The Cullman County Inmate Population
The Cullman County inmate population is held at one local facility, the Cullman County Detention Center at 1900 Beech Avenue SE in Cullman. The Cullman County Sheriff's Office runs the jail, which the warden page calls an integral part of the office. The custody population is unusually broad. It includes pre-trial felony defendants, people convicted of misdemeanors in county district court, detainees from every municipality in the county, and people held for the U.S. Marshals Service in the Northern District of Alabama. Classified male and female work-release inmates are also housed there.
The count rises and falls with arrests, bond decisions, releases, and transfers to state prison. Because the jail serves the whole county and federal partners, its population reflects more than sheriff arrests. The official sources reviewed did not post a live daily headcount, so the figures below describe the facility and the county context rather than a current count.
Cullman County Inmate Population Statistics
The headline sourced figure is the bed count. The sheriff's warden page gives the Cullman County Detention Center a rated capacity of 553 beds, with the facility opened in May 2005. The county did not post a live jail population or a daily average, so capacity should not be read as a current headcount. The figures below are official facility and county data, not a daily census.
The table lists figures the research could source, each tied to its origin and year. The jail's current and average daily populations were not published in official sources and are left out rather than guessed.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Rated bed capacity | 553 | CCSO warden page, 2026 |
| Facility opened | May 2005 | CCSO warden page, 2026 |
| Detention officers | 44 | CCSO warden page, 2026 |
| County population (decennial) | 87,866 | U.S. Census, 2020 |
| County population estimate | 92,604 | Alabama DPH estimate, 2024 |
Cullman County Inmate Population Trends
No multi-year daily-population series for the county jail was found in official sources, so a year-by-year jail count cannot be shown without inventing it. The trend the research can document is the county's growing population, which feeds the pool of people who pass through the jail. Cullman County has added residents since the last census.
| Year | County Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 87,866 | U.S. Census decennial count. |
| 2024 | 92,604 | Alabama Department of Public Health estimate. |
Note: County population is a backdrop for the jail, not a jail count, so confirm any current detention number with the facility before relying on it.
Who Makes Up the Cullman County Inmate Population
The jail did not publish a breakdown by pre-trial versus sentenced, sex, or charge level in the official sources reviewed. What the warden page does describe is the custody scope and the housing layout, which together show how varied the population is.
- Pre-trial and misdemeanor - pre-trial felony defendants and people convicted of misdemeanors in county district court.
- Municipal detainees - people held for every municipality in Cullman County, not just sheriff arrests.
- Federal holds - U.S. Marshals Service detainees for the Northern District of Alabama.
- Work release - classified male and female inmates housed in dormitory-style work-release units.
Cullman County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding
The detention center has a rated capacity of 553 beds, spread across three primary male housing units, two primary female units, temporary holding cells for booking, and dormitory work-release housing. The sheriff did not publish a current population, so no honest crowding ratio can be calculated here. No overcrowding declaration, population cap, or capacity lawsuit specific to the Cullman County Detention Center turned up in the official sources reviewed.
Because the jail serves the whole county plus federal partners, its rated capacity reflects a larger role than a sheriff-arrest-only jail. If a current capacity or crowding question comes up, the detention center is the office to ask, since the county does not maintain a public population dashboard.
Laws Governing the Cullman County Inmate Population
A short set of Alabama laws shapes what jail data the public can see and how requests work. The state open-records framework supports inspecting and copying public writings, with copy-fee and confidentiality rules that limit what is released. Expungement and juvenile rules keep certain records out of public view.
Key Statutes:
Ala. Code § 36-12-40 - Alabama residents have the baseline right to inspect and copy public writings unless another law makes the record exempt.
Ala. Code § 36-12-41 - A public officer with custody of an inspectable record must provide a certified copy on demand when lawful fees are paid.
Ala. Code § 36-12-44 - Sets public-officer duties and timing rules for handling public-records requests under the revised open-records framework.
