What WVDCR Runs
WVDCR is the official abbreviation for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The agency sits under the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and operates the merged adult corrections system used across the state. Its public-facing site places offender search, Daily Incarcerations, victim services, facilities, offender services, annual reports, and contact links under that agency name. That matters for search accuracy, because a reader looking for "WV DOC" may need the current WVDCR pages instead.
The agency's adult custody map has three working layers. Regional jails handle the jail function for counties across West Virginia. State prisons and correctional centers hold sentenced offenders, intake units, specialized populations, and technical parole violators. Community-corrections facilities handle work release, young adult court-ordered programs, and lower-security correctional settings. The official adult facilities page lists 20 prisons and jails entries and 4 community corrections entries, while the FY2025 Annual Report says WVDCR operates 67 locations when juvenile centers, parole offices, youth reporting centers, and other locations are counted.
The WVDCR homepage is the broad agency entry point for these statewide services.
That agency page is the statewide starting place, but custody searches often require the more specific jail or prison tool.
The WVDCR Inmate Population
The strongest current source for the WVDCR inmate population is the agency's FY2025 Annual Report. It reports 5,966 prison offenders by county of commitment on or around June 30, 2025. That figure is not a live count for each jail. It is a prison-offender count tied to the county that committed the person to state custody. The same source reports FY2025 regional jail activity across 10 regional jails with an average daily count of 4,882, 36,461 admissions, and 34,926 releases.
| Measure | Figure | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Prison offenders by county of commitment | 5,966 | WVDCR FY2025 Annual Report, on or around June 30, 2025 |
| Average sentenced inmate population | 5,837 | WVDCR calendar year 2024 trend table |
| Regional jail average daily count | 4,882 | WVDCR FY2025 Annual Report |
| Regional jail admissions and releases | 36,461 admissions, 34,926 releases | WVDCR FY2025 Annual Report |
The official WVDCR adult facilities list shows the prison, jail, and community corrections entries used for statewide routing.
The facility list confirms why a single county name is often not enough in West Virginia: a person may be in a regional jail, prison, work-release center, or federal facility.
How to Search WVDCR
The official WVDCR offender-search hub links Daily Incarcerations, Offender Search for Jails, Offender Search for Prisons, and Escapees and Absconders. Start there when the custody stage is unclear. A new arrest or pretrial hold usually belongs in the regional jail search or Daily Incarcerations. A sentenced prison offender, parolee, or person under active WVDCR supervision belongs in the prison and supervision search.
- Use Daily Incarcerations or the regional jail search when the person was just arrested or is believed to be in a West Virginia regional jail.
- Use the WVDCR prison and supervision search when the person has been sentenced, moved to prison, placed on parole, or assigned an OID.
- Search the prison tool by at least the first four numbers of the Offender ID, or by the first three letters of both first and last name.
- Check court portals for charge history, bond, hearings, and disposition because WVDCR points underlying criminal-action questions back to court records.
- Use BOP or ICE when the case is federal or immigration-related.
The WVDCR offender-search hub keeps those search channels in one place.
The hub is valuable because the jail and prison tools use different fields and cover different custody groups.
WVDCR Record Fields
A WVDCR prison search is built around the OID number and name fields. The direct prison and supervision page says it covers offenders under active supervision, in prison, or on parole status only. A person who discharged, moved out of WVDCR custody, or belongs to another system may not appear even if a court case still exists. The regional jail search has a different field rule: at least the first three letters of the last name, with first name optional.
| Search or profile field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Offender ID or OID | The state offender identifier used by the WVDCR prison and supervision search. |
| Last and first name | The name search fields. The prison tool requires the first three letters of both names for name searches. |
| Current facility or status | The listed WVDCR location or supervision status, subject to the portal disclaimer. |
| Sentence or commitment context | A custody reference, not a substitute for the sentencing court record. |
| Release or parole information | A status clue that should be checked against institutional records or the Parole Board when timing matters. |
The WVDCR prison and supervision search is the direct locator for sentenced state custody and active supervision records.
Use this prison tool only after the custody facts point to WVDCR prison, parole, or active state supervision.
