC Jail Profile Survey page is the statewide source for jail-population reporting tools and local detention survey data.

Lassen County Jail Population Trends

The five-year ADP table in the 2023 medical RFP gives the cleanest trend line for the county jail portion of the Lassen County inmate population. It shows ADP falling from 122 in 2018 to 102 in 2020, rising to 120 in 2021, and then falling to 106 in 2022. The RFP does not assign a cause, so the numbers should not be tied to a policy change without a separate source. The same RFP notes that Lassen County has housed inmates under contract from other counties in the past and that future contracts could raise ADP independent of local arrest volume.

The BSCC JPS dashboard page explains how county-level jail ADP trends, sentenced and non-sentenced status, and offense-type data can be explored statewide.

Lassen County Jail Housing Units

The PREA audit gives unusually detailed context for the jail building behind the Lassen County inmate population. The main jail was activated in 1991, sits on a 23-acre parcel across from Sheriff's Administration, and is described as a 49,000-square-foot rectangle with six quadrants. Four quadrants contain housing. The others contain offices, program and service space, maintenance, the main security entrance, Booking, the medical office, visiting, food preparation, laundry, and other jail functions. The courthouse is less than two miles away, which helps explain the close jail-to-court workflow in Susanville.

Housing includes the Security Housing Unit, Dorms 301 and 303, Dorm 502, and Dorm 504. The SHU lower level has pods used for classification and separation, cells, showers, a dormitory, and exercise yards. Female administrative-segregation inmates may be housed in a screened lower-level pod, while Dorm 502 houses female general population and Dorm 504 houses male outside workers. The annex, listed in the 2023 RFP at 1415B Chestnut Street, is made of 20 double-occupancy cells in two housing units and is served through the same jail medical-services scope.

Lassen County Inmate Population Laws

California law shapes which parts of the Lassen County inmate population can be inspected, requested, or withheld. The public-records baseline comes from the California Public Records Act, while law-enforcement arrest information, local criminal history, booking-photo handling, jail standards, and court-record access each have separate rules. These laws do not turn every custody document into an online file. They create access rights and limits that the sheriff, court, CDCR, BOP, and ICE apply in different ways.

The Lassen County Sheriff's press-release page is also part of the public custody record environment because it links recent death-in-custody releases.

Search Lassen County Inmates

No verified official Lassen County online jail roster was located in the county or sheriff pages reviewed for the research file. That fact changes the search workflow. For a current county jail inmate, the jail phone is not a last resort. It is the main official custody-confirmation path. Call the Adult Detention Facility at (530) 251-5245 for current custody, housing, visit routing, or basic booking questions the jail is allowed to answer. If the question needs a document, use the Sheriff's Office records contact at 1415 Sheriff Cady Lane, (530) 251-8013, or sheriff@co.lassen.ca.us.

1. Call the Lassen County Adult Detention Facility at (530) 251-5245 for current county custody.
2. Use the Sheriff's records contact when a phone confirmation is not enough or a record copy may be needed.
3. Search the Lassen Superior Court portal when the question is about filed charges or hearing dates.
4. Use CDCR CIRIS if the person was sentenced to state prison or transferred to CDCR.
5. Use the BOP locator for sentenced federal custody and ICE ODLS for immigration custody.
6. Use California VINELink for custody-status notifications rather than as a substitute for official records.

Lassen County Inmate Records

A jail booking record and a court record answer different questions. The jail record starts with intake, identity, arresting agency, property, screening, classification, housing, and release status. The court record starts when the District Attorney files a complaint or later charging document. The Lassen Superior Court Online Case Index and Calendar Portal can show non-confidential and non-sealed cases filed after about 1994, including calendars and Register of Actions details, but the court states that portal data is not the official record and may lag several days.

The court portal can be searched by case number, previous case number, party name, citation or ticket number, and calendar date. A new criminal case number may use a format like 2023-CR1234567, while older cases may use a previous number such as CR123456. A court result should not be treated as proof of conviction. The court warns that charges can be reduced, dismissed, or result in not guilty, and that sealed or confidential cases, including most juvenile matters, are not public through the portal.