Ala. Code § 15-27-7 - Expunged criminal records are archived and generally unavailable for non-criminal-justice purposes.
Ala. Code § 12-15-133 - Juvenile court records and related child information are confidential except for statutory exceptions.
Note: The absence of an online roster does not end access, since the sheriff jail book and other public records can still be requested under state law.
Cullman County and the State Prison Population
When a person from Cullman County is convicted of a felony and sentenced to state time, they leave the county inmate population and join the state prison count. From that point the search tool changes. The Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search covers currently incarcerated state prisoners, while the county detention center does not. No ADOC prison sits inside Cullman County, so a sentenced person is held elsewhere in the state.
For context, the ADOC search page showed a statewide total of 27,601 inmates, about 25,007 men and 2,592 women. Those are statewide figures, not a Cullman County jail count, and they belong only in a discussion of state prison custody. The ADOC database holds current inmates only and excludes inmates sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act.
How to Search the Cullman County Inmate Population
Cullman County does not publish a searchable online jail roster in the official sources reviewed. So the search is a sequence of official contacts rather than a single web form. The right first step depends on the custody stage. For a recent local arrest, call the detention center. For a sentenced state prisoner, use ADOC. For a federal or immigration case, use the federal locators.
Before you start, gather the person's full legal name, date of birth or age, the approximate arrest date, the arresting agency, and the municipality where the arrest happened.
- Call the Cullman County Detention Center at 256-735-2400 to confirm whether the person is currently held.
- Ask whether the person is newly booked and still in observation, or processed into a counter record.
- Ask the current status: in custody, bond set, blocked by a hold, released, or transferred.
- If the jail cannot answer by phone, use the Sheriff's Office at 256-734-0342 for records routing.
- If the person was sentenced to state prison, search the ADOC inmate locator instead.
- For court dates and filed charges, use Alacourt, the circuit clerk, or the municipal court, not the jail.
The Cullman County Sheriff's Office homepage links out to VINE and Nixle, the official starting point for questions about the local inmate population.
Because no public roster was located, this sheriff homepage and the detention center phone line are the practical entry points into the Cullman County inmate population.
Current Inmate Lookup in Cullman County
For a current Cullman County inmate, the live channel is the detention center itself, not a web search. Staff can confirm whether a person is in custody, whether bond is set, and whether a hold blocks release. Because no county roster form was located, the search-field table below shows the statewide ADOC inmate search, the locator with a confirmed public form for sentenced inmates who passed through county custody.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIS # | Text | No | Unique six-digit Alabama Institutional Serial number; if entered, names are ignored and the exact match shows. |
| First Name | Text | No | Used alone or with last name; ignored when AIS is entered. |
| Last Name | Text | No | Open-ended or prefix search; beginning letters return matching last names. |
| Search | Button | n/a | Runs the ADOC search; Youthful Offender Act inmates excluded. |
Past and Released Inmate Records
Finding someone no longer in custody works much the same way. With no online roster, there is no public archive of past bookings to scroll through. The route is a records request to the Sheriff's Records Division, which manages reports generated by the office, for the booking record, bond information, release date, or booking photo, where releasable. The jail inmate records page walks through this contact chain in more detail.
Name the record you want and keep the date range narrow. A clear request should identify the person, the arrest date, the arresting agency, and any case or booking number. A person sentenced to state time appears in the ADOC locator, and court charges and dispositions live with the circuit clerk, district court, or the Cullman Municipal Court, which uses its own records-request form and fee schedule.
What a Cullman County Inmate Record Shows
Because no public online profile could be inspected, the fields below describe the Alabama jail-book baseline a request can reach. State law requires sheriffs to keep a public prisoner record, and these are the fields it reflects. Not every field is releasable, and some may be redacted.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name and Description | The prisoner's name, age, sex, color, and distinguishing marks. |
| Charge Held On | The charge the person is held on at the jail. |
| Commitment | The order and date of commitment to the county jail. |
| Release | The order and date of release. |
| Bond | Not a published online field; ask the jail or court for bond information. |
| Booking Photo | Not posted in an online gallery; request the booking photo tied to the booking date. |
A few terms help when reading any record. Booking is the jail intake record made after arrest. A detainer is a hold request from another agency. Work release lets a classified sentenced inmate keep working, while a charge is an allegation, not a conviction.
