The Alpine County Inmate Population
Alpine County does not operate a county jail, so the Alpine County inmate population is best understood as a contracted-custody population rather than a headcount inside an Alpine jail building. The official Alpine County Sheriff's Office page identifies Sheriff/Coroner Tom Minder and states that there are no jail facilities in Alpine County and that jail services are contracted to El Dorado County and Calaveras County. The Alpine Superior Court criminal division page gives the same practical direction and tells people to contact El Dorado County Jail or use El Dorado's online service for custody-status questions.
That structure changes how every number should be read. Alpine has no local rated jail capacity, no Alpine-only jail average daily population, and no Alpine-only public jail roster in the official sources reviewed for 2026. The useful figures are facility and system facts: South Lake Tahoe Jail can house 158 inmates, Placerville Jail can house 303 inmates plus 8 outpatient medical beds, and Calaveras County Adult Detention Facility is another contract facility named by Alpine sources, though its capacity was not found in the official Calaveras pages reviewed.
The Alpine County Sheriff's Office page is the primary local source for the no-jail and contract-service fact. The screenshot below comes from the Alpine County Sheriff's Office page, which identifies the sheriff's office and confirms the custody arrangement that drives Alpine inmate search work.
Because Alpine has no incorporated cities and the Sheriff's Office provides countywide law enforcement, a recent Alpine arrest may create records at the Alpine Sheriff's Office first, then at El Dorado or Calaveras if the person is transported or housed. A later criminal case is handled through Alpine Superior Court, and a state-prison sentence is searched through the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, not through a county jail roster.
Alpine County Inmate Population Statistics
Population statistics for Alpine County need careful labeling. The BSCC FY 2022-23 Community Corrections Partnership Survey describes Alpine as California's smallest county and gives a county population of about 1,129. The same research set and current Alpine official pages identify no Alpine jail facility. For inmate-population reporting, that means an Alpine-specific jail ADP is not published as a local jail count, and contractor-county jail totals should not be treated as Alpine-only totals.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Alpine County jail facilities | 0 | Alpine Sheriff's Office, Alpine Superior Court, BSCC FY 2022-23 CCP Survey |
| Alpine County own jail capacity | 0 / not applicable | Current Alpine official pages state no jail facilities |
| Alpine County population | About 1,129 | BSCC FY 2022-23 CCP Survey |
| South Lake Tahoe Jail capacity | 158 inmates | El Dorado County Custody page, current 2026 |
| Placerville Jail capacity | 303 inmates plus 8 outpatient medical beds | El Dorado County Custody page, current 2026 |
| Alpine annual bookings | Not published in official sources reviewed | Alpine sheriff, court, and BSCC sources reviewed in 2026 |
The BSCC Jail Profile Survey dashboard is the statewide population source for California jail data. A successful capture from the BSCC Jail Profile Survey dashboard is included below because it is the proper statewide place to review jail-population trends, while still remembering that El Dorado or Calaveras totals are not the same as an Alpine-only inmate population.
For Alpine, the dashboard is useful for contractor-county context and statewide comparisons. It does not solve the key local limitation: Alpine contract-bed use was not separately published as an Alpine jail ADP in the official materials reviewed.
Alpine County Inmate Population Trends
The main Alpine trend is stable and unusual: official sources continue to say the county has no jail. The 2010-11 Alpine County Grand Jury report described Alpine as having no jail, no secure temporary holding facilities, and no courthouse lockups. The BSCC FY 2022-23 survey still identifies no Alpine jail. The 2023-24 Alpine community corrections plan says the county does not have its own jail facility and has a contract for jail services at El Dorado County Sheriff's facilities in South Lake Tahoe. The current Alpine Sheriff page again states that jail services are contracted to El Dorado and Calaveras.
