Chemung County Jail Inmate Search

Two Facilities in One City

Start here, because it decides everything else.

	Chemung County Jail	Elmira Correctional Facility
Run by	Chemung County Sheriff’s Office	New York State
Address	211 William Street, Elmira NY 14901	1879 Davis Street, Elmira NY
Phone	607-737-2934	607-734-3901
Holds	People awaiting trial and county sentences	People serving state prison sentences
Find them through	VINE, or the jail line	The state’s own locator

They share a city and a ZIP code. They share nothing else. Somebody at one will not appear in a search of the other, and mail, money and visits sent to one do not reach the other.

The short version: a recent arrest in Chemung County means the county jail. A state prison sentence means Elmira Correctional Facility, and the person will usually have been moved there from somewhere else entirely.

VINE Takes a Name

VINE is the statewide service covering New York county jails, and it works the way most people expect: type a name, find out whether that person is in custody.

Two cautions.

It lags. VINE reflects what a county has sent it, and a booking has to be processed before it gets there. Somebody arrested last night may not be in it yet.

Empty is not proof. A blank result means no record in VINE at that moment. It does not mean nobody is in a cell on William Street.

VINE will also register you for notifications on custody changes, which beats checking a page every morning.

For a Fresh Arrest, Ring the Jail

If the arrest was in the last day or two, 607-737-2934 is the faster answer and it is not close.

A staffed line can confirm a booking while any database is still catching up. Make sure you use the jail number rather than 607-737-2987, which is the Sheriff’s Office at 203 William Street, a different building with a different front desk.

What the Jail Actually Is

Some context that helps when you are working out whether this is the right place.

The Chemung County Correctional Facility has a maximum capacity of 262, with people housed according to their classification status. It runs with a major, two administrative lieutenants, three shift lieutenants, six shift sergeants, 62 correction officers, a nurse administrator and two registered nurses. The county says it remains an accredited agency through the New York State Sheriff’s Association.

Because it is a county jail, most people in it are awaiting trial or serving a short county sentence, and the population turns over quickly. That is also why a search result goes stale faster here than at a state prison.

Once You Know They Are There

Two things are worth doing on the same call. Ask about the visiting schedule, because it is only Mondays and Fridays and it finishes at 1:15 PM. And ask what they need, because commissary money now runs through Access Corrections rather than the jail’s own counter.

Then get a letter moving. Pigeonly sends photos and letters to 211 William Street, which keeps the ZIP code trap off the table.