The Union County Inmate Population
Union County is a small, rural county, yet its detention map is unusually layered. The local jail is the Union County Jail at 50 NW 1st Street in Lake Butler, run by the Union County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office describes it as a 36-bed facility that holds both convicted and non-convicted offenders for felony and misdemeanor crimes. That jail is the front door for almost everyone arrested in the county.
The rest of the local inmate count is not a county number at all. The Florida Department of Corrections runs two prisons inside Union County: Union Correctional Institution in Raiford and the Reception and Medical Center in Lake Butler. These hold sentenced state prisoners who may have been convicted in any Florida county, so they are counted by the state, not by the sheriff. Booking volume rises and falls with arrests, bond decisions, and the pace of sentencing, and once a person is sentenced to prison they leave the jail count and join the state count.
Union County Jail Population Statistics
The only inmate-population figure the Union County Sheriff's Office publishes for its jail is the bed count. The official jail page calls it a 36-bed facility, reviewed in June 2026. A current daily count, an average daily population, and annual booking totals are not posted on the sheriff's public pages, so those numbers are left out here rather than guessed.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Union County Jail rated capacity | 36 beds | Union County Sheriff's Office jail page, 2026 |
| Detention facilities in the county | 3 (1 county jail, 2 state prisons) | Facility map, 2026 |
| State prisons inside the county | Union CI and the Reception and Medical Center | Florida Department of Corrections, 2026 |
| County jail operator | Union County Sheriff's Office | Union County Sheriff's Office, 2026 |
For a current jail count, the practical answer is a phone call. The jail and records staff can be reached at (386) 496-2501, and that line is the verified way to confirm who is in local custody right now.
Reading the Union County Jail Population Over Time
Year-over-year jail population data for Union County is not published in a sheriff dashboard or an annual county jail report. That makes a clean trend table impossible to source honestly. What can be said is that a 36-bed jail turns over quickly. People cycle in on new arrests and cycle out on bond, on dismissal, or on transfer to state prison after sentencing.
Researchers who want hard numbers should go to the state, not the county. The Florida Department of Corrections posts monthly county detention population reports, and the Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research keeps a Union County criminal-justice profile. The Vera Institute also tracks county incarceration trends over many years. None of those were used to invent a figure here, and none should be read as a live count.
Who Makes Up the Union County Inmate Population
The sheriff's office does not publish a demographic breakdown of the jail by sex, race, age, or charge level. The official description of the population is broad but useful, and it is the source-supported way to describe who sits in the jail. A reader should treat the jail as a mixed, short-term population and treat the two state prisons as a separate, sentenced population.
- Convicted and non-convicted offenders - the jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short local sentences.
- Felony and misdemeanor crimes - both levels are represented, which is why county court and circuit court can both matter after an arrest.
- Pre-trial detainees - people held before trial are a subset of the non-convicted group, not the whole jail.
- State prisoners held nearby - sentenced inmates at Union CI and the Reception and Medical Center are state custody, counted by Florida, not the county.
Union County Jail Capacity and Custody Levels
Rated capacity at the jail is 36 beds. The sheriff's office has not published a current occupancy figure, an overcrowding finding, or a jail-expansion plan, and no recent litigation or consent decree tied to the jail was found in official sources. Because the building is small and courthouse-adjacent, the county leans on the state for anything beyond short-term local custody.
This is the point that trips up most searches. A prison bed inside Union County does not make someone a county inmate. A person can be physically in Union County at Union CI or the Reception and Medical Center and still be in Florida Department of Corrections custody, with no Union County case at all. Keeping the 36-bed jail separate from the state prisons is the key to reading the local inmate population correctly.
Laws Governing the Union County Inmate Population
Florida treats jail and inmate information as public by default, then carves out exemptions. The sheriff's office points to Chapter 119, the state public-records law, as the framework for what it must release and what it may redact. A handful of statutes set the rules behind the data, and each is summarized in plain English below.
Key Statutes:
Florida Statutes § 119.01 - sets the broad policy that state, county, and city records are open for inspection and copying unless an exemption applies.
Florida Statutes § 119.07 - spells out the duty to let people inspect and copy records, the response rules, and the fees an agency may charge.
Florida Statutes § 951.23 - governs county and city detention-facility standards and the inspection authority over local jails.
Florida Statutes § 951.21 - covers gain-time for county prisoners, which affects how long a locally sentenced inmate stays.
None of these laws forces a county to post a web roster. They make records reachable through a request, which is why the records-unit path matters so much in Union County.
Union County and the State Prison Population
When a Union County defendant is sentenced to state prison, the person leaves the sheriff's jail count and enters the Florida Department of Corrections system. From that point the search tool changes. The county jail line can no longer confirm custody, and the FDC offender search becomes the right place to look.
The two FDC prisons in the county add a twist. Union Correctional Institution and the Reception and Medical Center hold sentenced prisoners from across Florida, so their populations are not a measure of local crime. A person at either prison may have been convicted hundreds of miles away. The home jail count and the state prison count should never be added together as one Union County inmate population.
How to Search the Union County Inmate Population
The Union County Sheriff's Office does not run a public online jail roster, a booking gallery, or a searchable inmate-profile database. No inmate-search link appears in the sheriff's site navigation, and the state library's county jail directory lists the jail's address and phone but no search page. A missing roster does not mean records do not exist. It means the public path runs through the phone and the records unit, not a search box.