| Year / Period | Facility Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 Grand Jury report | No Alpine jail or secure temporary holding facilities | Report describes El Dorado use for South Lake Tahoe and Placerville, plus Calaveras relevance for Bear Valley. |
| FY 2022-23 | No Alpine jail | BSCC Community Corrections Partnership Survey describes the no-jail status and small county population. |
| 2023-24 | No local jail; El Dorado contract noted | Alpine CCP annual plan says jail services are contracted at El Dorado facilities in South Lake Tahoe. |
| 2026 official pages | No jail facilities; contracts to El Dorado and Calaveras | Alpine Sheriff and court pages repeat the contract-custody model. |
Who Makes Up the Alpine County Inmate Population
Official Alpine sources reviewed did not publish a jail demographic breakdown by sex, race, age, charge level, pretrial status, or sentenced status because Alpine does not operate a jail. The BSCC FY 2022-23 survey does give countywide population context: about 46.6 percent female and 53.4 percent male for Alpine County residents. That is a county population statistic, not a jail demographic table.
- Pretrial vs. sentenced - Alpine arrestees may be housed in El Dorado or Calaveras while awaiting court or serving short local custody, but Alpine-specific pretrial and sentenced jail totals were not published in the official sources reviewed.
- Male vs. female - Countywide sex breakdown is available in the BSCC survey, but no Alpine-only jail sex breakdown was located.
- Felony vs. misdemeanor - A contractor roster may show charge details for an individual booking; no aggregate Alpine felony/misdemeanor jail population table was found.
- Other agencies - State prison, federal prison, immigration detention, and county contract jail custody are separate systems and should not be blended into one Alpine jail count.
Alpine County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding
Alpine County has no local jail capacity to overcrowd. Capacity pressure, if any, belongs to the contractor facility where a person is housed, not to an Alpine jail building. The official capacity numbers available from El Dorado County are 158 inmates at South Lake Tahoe Jail and 303 inmates plus 8 outpatient medical beds at Placerville Jail. The official Calaveras pages reviewed did not publish a rated capacity for the Calaveras County Adult Detention Facility.
No recent Alpine-specific jail overcrowding lawsuit, jail construction project, consent decree, or Alpine jail-death litigation was located in the official sources reviewed. That absence fits the operating model: Alpine's custody issues are more about transport, booking appointments, contract routing, courthouse appearance logistics, and records scattered across multiple agencies than about a local jail population filling a local building.
Laws Governing the Alpine County Inmate Population
California public-records law and local detention standards shape what can be searched and what may be withheld. For Alpine County, those laws apply across several agencies: Alpine Sheriff's Office for arresting-agency records, El Dorado or Calaveras for jail custody records, Alpine Superior Court for filed court records, CDCR for state prison records, BOP for federal records, and ICE for immigration detention.
Key Statutes and Standards:
California Government Code § 7920.000 identifies the California Public Records Act framework for state and local agency records.
California Government Code § 7923.610 requires disclosure of specified factual arrest information unless a statutory limitation, safety concern, or investigative concern applies.
California Penal Code § 13300 limits dissemination of local summary criminal history information, which is broader than a single public booking entry.
California Government Code § 12525 requires written reporting to the Attorney General when a person dies in law-enforcement or correctional custody.
BSCC Title 15 local detention standards govern California local detention facilities, including contractor jails that may house Alpine arrestees.
Alpine County and the State Prison Population
There is no CDCR prison in Alpine County based on the official CDCR facility locator review. When an Alpine County defendant receives a state-prison sentence, that person leaves the local jail-contractor path and is searched through CDCR CIRIS, the California Incarcerated Records and Information Search. CDCR says CIRIS is for the incarcerated person population in state custody, and the CDCR Identification Unit can assist with search access by phone during weekday business hours.
CIRIS is not a substitute for an Alpine booking record. It can show state-prison fields such as name, CDCR number, age, current location, commitment counties, admission date, and Board of Parole Hearing dates or outcomes where available. It does not show local jail bail in the way a county roster might, and it does not tell whether a newly arrested person is sitting in South Lake Tahoe, Placerville, or San Andreas.
