There are times when you wish to be able to search through the current database of inmates of your state. Whether you have a friend or loved one currently incarcerated, have reason to suspect that a former friend may have been arrested, or you wish to keep tabs on someone who has a significant impact on your child’s life, being able to perform a search of inmates can be a useful tool. Luckily, most states have this information publicly available and Colorado is no exception.
But where to start? What resources are available for performing these searches? Sex offender registries are publicly available, but where can they be found? This article is aimed at being a resource for starting your search and will attempt to answer these questions.
So you want to perform a Colorado inmate search for someone specific that is believed to be in state prison or a county jail. Where to start? Colorado maintains a a searchable database on the Colorado Department of Corrections website at http://www.doc.state.co.us/oss/. The fields for the search include first and last name, gender, date of birth, and Department of Corrections number.
A few notes about the information you enter into this inmate lookup. This name fields will return any results that match the other criteria and will include results with names that begin with the letters you entered. In this way, you may not need the entire name of the individual you wish to find on the inmate list. It is important to note that the name on record will be the name the individual was arrested and prosecuted under and so may not be their legal name.
Also, in the case of someone with two last names that are typically hyphenated, you should leave out the hyphen and run the two names together. If you are unsure about the full name of the individual, it is best to only include those letters you are sure of. Gender is a supplemental level of information on the database, so if you are for some reason unsure of the gender of the individual you wish to locate from a jail inmate search or prison inmate search, you should simply select the “All” option to ensure your individual will be included in the results. Date of birth will select any results that match your other criteria and fall within a range of 6 months before or 6 months after the date you enter. The DOCNO is a number assigned by the Department of Corrections and should be a string of numbers up to six characters in length. The DoC number is the primary method the state uses to track and identify jail inmates and prison inmates.
There are plenty of reasons you may wish to get information on sex offenders in the state registry. Whether it be to determine any possible risks in your neighborhood or to ensure that anyone you hire to babysit your children does not have a sexually criminal history that may make them unsuitable for the job, staying informed is never a bad idea. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation maintains a database of convicted sex offenders that is available to the public. It will include in its results sexually violent predators, multiple offenders, felony convicted offenders, and offenders who failed to register as required by law. It will not include sex offenders only convicted of misdemeanor sex offenses or juveniles adjudicated for sex crimes.
The Colorado Convicted Sex Offender Search can be found at https://www.colorado.gov/apps/cdps/sor/index.jsf. Among the links at the top of the page you will find a drop-down named “Search”, under which are two options: the first, entitled simply “SEARCH”, will allow you to search by first and last name, including aliases, city, zip code, conviction level and county, while the second, entitled “MAP SEARCH” will provide a graphical map interface allowing you to see current known locations for registered sex offenders that meet the criteria set forth by the state. With these tools you can stay informed to keep yourself and your family safer.