Before you start, gather the person's full name, a date of birth if you have it, and any case or arrest detail. Then work the channels in order.
- Call the Union County Jail and Sheriff's Office at (386) 496-2501 and ask for the jail or booking desk to confirm current custody.
- For a booking or arrest record, contact the Sheriff's Records Unit during weekday business hours and provide identifiers that speed the request.
- If the person was sentenced to prison, search the FDC offender locator instead of the county jail.
- For federal custody, search the Bureau of Prisons locator; for immigration custody, use the ICE detainee locator.
- To monitor a release, register with Florida VINELink, which the jail feeds for victim notification.
Current Inmate Lookup in Union County
Because there is no live county roster, a current Union County inmate lookup is a phone task, not a web search. The jail line at (386) 496-2501 is used for jail-administrator and booking questions, so it doubles as the inmate-information line. Staff can tell you whether a person is in custody, but they are not obligated to read out every detail, and some information is exempt under state law.
There is no public search form to inspect, so the field table below reflects that reality. It is a research gap, not proof that the jail keeps no internal records. The sheriff's office does run an automated reporting system and fingerprint equipment tied to NCIC and FDLE behind the scenes.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| No public roster field | n/a | n/a | No official online Union County jail search form was located. |
| Phone confirmation | Call | Yes | Reach the jail and records desk at (386) 496-2501. |
| Records request | In person / mail | Yes | Filed with the Sheriff's Records Unit during business hours. |
Past and Released Inmate Records
Finding a released or past inmate follows a different route than confirming a current one. A current-custody question is usually a quick phone call. A copy of a past booking or arrest record is a public-records task handled by the Sheriff's Records Unit, which stores and releases reports subject to Chapter 119 exemptions and redaction. Mailed requests need a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check for copying fees.
If the person was sentenced and moved to prison, the county no longer tracks them and the FDC locator takes over. Victims who want to be told when someone is released can use Florida VINELink, since the jail participates in the V.I.N.E.S. notification network. The VINELink portal below is a notification tool, not a complete criminal-history search.
The Union County jail and records system feeds Florida VINELink for custody and release alerts, as shown on the state notification portal linked above.
Signing up for VINELink does not replace a direct call to the jail, but it adds an automatic alert when a registered offender's custody status changes.
What a Union County Inmate Record Shows
No public Union County inmate profile was located, so the exact roster fields cannot be inventoried, and the page does not claim the sheriff posts mugshots, housing units, or bond rows online. What can be described is the information a requester should bring to the records unit. The sheriff's own request guidance lists the details that identify an arrest or booking fastest.
| Field | What It Helps Identify |
|---|---|
| Case Number | The quickest way to pin down a specific incident, arrest, or report. |
| Date and Time | Narrows a booking or arrest to the right record. |
| Incident Location | Helps staff locate the underlying law-enforcement report. |
| Deputy Name | Points to the report author or responding officer. |
| Person Involved | Identifies the booking or arrest subject. |
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The single most useful idea for any Union County inmate search is the split between jail and prison. Pre-trial detainees and short-sentence inmates are at the county jail and are confirmed by phone. Sentenced felons are in state custody and appear in the FDC locator. Mixing the two sends people to the wrong place.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial and short local sentences | Sentenced state felons |
| Run By | Union County Sheriff's Office | Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) |
| Where to Look | Call the jail at (386) 496-2501 | FDC offender search |
| How to Confirm | Phone or records request | Online locator by name or DC number |
State and Federal Inmate Search
For sentenced prisoners, the FDC offender search is the correct statewide tool, including for the two prisons inside Union County. It searches by DC number or by name and returns state custody and sentence information, not county booking detail. The screenshot below shows the public search screen.
That locator is the right next stop once someone leaves the Union County jail for prison. Federal and immigration custody are separate again: the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator covers federal prisoners from 1982 forward, and the ICE Online Detainee Locator covers immigration detainees. Both are custody locators, not photo galleries.
Union County Detention Facilities
Three facilities hold part of the inmate population tied to Union County. They are listed below with the population each one holds, primary jail first. Each links to a full page with addresses, lookups, and visitation.
- Union County Jail - the 36-bed sheriff-run jail for local arrests, pre-trial detainees, and short county sentences.
- Union Correctional Institution - a Florida state prison in Raiford for sentenced male prisoners, searched through FDC.
- Reception and Medical Center - a state reception and medical prison in Lake Butler for sentenced prisoners in classification or medical custody.
Union County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Union County jail population?
The Union County Jail is a 36-bed facility, according to the sheriff's office. A live count and an average daily population are not published online, so the bed capacity is the only verified size figure. For the number in custody on a given day, call the jail at (386) 496-2501.
How do I search the Union County inmate population?
There is no public online jail roster. To find a current county inmate, call the jail and records line at (386) 496-2501. For a sentenced prisoner, use the FDC offender search. For federal or immigration custody, use the BOP or ICE locators. The jail inmate records page walks through each channel.
Why are there state prisons in the inmate count?
Union Correctional Institution and the Reception and Medical Center are inside Union County but are run by the state, not the sheriff. They hold sentenced prisoners from across Florida. Those people are state inmates, separate from the county jail population.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
Yes, but through a records request rather than a live roster. The Sheriff's Records Unit releases booking and arrest records under Florida public-records law, with some information redacted. Victims can also track releases through Florida VINELink.