How to Search the Alpine County Inmate Population
In Alpine County, the first question is not which Alpine jail to search, but which outside jail received the person after the Alpine arrest. If the arrest is very recent or the housing location is unknown, call the Alpine County Sheriff's Office at (530) 694-2231. For records requests, the sheriff's page lists Nani Ellis for Records Requests, Licensing and Permits at extension 331. Once a housing path is known, search the correct contractor portal or call the facility.
- Call Alpine County Sheriff's Office if the arrest is recent and the destination facility is unclear.
- Search El Dorado County Citizen RIMS, especially because Alpine court materials name El Dorado County Jail and South Lake Tahoe Jail for custody questions.
- Check Calaveras Citizen RIMS or call Calaveras Jail at (209) 754-6499 when Alpine staff, Bear Valley context, or west slope routing points that direction.
- If a person was sentenced to California state prison, use CDCR CIRIS instead of a county jail roster.
- For federal sentenced custody, use the BOP inmate locator. For immigration detention, use ICE ODLS. For custody notifications, use VINELink.
The El Dorado roster is a successful manifest capture from the official Citizen RIMS incarcerated people portal. It matters for Alpine because Alpine court sources point readers toward El Dorado for custody-status questions.
Roster searches are JavaScript-rendered and may show only records that the contractor agency chooses to display publicly. If a person does not appear, the next step is phone confirmation with Alpine Sheriff and the likely contractor jail, not assuming there was no arrest.
Current Inmate Lookup in Alpine County
Alpine has no standalone online jail roster. The El Dorado and Calaveras public portals use the Citizen RIMS pattern, with filters such as date range and name fields, plus sortable booking information when the agency displays it. A current inmate lookup may show the contractor jail booking record, not a complete Alpine criminal case history.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start Date | Date picker | No | Filters booking or incarceration records by date where the portal exposes the filter. |
| End Date | Date picker | No | Narrows results to a date range. |
| First Name | Text | No | Useful for narrowing common names. |
| Last Name | Text | No | Most practical name field for a roster search. |
| Sort by booking number | Table sort | No | Sorts the booking number column when records are displayed. |
| Sort by booking date | Table sort | No | Helps locate the newest or oldest bookings. |
| Sort by arresting agency | Table sort | No | Important for Alpine cases because the arresting agency may differ from the housing jail. |
| Sort by status | Table sort | No | Can help distinguish current, released, or other displayed booking statuses. |
Past and Released Inmate Records
A person who is no longer on a contractor roster may still have records in several places. Ask Alpine Sheriff's Office for the arresting-agency record or booking appointment record. Ask El Dorado or Calaveras for jail custody records created while the person was housed there. Ask Alpine Superior Court for the formal court case after the District Attorney files a complaint. Alpine court records are not available through an online public case portal and there is no public access terminal at the Markleeville courthouse, so court staff handle search and copy requests in person, by mail, or by fax.
The Alpine Superior Court records process is especially important after release because booking charges are not always the filed court charges. A court request can seek a Register of Actions, Complaint, Pleas and Disposition, minute orders, or an entire file when available. The court's records page says name searches normally go back 10 years unless otherwise specified, cost $15 when the search takes more than 10 minutes, and are not processed until payment is received. Copies are $0.50 per page. Off-site storage can add one to two weeks.
