Authority: Florida Department of Corrections
Website: http://www.dc.state.fl.us/
Address: 501 South Calhoun Street Tallahassee, FL 32399
Phone: (850) 488-5021

Life can take some unexpected twists and turns and there are times when people end up incarcerated. If or when this time comes, the family will need some information to be able to stay in contact with the inmate. If you have never had a loved one in jail, finding this information can be overwhelming. InmatesPlus can help. If you have some basic information, such as a legal name and possibly a facility name, then you can gain the information available to the public. Most notably, you can find the DOC information that is needed to keep contact with the loved on or to keep track of someone who committed a crime against you. DOC information refers to things like a facility address, visitation hours, and allowable items that can be sent to an inmate, but further information can be gained as well.

InmatesPlus offers DOC information that is not necessarily specific to any one facility. This can include things like the importance of staying in contact with an inmate, how much average money is needed to help with commissary, and even what types of activities are allowed within many jails and prisons. All of this can help both you and your loved one handle a bad situation a bit better. The most important piece of DOC information that you can find is the inmate ID number, this number will be necessary for all correspondence, money added to books, or packages sent, if allowed. This number can often be found on the specific facilities page once a person has been placed into custody.

When you have little information beyond a name to go on and are unable to locate an inmate in Florida, then InmatesPlus can help. It can be scary and overwhelming when you are unable to locate an inmate in Florida through one of the many institutions, but InmatesPlus streamlines the process with a couple options. The first, if you know the general area in which the inmate was sent is to check specific facility websites in the area. All of these links are found together within InmatesPlus. However, if you are still unable to locate an inmate in Florida, then there is still another option. All you need to have knowledge of is a state and name for an inmate, then you can use VINELink to help you locate a specific inmate.

This third-party site was created to help victims of crimes track inmates and feel safer. In fact, VINE stands for Vine Information and Notification Everyday. This site, which is updated every 24 hours is available to all concerned citizens and provides information about the sentence received, time served, and possible release dates. Though the site is free, you must register with all information being kept confidential. There are three ways to use VINELink that includes a toll-free number, mobile app, and website. To take this further, VINE offers the ability to register so that updates on a specific inmate can be sent through email, text, phone or even TTY services. Feel safer or keep track of someone you know.