Locate Lehigh County Jail Inmates

Lehigh County Jail Overview

The official Lehigh County Jail page identifies the jail as the county's primary secure custody facility. It is operated by the Lehigh County Department of Corrections, not by the Sheriff's Office. The county lists Warden Jeffrey R. Smith, Deputy Warden for Security Robert McFadden, and Deputy Warden for Treatment Dr. Sara Jarosz. The broader Department of Corrections page lists Director Kyle Russell and Assistant Director Carol Sommers, reflecting Lehigh County's Home Rule structure in which the Corrections Director carries duties often tied to a county prison board.

The jail is a maximum-security county facility with minimum, medium, and maximum custody levels reported in the 2024 PREA audit. It holds pre-trial detainees, people serving local county sentences, males and females, and some federal detainees housed for the federal government. That mix matters for any Lehigh County Jail inmate lookup. A person physically held in Allentown may have a county court case, a federal hold, a probation issue, or a state sentence pending transfer, so one search tool will not cover every status.

The county's screenshot of its jail page shows the same core contact and facility information used for this page. The image below comes from the Lehigh County Jail source page.

Use the county page as the source for current facility contacts and visitor rules, then use court and records channels to fill gaps that the county does not publish as a public roster.

Lehigh County Jail Population

Lehigh County publishes one capacity figure on the jail page, while the 2024 PREA Facility Audit provides a more detailed population snapshot. The county jail page lists capacity as 1,352 inmates. The 2024 audit lists designed capacity as 1,363, current population as 734 at the time of the audit, and average daily population as 797 over the prior twelve months. The same audit reported that the jail had not been over capacity during that period.

Lehigh County Jail Lookup

No official Lehigh County public online jail roster or booking-photo gallery was located in the county sources reviewed. The correct Lehigh County Jail lookup chain starts with the jail's Records Information line and General Information line, then moves to Pennsylvania VINE, Pennsylvania UJS dockets, state DOC, federal BOP, ICE, or Right-to-Know depending on the custody question. That is different from counties that publish a searchable roster.

1. Call Lehigh County Jail Records Information at 610-782-3263 for current custody, inmate ID, booking-related routing, or record questions.
2. Call General Information at 610-782-3270 if records staff cannot route the issue. The county says press 6 on that line to report inmate suicide concerns.
3. Search Pennsylvania VINE for covered custody status and notification registration.
4. Use Pennsylvania UJS Case Search for charges, docket numbers, court dates, bail actions, and dispositions after arrest.
5. Use the Pennsylvania DOC locator only for state-sentenced inmates or parolees, not people still in the county jail.
6. File a Lehigh County Right-to-Know request for non-exempt county records that are not available by phone or online.

The Lehigh County inmate records page covers that lookup chain in more depth. For this facility, the key point is simple: do not rely on an unofficial roster. Start with the jail records phone line and confirm the custody level before using state or federal tools.

Lehigh County Jail Contact

The jail sits in downtown Allentown, several blocks east of the Lehigh County courthouse and the Hamilton Street court offices. Older records and some source documents may still use the name Lehigh County Prison, but the county history page says the facility was renamed Lehigh County Jail in 2014. Use the current jail name and exact address when sending mail, planning a visit, or asking for records.

Lehigh County Jail Visits

Lehigh County Jail visitation is non-contact. The county says visits are conducted by telephone while the visitor views the inmate through glass, and visit conversations may be monitored and recorded. General population visits rotate every three days by housing-unit assignment. Administrative segregation inmates receive one visit per week for 30 minutes, while disciplinary segregation visits are roughly every 30 days depending on behavior.

Visitors should know the inmate's full name and identification number. Adults need current, valid government-issued photo ID with date of birth. A parent or legal guardian must accompany minors, and the county requires an original birth certificate listing a parent for minor visits. Photocopies are not accepted. Hats and outer garments must be secured except religious headgear, and a visitor who leaves the visiting area ends the visit.

Lehigh County Jail Mail

Mail, phone, and commissary rules come from the county inmate guidelines and the jail's public contact list. Mail should include the inmate's name and ID number. Legal mail is handled differently from personal mail: mail-room staff do not open incoming privileged mail, and legal mail is opened and inspected for contraband in the inmate's presence. Mail for discharged or transferred inmates is not forwarded and is returned to sender if possible.

Books and magazines must come directly from a publisher or accepted Amazon source, must be new and prepaid, and are subject to size and content limits. The guidelines bar items such as stickers, lipstick, scented or colored envelopes, personal checks, plastic-coated credit cards, explicit material, tattoo patterns, stamps, stationery, metal objects, and items sold in commissary.

Lehigh County Jail Booking

Booking at Lehigh County Jail creates the local jail identity used for visits, requests, mail, and facility services. The inmate guidelines state that a person receives a personal telephone identification number and an ID badge at booking. The badge must be worn with the picture facing out when off the assigned housing unit and must be shown for services such as commissary, shaver, medication call, and sick call.

After arrest, a person may move from a municipal police department, Pennsylvania State Police, the Sheriff's Office, or another agency into county custody when detention is required. Jail intake may include identification, search, property handling, booking photo and fingerprints when required, medical or mental-health screening, classification, and housing assignment. Court records then move through the Pennsylvania judicial system. Jail booking information and court charges can differ because the District Attorney may approve, amend, withdraw, add, or dismiss charges after the initial arrest.

Booking

The jail intake event that creates the facility record after arrest.

Classification

The custody and housing assignment based on legal status, risk, behavior, and needs.

Detainer

A hold from another agency that can keep a person in custody even when one case has bail.

Lehigh County Jail History

The jail opened in 1992 as a 250,000-square-foot direct-supervision high-rise facility. Direct supervision is a local point worth preserving. The county describes officers working inside housing units with direct contact and interaction with inmates. That differs from older linear jail layouts where staff observe housing from a distance. The history page also notes that Lehigh County Jail detains prisoners for the federal government, which is why federal custody can overlap with a county facility address.

The downtown Allentown location places the jail near the county courthouse at 455 West Hamilton Street, the Clerk of Judicial Records Criminal Division, the District Attorney, and the Sheriff's Office. The federal courthouse is nearby at 504 Hamilton Street. Visitors should confirm parking, LANTA transit options, entrance screening, and the current visiting rotation before leaving, since the county page provides rules but not a detailed visitor parking fee schedule.