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The most common mistake is searching the wrong system. Pre-trial detainees and people serving short county terms sit in the county detention center. Sentenced felons serve their time in a state prison run by ADOC, which keeps a separate locator. The table sorts out which system covers which part of the inmate population.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial, municipal, and federal-hold inmates | Sentenced felons |
| Run By | Cullman County Sheriff | Alabama Department of Corrections |
| Where to Look | Jail phone and records request | ADOC statewide inmate search |
| Confirmed Online Roster | None located | Yes, current inmates only |
State and Federal Inmate Search
Several custody levels use different tools, which matters more here because the jail holds federal detainees. For a sentenced Alabama state prisoner, use the ADOC inmate search, which accepts an AIS number or a name. For a sentenced federal prisoner, use the federal Bureau of Prisons locator. For an immigration detainee, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator, which works by A-number plus country of birth or by biographical details.
The federal Bureau of Prisons locator covers sentenced federal prisoners and sits outside the Cullman County jail population entirely.
Federal pre-trial defendants are often in U.S. Marshals custody and may be housed in the county jail, so the BOP locator may not show them before sentencing. For release or transfer alerts on state prisoners, register through the Alabama Victim Notification System. None of these tools work like a county booking gallery.
This notification portal supplements the Cullman County jail population sources by alerting registrants to release or transfer rather than listing the full custody record.
Cullman County Detention Facilities
The county inmate population is held at a single confirmed local facility. The research found no separate work-release building, regional jail, ICE center, BOP facility, or state prison inside the county. Work release operates as a program and housing function inside the main detention center, not a separate site.
- Cullman County Detention Center - the 553-bed county jail in Cullman holding pre-trial, municipal, work-release, and U.S. Marshals detainees.
Cullman County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Cullman County inmate population?
The detention center has a rated capacity of 553 beds, but the sheriff did not publish a current daily population, so capacity is not the same as a headcount. The facility opened in May 2005 and serves a county of more than 90,000 residents. For a current population or to confirm whether a specific person is held there today, call the detention center at 256-735-2400.
How do I search the Cullman County inmate population?
There is no confirmed online jail roster, so the search starts with the detention center phone line at 256-735-2400. Ask staff whether the person is in custody and what their status is. If the jail cannot answer, use the Sheriff's Office at 256-734-0342 for records routing. If the person has been sentenced to state prison, use the ADOC inmate search instead.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
Yes, but not through a web roster. Submit a records request to the Sheriff's Records Division for the booking record, bond information, and release date, where releasable. A person sentenced to state time appears in the ADOC locator. Court charges and outcomes live with the circuit clerk, district court, or the municipal court.
Why can't I find a city jail for a Cullman or Hanceville arrest?
The county detention center provides detention for every municipality in Cullman County, so a city arrest usually ends up in county custody. The arresting agency and the holding facility are not always the same. Ask the jail whether the person was booked there or is still in police processing.
Does the jail hold federal prisoners?
Yes. The warden page says the detention center holds U.S. Marshals Service detainees for the Northern District of Alabama. Federal pre-trial defendants in Marshals custody can be housed locally, so the BOP locator may not show them until they are sentenced. ICE detainees are searched through the ICE locator, not the county jail.
What is the difference between the county jail and ADOC?
The county detention center holds pre-trial detainees and people serving short county sentences, run by the sheriff. ADOC runs the state prisons that hold sentenced felons. They keep separate records and separate search tools. A person moves from the county jail to ADOC after a felony conviction and sentencing.