The court records page is also the route for copy requests, in-person file viewing at the Hall of Justice, juvenile-record limits, sealed files, and purged files. For custody and booking questions, use jail records. For filed charges and hearing dates, use the court portal or clerk process.

Lassen County Custody Systems

Sorting the facility type first prevents the most common search error. A person arrested by Susanville Police, CHP, Probation, or the Sheriff's Office may be booked into the county jail even if the arresting agency is not the sheriff. A person sentenced to prison leaves the county jail search path and moves into CDCR custody. A federal sentence belongs to BOP. An immigration matter belongs to ICE systems, even though no ICE detention facility was found in Lassen County.

State and Federal Inmate Search

CDCR's California Incarcerated Records and Information Search is the statewide locator for sentenced state prisoners. CDCR also provides Identification Unit help at (916) 445-6713, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Pacific. CIRIS is not a county jail roster, and a CDCR number is not a county booking number. That distinction matters for visits, mail, and records because CDCR visitation, mail, trust, and approval rules are statewide prison rules.

The BOP Inmate Locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to present. It can search by BOP register number, DCDC number, FBI number, INS number, or name, and public result fields include name, register number, age, race, sex, release date, and location. BOP warns that release dates can change and that a released or not-in-BOP status does not prove the person is free of all other custody. ICE's Online Detainee Locator System is separate and cannot search under-18 detainees.

The screenshot below shows the CDCR CIRIS locator, which is the proper path for sentenced California prisoners, including those at High Desert State Prison.

Lassen County Detention Facilities

The Lassen County inmate population is spread across systems that use different locators, phones, and visit rules. The county jail and annex are sheriff-run local detention facilities. High Desert State Prison is a CDCR prison. FCI Herlong is a federal BOP institution. Each page below follows the proper system for that facility.

The Lassen County Sheriff's Office page identifies the sheriff's public-safety duties, including operation of the Adult Detention Facility, dispatch, court security, civil process, warrants, and coroner duties.

• Lassen County Adult Detention Facility - the primary county jail for pretrial and sentenced county inmates.
• Lassen County Jail Annex - a Type II annex tied to the same sheriff jail contact path.
• High Desert State Prison - a CDCR Level III and IV prison for sentenced state prisoners.
• Federal Correctional Institution Herlong - a BOP federal facility near Herlong for sentenced federal male offenders.

Lassen County Custody Terms

Several record terms appear across jail, court, state, and federal systems. Short definitions help keep the lookup path clear.

Booking

The jail intake event after arrest, including identity, arrest paperwork, property, screening, and initial custody records.

Classification

The jail risk and housing review used to assign dorm, pod, SHU, separation, or other custody placement.

Register of Actions

A court docket-style list of filings, hearings, scheduled events, and case activity.

Detainer

A hold or request from another agency that may block release even when the local case allows it.

CIRIS

CDCR's statewide search for people in California state prison custody.

Lassen County Inmate Population FAQ

How big is the Lassen County inmate population?

The county jail page reports an average daily population of 120 and capacity of 156, while the 2023 RFP and 2019 PREA audit report higher capacity figures. High Desert State Prison had 2,896 prisoners as of 12-31-2025, but that is a CDCR prison population, not the county jail count.

Is there a Lassen County online jail roster?

No official county online jail roster was verified in the official pages reviewed. Current county custody should start with the jail phone at (530) 251-5245, then the Sheriff's records contact if a document or formal record request is needed.

Where do filed charges appear after booking?

Filed charges appear through the Lassen Superior Court process after the District Attorney files a complaint or later charging document. The court portal can show non-sealed cases, hearings, calendars, and Register of Actions entries, but it may lag and is not the official record.

Can VINELink replace the jail or court record?

No. California VINELink is best used for custody-status notification. It can support alerts, but official custody, booking, and court facts should be verified with the jail, sheriff records, court, CDCR, BOP, or ICE.