WVDCR Facilities
West Virginia's regional jail network includes Central, Eastern, North Central, Northern, Potomac Highlands, South Central, Southern, Southwestern, Tygart Valley, and Western Regional Jail and Correctional Facility. These regional jails perform the county-jail role for multiple counties, so many county arrest searches lead to a regional jail in another county. Rated populations in the research range from 289 at Northern Regional Jail to 576 at Western Regional Jail, all sourced to the FY2025 report.
The prison and correctional-center layer includes Denmar, Huttonsville, Lakin, Martinsburg, Mount Olive, Ohio County, Pruntytown, Saint Marys, Salem, Stevens, and related correctional-center functions. The community-corrections layer includes Anthony, Beckley, Charleston, and Parkersburg. The full West Virginia facility directory separates regional jails, state prisons, community corrections, federal BOP facilities, juvenile rows, and local holding entries so the lookup path matches the facility type.
WVDCR Inmate Population Trends
The long-term trend table in the WVDCR FY2025 Annual Report shows a state population that rose through the 2000s, peaked in the mid-2010s, and then declined. The total average sentenced inmate population was 4,106 in 2001, reached 7,095 in 2016, stood at 7,068 in 2018, and fell to 5,837 in 2024. WVDCR also reports that the jail backlog reached a record low of 621 in 2024, down from 1,782 in 2012.
| Year | Average sentenced inmate population | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 4,106 | Early year in the WVDCR long-term table. |
| 2016 | 7,095 | High point in the 2001-2024 table. |
| 2022 | 5,874 | Recent lower level after the post-2018 decline. |
| 2023 | 5,891 | Slight increase from 2022. |
| 2024 | 5,837 | Recent total in the WVDCR trend table. |
Sentencing and WVDCR Release
Good time is governed by W. Va. Code Section 15A-4-17. Eligible adult inmates in the Commissioner's custody receive one day of good time for each day incarcerated, with statutory exceptions and disciplinary forfeiture rules. Good time applies to a maximum indeterminate term or fixed determinate term, but life-sentence inmates do not earn good time under that statute. It does not apply to time served on parole, bond, or other non-incarcerated status.
Parole rules are separate. W. Va. Code Section 62-12-13 addresses Parole Board powers, eligibility, plans, reviews, restrictions, and program requirements. The Parole Board FAQ says monthly hearings occur at regional jails and that a person granted parole from a regional jail must transfer to a DCR facility for intake and fingerprinting before release, with a seven-to-ten-day delay expected. A parole eligibility date is not a guaranteed release date.
- Good time
- Statutory credit that may reduce a qualifying sentence term.
- OID
- The offender identifier used in the WVDCR prison and supervision search.
- Jail backlog
- People committed to WVDCR but waiting in jail for prison space.
- Parole eligibility
- A point when review may occur, not a promise of release.
WVDCR Records Requests
West Virginia FOIA controls public-records requests to state and local public bodies. W. Va. Code Section 29B-1-3 gives every person the right to inspect or copy nonexempt public records, requires requests to go to the custodian, and requires reasonable specificity. The custodian must respond as soon as practicable and within five business days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. Section 29B-1-4 lists exemptions, including law-enforcement investigation records, personal and medical files, internal memoranda, and security-sensitive records.
WVDCR Policy Directive 108.01 directs written FOIA requests to the Commissioner and requires the requested records to be stated with reasonable specificity. The WVDCR central office listed on agency pages is 1409 Greenbrier Street, Charleston, WV 25311, with phone (304) 558-2036. Requests for sentencing orders, docket sheets, charge outcomes, or hearing records should go to the court or clerk that holds the case file.
The WVDCR contact page provides central contact and inquiry channels for statewide agency routing.
That contact route is useful for agency questions, but FOIA requests still need enough detail for the custodian to identify the record.
WVDCR Inmate Population FAQ
How large is the WVDCR inmate population?
The FY2025 Annual Report reports 5,966 prison offenders by county of commitment on or around June 30, 2025. It also reports 4,882 as the FY2025 average daily count across the 10 regional jails.
Which WVDCR search finds a recent arrest?
Use Daily Incarcerations or the regional jail offender search for a recent county arrest. The prison and supervision search is for people in prison, on parole, or under active WVDCR supervision.
Can WVDCR calculate a release date from charges?
No public page should calculate a release date from charge names. WVDCR, institutional records, the sentencing court, and the Parole Board rules control sentence and release questions.
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