What an Alpine County Inmate Record Shows
For an Alpine arrest housed by a contractor jail, the public jail record is a booking-based record. The Citizen RIMS field inventory for El Dorado and Calaveras shows booking ID, full name when enabled, booking date and time, arresting agency code, arrest location, total bail, status, and charge rows when charge detail is available. Some records may include a booking photo and demographics if the agency enables those fields and the record has data.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Booking ID | The jail booking identifier used for custody records and sometimes for mail or account functions. |
| Booking Date/Time | When the contractor jail entered the booking into its system. |
| Arresting Agency | The agency tied to the arrest or booking, which can help identify an Alpine arrest housed outside the county. |
| Total Bail | Booking-level bail amount if published, subject to phone confirmation because holds can block release. |
| Status | The booking or custody status displayed by the portal. |
| Charges | Charge code, charge description, level, count, arresting agency, arrest date, location, and bail amount when the charge table is available. |
| Photo and Demographics | Possible fields only when agency settings and the particular record allow public display. |
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The lookup source depends on custody type. Local jail rosters are for recent bookings, pretrial custody, and short local detention. CDCR CIRIS is for sentenced California state prisoners. BOP and ICE are separate federal systems. Alpine's contract model adds one more layer because the county jail roster is not an Alpine-operated roster.
| Contract County Jail | State Prison | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Recent arrestees, pretrial detainees, and short local sentences housed by El Dorado or Calaveras | People sentenced to California state prison |
| Run By | El Dorado County Sheriff's Office Custody Division or Calaveras County Sheriff's Office Custody Bureau | California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation |
| Where to Look | El Dorado Citizen RIMS, Calaveras Citizen RIMS, and facility phone lines | CDCR CIRIS and CDCR facility information |
| Records Shown | Booking ID, booking date, arresting agency, bail, status, charges, and possible photo | Name, CDCR number, age, current location, commitment counties, admission date, and parole hearing data where available |
State and Federal Inmate Search
Use CDCR CIRIS when the person has been sentenced to California state prison. Use BOP's inmate locator for federal prison custody from 1982 to the present. Use ICE ODLS for immigration detainee location searches. ICE ODLS can search by A-number or by biographical information, cannot search records for people under 18, and requires a nine-digit A-number for A-number searches. Alpine County is within the U.S. Marshals Eastern District of California, but no public USMS prisoner locator was located for Alpine-specific federal pretrial custody.
VINELink is different from the roster. It is a custody notification service. El Dorado and Calaveras official pages describe VINE or VINELink custody-status notifications, including web and phone access. Use it for notification when the relevant jail participates, while still checking the official roster or calling the facility for immediate custody questions.
Alpine County Detention Facilities
These facilities are not Alpine-owned jail buildings. They are the custody locations most relevant to Alpine County inmate population research because Alpine has no local jail and official sources identify El Dorado and Calaveras contract services.
- South Lake Tahoe Jail - The primary named custody point in Alpine court materials, operated by the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office Custody Division at 1051 Al Tahoe Blvd, capacity 158 inmates.
- Placerville Jail - El Dorado County's Placerville facility at 300 Forni Road, capacity 303 inmates plus 8 outpatient medical beds, historically relevant to Alpine prisoner housing under El Dorado contract.
- Calaveras County Adult Detention Facility - Calaveras County Sheriff's Office Custody Bureau facility in San Andreas, relevant because Alpine official sources say jail services are contracted to Calaveras, especially for Bear Valley and west slope context.
Alpine County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Alpine County inmate population?
There is no published Alpine jail ADP because Alpine County has no jail facilities. Official sources identify a contracted-custody model instead. The concrete capacity figures are outside Alpine: South Lake Tahoe Jail has 158 beds, and Placerville Jail has 303 inmate beds plus 8 outpatient medical beds. Calaveras capacity was not located in the official pages reviewed.
How do I search the Alpine County inmate population?
Start with housing location. Call Alpine Sheriff at (530) 694-2231 for a recent arrest if the destination facility is unknown. Then search El Dorado Citizen RIMS, search Calaveras Citizen RIMS, or call the likely jail. If the person has moved to state prison, use CDCR CIRIS. Federal and immigration custody require BOP or ICE searches.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
A released person may no longer appear in a current jail roster. For past records, request the arresting-agency record from Alpine Sheriff, the custody record from the contractor jail, or the formal case record from Alpine Superior Court. The court has no online case portal or public terminal, and it does not process name search or copy requests by email.