Ten counties send people here at intake and the state names Auburn as one of only two prisons with a transit unit, so a result here is often a beginning. Start with the search below.
Find your loved one and start staying in touch - photos, letters, and calls.
New York runs one lookup for all 41 state prisons, keyed on the DIN. Searching it is simple. Interpreting an Auburn result takes a little more, because this prison does three jobs beyond holding people who live here: it is the intake point for ten named counties, it is a detention centre, and it holds one of only two transit units the state identifies anywhere.
At nysdoccslookup.doccs.ny.gov, two routes.
By DIN. The Department Identification Number follows a person through every move in New York. It is exact.
By name, last then first. A common surname returns a list.
The result gives the current facility, the DIN, and sentence and status information.
Auburn is where a lot of central and western New York begins a state sentence, and DOCCS Directive 0045 names the counties rather than leaving it vague, which most facility directives do not.
Auburn is an intake facility for men 18 and over committed from:
| Cayuga | Cortland | Herkimer |
| Jefferson | Madison | Onondaga |
| Ontario | Oswego | Seneca |
| Wayne |
Onondaga is Syracuse. If someone was sentenced in the Syracuse courts, Auburn is a very likely first stop, and a family searching a week after sentencing will often find them here.
That is a genuinely useful thing to know in advance, because it means an Auburn result early in a sentence frequently is not the final placement.
Two prisons in New York are named as holding transit units, and Auburn is one of them. Sing Sing is the other.
The statewide Family Handbook makes the distinction when it describes the phone call a newly arrived person is allowed: the standard procedure does not apply to someone in transit status, but it does apply to people in the transit units at Auburn and Sing Sing.
So a person can be at Auburn in three different senses: serving a sentence here, received here at intake, or passing through the transit unit on the way somewhere else.
The instruction that follows is the same in all three cases. Check the lookup before every letter, deposit and visit, because nothing notifies a family when someone moves.
Directive 0045 adds a fourth role: Auburn serves as a detention centre for men 18 and over.
Between intake, transit, detention and general confinement, this is a prison with more turnover than its maximum security classification suggests.
Two facts from Directive 0045 that shape who is here.
Auburn accepts any security classification. Green Haven is the same. Coxsackie, also maximum security, is narrower at maximum AB or lower.
The physical environment is all single cells, including the Special Housing Unit and the Residential Rehabilitation Unit. That is unusual and it is stated explicitly in the directive.
The prison also runs at Mental Health Service Level 1, with a Transitional Intermediate Care Program, an Intermediate Care Program including a component for people designated seriously mentally ill with a history of violence, and a Residential Crisis Treatment Program.
They are still in county custody. Sentencing and reception into state custody are separate events, sometimes weeks apart. Given how many counties feed Auburn, this is the commonest answer here.
They are in New York City custody. Rikers and the city jails have their own lookup entirely.
They are in federal custody. A third system, at bop.gov.
The record uses a different spelling or a former name. Search the surname alone.
They have moved on from intake or transit. The record follows them, so search by name and read the facility that comes back.
If the facility that comes back is Cayuga Correctional Facility, that is a different prison. It is a medium security state prison for men in Moravia, also in Cayuga County, with its own mail box and visiting rules. Our Cayuga Correctional Facility guide covers it.
Worth knowing because it explains the building rather than just being trivia.
New York State Archives records that the legislature authorised a commission in 1816 to secure a site at Auburn for a second state prison, after Newgate in Manhattan became overcrowded. By 1818 the prison was ready to house people. A building of solitary cells provided for that same year was completed in 1821 and became the model for American prisons, and by 1823 the Auburn system was in practice: separate confinement at night, work during the day.
The all-single-cell layout Directive 0045 describes today is a direct descendant of that 1821 building.
6 of 7 questions
The Department Identification Number assigned when someone enters New York State custody. It follows them through every transfer and keys the lookup, the mailroom and the deposit system. At a prison handling intake, transit and detention, having the DIN rather than just a name saves real time.
Inmate SearchBecause Onondaga County is one of ten counties Auburn takes intake from, under DOCCS Directive 0045. The others are Cayuga, Cortland, Herkimer, Jefferson, Madison, Ontario, Oswego, Seneca and Wayne. An Auburn result early in a sentence is frequently intake rather than the final placement.
Inmate SearchAuburn is one of only two New York prisons the state names as holding a transit unit, alongside Sing Sing. The statewide Family Handbook distinguishes it when describing the call a newly arrived person may make. It means someone can be here in passing rather than placed here.
Inmate SearchNo, only the facility. That matters at Auburn because the same result covers general confinement, intake, detention and the transit unit, which are four quite different situations. Ask the person, or call 315-253-8401.
Inmate SearchAny security classification, under Directive 0045. Green Haven is the same. Coxsackie, also maximum security, is narrower at maximum AB or lower, so the three are not interchangeable despite sharing a security level.
Inmate SearchYes, and the State Archives records the dates. The legislature authorised a site at Auburn in 1816 after Newgate in Manhattan became overcrowded, the prison was ready by 1818, the solitary cell building was completed in 1821 and became the model for American prisons, and by 1823 the Auburn system was in practice.
Inmate SearchDOCCS does not publish capacity or population for individual prisons and the monthly Fact Sheet does not break the figures out. Any number you find elsewhere is unofficial, so we do not repeat one here.
Inmate SearchFour letter groups, and a guaranteed three hour visit.
View ArticleJPay, a Miami lockbox, and the slip that goes with it.
View ArticleFree since August 2025, with nothing left to fund.
View ArticleBox 618 in 13021, not State Street in 13024.
View ArticleSearch for your loved one and start sending photos, letters, and messages today.
Search for Your Loved OneFree Inmate Search
All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 16, 2026.