Two digits separate this jail at 16-00 Hazen Street from West Facility at 16-06, and the city lookup is the only thing that says which one holds your person. Start with the search below.
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There is no search box for Otis Bantum Correctional Center on its own. New York City runs a single Person in Custody Lookup covering every jail the Department of Correction operates, and the building is part of the answer rather than part of the question. That suits a family better than a per-jail search would, because it means one search catches a move you were never told about.
The lookup takes either of two things.
A NYSID or a Book and Case number. The NYSID is a New York State identification number. The Book and Case number comes from the Department of Correction at admission. Both are exact.
A first name and a last name. This is where most families begin, since numbers arrive later than worry does. A common name returns a list and you choose from it.
The result gives the current location and basic case information, plus a Send Money button that routes to the transfer agents.
This street runs on numbers that look almost alike, and two of them are close enough to cause real trouble.
Otis Bantum Correctional Center is 16-00 Hazen Street. It opened in June 1985, it has dormitory and cell housing, and it holds male adults.
West Facility is 16-06 Hazen Street. It opened in autumn 1991, it was built from sprungs, and the Department of Correction runs its Communicable Disease Unit there among other single-cell units.
Different jails, different populations, six numbers apart, with the street, the city, the state and the ZIP code identical. An envelope that gets everything right except those two digits still goes to the wrong place and still has to be forwarded.
The NYSID is a state number and you may never need it again. The Book and Case number is the one to write down the first time you see it.
It goes beside the person’s full name on every envelope. It is what a deposit through JPay or Western Union is keyed to. It is what the visit centre works from. Families who only ever hold a name end up doing all three of those the slow way.
The tool carries its own warning: not for persons in custody in police, state, or federal custody.
Someone arrested by the New York Police Department is in police custody through arrest, processing and arraignment, and does not appear in this system until the Department of Correction books them in. The department publishes no timing for that, so there is no number of hours to quote back at anyone.
What can be said is that the empty result in the first night is the expected result, not a sign that anything has gone wrong.
Somebody sentenced to state prison leaves city custody and enters the New York State system, which keeps its own separate lookup. Federal custody is a third system again.
So a record that stops appearing here has usually changed systems. Everything practical changes with it: the address, the visiting arrangements and the way money reaches them.
There is no family notification when a person is moved between jails on the island, and nothing the department publishes implies otherwise.
That leaves the search doing the work a phone call would do elsewhere. A minute before each letter, each deposit and each journey across the bridge is the whole cost of staying current.
6 of 7 questions
Yes. The New York City Person in Custody Lookup accepts a first name and a last name, and a common name returns a list to pick from. You do not need a Book and Case number to start. The result names the jail, and for this building it reads Otis Bantum Correctional Center.
Inmate SearchBecause New York City runs one lookup for the entire Department of Correction and reports the jail as part of the result. That is more useful than a per-jail search would be: families are rarely told when somebody is moved between buildings, and a citywide search catches the move automatically.
Inmate SearchNo. 16-06 Hazen Street is West Facility, a separate jail that opened in 1991 and holds single-cell units including the Communicable Disease Unit. Otis Bantum Correctional Center is 16-00. The rest of the address is identical, so the last two digits are the only thing distinguishing them.
Inmate SearchThe Book and Case number. It goes on every envelope beside the full name, deposits through JPay and Western Union are keyed to it, and the visit centre works from it. The NYSID is a state identification number and you may not need it again after the search.
Inmate SearchWait and search again. The lookup covers Department of Correction custody, not police custody, and it says so on the tool. Through arrest, processing and arraignment he is with the police. The department publishes no booking timeline, so an empty result at that stage is expected rather than alarming.
Inmate SearchThe person's current location and basic case information, together with a Send Money button that routes through to the transfer agents. The location is the part families need most, because six jails operate on Rikers Island and the address on your envelope changes with the building.
Inmate SearchUsually a sentence. A state sentence moves someone into the New York State system, which has its own lookup, and federal custody is a third system. The record has moved rather than vanished, and the mailing address, visiting rules and deposit routes all change at the same time.
Inmate SearchWalk-in only, and one visit centre serves every jail on the island.
View ArticleA cashier window with no fee, and two codes Western Union insists on.
View ArticleFree citywide, limited by a clock rather than a balance.
View ArticleNo scanning contractor, and a fifteen photograph limit at four by six.
View ArticleSearch for your loved one and start sending photos, letters, and messages today.
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All information on this page comes directly from official government and facility sources. How we verify information › Last verified September 16, 2026.