Can Anyone Look Up a Federal Inmate's Location and Number?

Yes. Federal inmate information is publicly available through the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator at bop.gov/inmateloc. Anyone can search for a federal inmate by name or register number without the inmate's knowledge or consent. The locator returns the inmate's current facility, projected release date, and other basic information. There is no requirement to identify yourself or have any relationship to the inmate to conduct a search.

This is intentional. The federal system treats basic custody information as public record, and families, attorneys, researchers, and members of the public all have equal access to the locator tool.

When a federal inmate is transferred to another facility or state, their BOP record updates to reflect the new location. The update is not always immediate, sometimes taking a few days after the transfer, but the information will appear in the locator once the receiving facility processes the inmate into their system.

On victim notification, the federal system handles this separately from Vinelink, which primarily covers state inmates. The Department of Justice's Victim Notification System, known as VNS, allows registered crime victims to receive automatic notifications about changes in a federal inmate's status including transfers, releases, and hearings. Victims can register through the US Attorney's office that handled the prosecution or through the VNS directly at notify.usdoj.gov.