Kilby Inmate Search. Find Someone with the ADOC Locator

Why Someone Might Show Up at Kilby Right After Sentencing

Kilby Correctional Facility is ADOC’s statewide Receiving and Classification Center. It receives nearly everyone entering the Alabama state prison system, with the exception of people sentenced to death row and those sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act, so they can be evaluated and classified before being assigned to their eventual long-term facility. If you search for someone who was just arrested or sentenced and the ADOC locator shows them at Kilby, this usually means they’re going through intake and classification, not that Kilby will be their permanent facility. This is genuinely important information: don’t assume the person will stay at Kilby, and don’t be surprised if a later search shows them somewhere else in the state.

Expect a Transfer, and Recheck Often

Because Kilby’s core role is short-term intake and classification for most of its population, families should treat a Kilby listing right after sentencing as likely temporary. ADOC doesn’t publish a fixed timeline for how long classification takes, and it can vary case by case. The practical takeaway: check the ADOC inmate locator again every week or two in the weeks following a sentencing. A transfer to the person’s long-term facility can happen relatively quickly once classification wraps up, and you don’t want to plan a visit, send money, or mail something to a facility the person has already left.

How to Search by AIS Number

If you already know the person’s AIS number, the six-digit Alabama Institutional Serial number ADOC assigns to each person in custody, go to doc.alabama.gov/inmatesearch.aspx and enter it directly. An AIS number search gives you an exact match and is the fastest way to confirm someone’s status and current location, which matters most at a facility like Kilby where locations can change quickly.

How to Search by Name

If you don’t have the AIS number, search by first and last name instead. This search is open-ended: entering only the first few letters of a last name, for example “char,” returns every matching last name in the system, up to 50 results. If the name is common, narrow your search by adding the first name too.

What the Result Shows

A matching record shows the person’s name, their AIS number, and their current facility. The AIS number is the single most important piece of information you’ll need going forward. It identifies the person for money deposits through Access Corrections and for addressing personal mail correctly. Write it down and keep it somewhere you can find it again, since it stays the same even if the person is transferred out of Kilby to another ADOC facility.

Why Someone Might Not Show Up

ADOC’s inmate locator only covers people currently in ADOC state prison custody. There are a few common reasons a search might come up empty or show unexpected results:

• They were sentenced under Alabama’s Youthful Offender Act. These inmates are excluded from search results and population totals entirely, by design.
• They were recently transferred out of Kilby. Since Kilby’s main function is receiving and classifying new inmates, transfers to long-term facilities happen regularly, and the record may show a different facility than the one you expect.
• They’re in county jail, not ADOC custody. Alabama’s 67 counties run their own jail systems independently of ADOC. If someone is awaiting trial or hasn’t been sentenced to state custody yet, they likely won’t appear in this search at all.
• They’re in federal custody instead. If the person is held at a BOP facility like FCI Talladega, FCI Aliceville, or FPC Montgomery, use the BOP inmate locator at bop.gov/inmateloc/ with their Register Number instead.
• They were released. The database doesn’t retain historical records for people no longer in ADOC custody.
• Their name is spelled differently than expected. Try variations, nicknames, hyphenated names, or suffixes like Jr. and Sr.

If You Still Can’t Confirm

Call Kilby directly at (334) 215-6600 to ask staff to confirm whether someone is currently held there, or whether they’ve already been transferred as part of the classification process. Have the person’s full legal name and, if possible, their date of birth ready when you call.

After You Find Them

Use the visitation guide to learn what to ask before you plan a visit, including whether a newly classified person has visiting privileges yet, the send money guide to deposit funds through Access Corrections, and the mail guide for the correct digital-mail address.