Alaska Inmate Search

How Are Inmate Records in Alaska Created and Stored?

Alaska inmate records are first created when someone is arrested and held for sentencing. Local police fill out a RAP sheet which records the person’s name, address, physical description, and other details about the crime committed. As soon as the offender is taken into custody, the paper trail begins and is updated as he or she moves along the system. Once they are sentenced to prison, their records go with them. Alaska uses a unified justice system with all law enforcement agencies connected to the same database for entering and updating inmate information. This central repository makes an inmate search quick and easy. The Alaska Department of Corrections oversees all prison facilities and inmates.

What Does Alaska’s Prison System Look Like?

Alaska uses a unified justice system with all government agencies connected to a central database to share information. The Alaska Department of Corrections oversees the prison facilities and all inmates. A superintendent supervises each prison. The state has thirteen prison facilities but no federal prisons. Federal inmates are held in state prison until sentencing and then moved to a federal prison in Oregon. The Alaskan prison system is made up of:

Types of Jails/Prisons in Alaska

Unlike most states, Alaska does not have any federal prisons. They do have thirteen state prisons and fifteen county jails. Many inmates, however, await their hearing or trials in short-term facilities within the state prisons. Alaska does not contract with any out-of-state prisons. Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Juvenile Justice is the agency in charge of seven facilities that house youth offenders. Some of the facilities also offer treatment and rehabilitation programs along with continuing education so that inmates can progress with their schooling while completing their sentence.

How Many People are Locked up in Alaska?

Alaska’s prison system holds 4,434 residents in various kinds of correctional facilities, from which 3,829 residents are held in state prisons, 10 in federal prisons, 4 in juvenile correctional facilities, and 40 in local jails.

Alaska State Prisons

Alaska has thirteen state prisons. They house not only long-term inmates with multi-year sentences but also short-term offenders and people awaiting trial.

• Anchorage Correctional Complex - a portion of this facility is for pre-trial inmates only.
• Anvil Mountain Correctional Center (capacity 115).
• Fairbanks Correctional Center (capacity 257).
• Goose Creek Correctional Center.
• Hiland Mountain Correctional Center (capacity 415), the state’s only facility for female prisoners.
• Ketchikan Correctional Center (capacity 71).
• Lemon Creek Correctional Center (capacity 248), which is both an intake facility and a prison.
• Mat-Su Pretrial Facility (capacity 112).
• Palmer Medium and Minimum Correctional Center.
• Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm, Point MacKenzie.
• Spring Creek Correctional Center.
• Wildwood Correctional Complex.
• Yukon-Kuskokwim Correctional Center (capacity 195).

Alaska County Jails

Alaska has fifteen county jails throughout the state. However, many arrested suspects end up in short-term facilities within the state prisons rather than a local jail. The fifteen jails are as follows:

• Barrow.
• Cordova.
• Craig.
• Dillingham.
• Haines.
• Homer.
• King Salmon.
• Kodiac.
• Kotzebue.
• Petersburg.
• Seward.
• Sitka.
• Unalaska.
• Valdez.
• Wrangell.

Some local jails serve only tribal offenders.

Alaska Juvenile Detention Centers

Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Juvenile Justice oversees the seven juvenile detention centers around the state. Many of these facilities double as rehabilitation and treatment centers for drug abuse, sex offenses, and other mental health issues involving youth offenders. There are a total of 220 beds available within these seven facilities; 106 are designated for detention, and the other 114 are for treatment. The seven institutions are:

• Bethel Youth Facility.
• Fairbanks Youth Facility.
• Johnson Youth Center, Juneau.
• Kenai Peninsula Youth Facility.
• Mat-Su Youth Facility, Palmer.
• McLaughlin Youth Center, Anchorage.
• Nome Youth Facility.

Each of the facilities provide the following services:

• “Secure facilities for youth awaiting the determination of the outcomes relating to their offenses.
• Highly structured core services, such as short-term individual, group, and family counseling.
• Education services through local school districts.
• Health screening and medical care.
• Mental health diagnostics and services.
• Substance abuse education and prevention.
• Life-skills competency building. “

Why are People Incarcerated in Alaska?

People in Alaskan prisons or jails were convicted by a jury of their peers to be held in custody for a specific length of time. Out of the 4,400 inmates in Alaska prisons, one-quarter of those (1,203) were convicted of a violent crime such as murder, sexual offense, assault, kidnapping, or robbery. The next largest group of inmates in Alaska were convicted of offenses to the public, such as failing to pay child support, harassment, disorderly conduct, and other crimes against individuals. Almost six-hundred inmates are in prison because they violated the terms of their parole.

Alaska’s Incarceration Rate and Statistics

Alaska’s incarceration rate for year-end 2016 under state prison or local jail jurisdiction per 100,000 population was 281, which is lower than an average incarceration rate by 38%. The number of Alaska prisoners at the year-end of 2016 was 4,434, from which 9% were female prisoners, whereas the number of male prisoners was 4,024 in 2016.

Where Do Alaska Inmates Go When They are Released?

Many of Alaska’s inmates go to one of the eight Alaskan halfway houses upon release. On average they house about 300 people at a time. However, the high rate of recidivism indicates that this program isn’t working. Alaska has used the halfway house system for more than twenty years. According to Department of Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams, inmates claim the “temptation to use drugs within a halfway house is too high.” The state is currently considering moving to smaller “transitional housing” or “sober living” residences with only a handful of inmates living there so that parolees with drug or alcohol issues have a better chance of making it on the outside.

How Does Parole Work in Alaska?

Parole in Alaska is reserved for felons released from prison. It is a supervisory program in which an inmate is released before completing their entire sentence. The parolee must agree to specific terms and check in with a parole officer regularly. The Alaska Department of Corrections describe their mission as: “The mission of the Division of Probation and Parole is to enhance community safety. We utilize proven practices and effective supervision to improve the successful community reintegration of probationers and parolees.” Alaska’s parole division is split into three geographic regions to cover all areas of the state.

Parole Population

How Does Someone Get Probation in Alaska?

The goal of probation is to “provide supervision to offenders to assist them in dealing with problems that may have led to their arrests and convictions.” Often when released from prison, the prison board may impose probation on the inmate. When that happens, the parole division is in charge of enforcing the “conditions of supervision established by the Alaska Board of Parole and the Court, such as treatment issues, substance abuse, mental health, and ensuring offenders pay restitution/fines.”

Probation Statistics