Craig County Release Records
Craig County does not operate a stand-alone jail. People arrested or held for Craig matters may be confined at Botetourt–Craig Regional Jail in Fincastle, which the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office manages. That split matters. Craig is often the arrest and court jurisdiction, while the regional jail holds the booking, confinement, and release entries. A person who leaves the jail’s current list has ended that local display, but the reason remains unknown until an official record identifies it.
A Craig County release can mean community release, but it can also mean transfer. Personal recognizance, unsecured bond, secured bond, time served, probation, a court order, or sentence completion may lead out of the jail. Transfer to the Virginia Department of Corrections, another jail, federal custody, or immigration custody ends the local booking without ending all custody. The recorded release type and receiving agency separate those events.
- Release
- The end of a specific agency’s custody episode.
- Discharge
- Formal completion of custody or supervision under the controlling authority.
- Time served
- A release after the required active confinement has been credited as complete.
- Transfer
- Movement to another custodian, not a return to the community.
Craig County Release Types
The legal route shapes the next search. The regional jail’s official bond guidance distinguishes three pretrial paths, while court and corrections records document other endings. None of the bond routes decides guilt or ends the criminal case. Likewise, a court disposition can explain the authority for release without proving the precise minute jail staff completed processing.
| Release type | What it means | Best next record |
|---|---|---|
| Personal recognizance | A promise to appear without money security | Bond order and jail release entry |
| Unsecured bond | An agreed sum may be owed after failure to appear | Bond order and court docket |
| Secured bond | Money or security is required before release | Bond paperwork and jail record |
| Time served or court order | The active jail term ends or a judge orders release | Sentencing order and actual release time |
| Transfer | Another jail, VADOC, BOP, or ICE receives custody | Receiving-agency entry and its locator |
| Parole or probation | Physical custody ends while legal supervision may continue | VADOC locator, release document, and District 40 |
Dismissal, acquittal, death, and other case-specific outcomes can also close or alter a custody episode. Use the words on the actual release authorization and court order. Do not translate every exit into “released to the street.”
Note: A court result explains legal authority, while the jail release entry records what happened to the physical booking.
Craig County Bond Release Routes
The Botetourt–Craig bonding page explains personal recognizance, unsecured bond, and secured bond for the regional jail. Its guidance says bondsman fees in Virginia are often 10 to 15 percent. That statement is general guidance, not a court-set amount and not a promise of the charge in one case. The bond order controls the amount and form required.
A bond-out is a pretrial release. It does not show that the charge was dismissed or that the person was acquitted. To confirm the event, match the jail’s release date and time to the bond order in the correct Craig court. Later docket entries show how the case proceeded. This distinction keeps a release record from being mistaken for the final case result.
Craig County Release Record Fields
The public Citizen Connect configuration does not display a release record for Craig County. A precise request to Botetourt jail records is therefore more useful than a broad request for all information. Name the person, approximate dates, and booking number when known. Ask for fields that show the end of that custody episode and whether another agency received the person.
| Field | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Identity and booking number | Connects the release to the correct confinement record |
| Booking or admission date | Marks the start of the local custody episode |
| Actual release date and time | Shows when the regional jail ended that booking |
| Release authority or type | Identifies bond, order, time served, transfer, or another recorded basis |
| Receiving agency | Shows where custody moved when a transfer occurred, if disclosable |
| Related release document | May identify a bond order, pretrial release paper, or other authorization |
The current Library of Virginia GS-08 schedule says inmate incarceration records may include booking sheets, photographs, property receipts, pretrial-release documents, parole notices, and other release papers. That series is retained for three years after separation. The retention rule does not mean the public portal shows a record for three years. Online display and the underlying agency file are different.
Request Craig County Release Records
Operational jail records should first go to the agency that runs the regional jail. The Botetourt Sheriff contact page publishes the jail-records and FOIA routes. Craig County’s own FOIA channel is appropriate for Craig-held sheriff records, while a court clerk controls the official case file. Ask for existing records, not a new report or an answer that the agency must create.
- Identify the person with full name, approximate booking dates, and a booking or case number if known.
- Email BCSOJailRecords@BotetourtVa.Gov and request the booking sheet, actual release date and time, release type, and receiving agency if applicable.
- Ask for an electronic copy, an advance cost estimate, and the statutory basis for any withheld or redacted part.
- Use Craig County’s FOIA contact for records held by the Craig Sheriff, or the proper court clerk for orders and dispositions.
- Compare the returned release entry with any transfer destination before concluding the person reached the community.
Craig County accepts requests by mail, fax, email, telephone, or in person. Its policy describes an ordinary five-working-day response, with several permitted responses and written use of seven more working days when production is not practical. A special extension can apply to some criminal-investigative-file requests. Charges may cover actual search, access, copying, and supply costs. An advance estimate is available, and an estimate above $200 may support a deposit request.
205 N. Roanoke Street, Fincastle, VA 24090
P.O. Box 370
Jail records: BCSOJailRecords@BotetourtVa.Gov
24-hour line: 540-928-2314
Craig County Release Record Law
Virginia Code §2.2-3706 is the main criminal-record provision. It requires access to specified adult arrestee information and routine initial-booking photographs, subject to a temporary felony-investigation exception. Other parts permit withholding of some imprisonment, probation, and parole records. Juvenile, sealed, and expunged material has stricter limits.
Virginia’s sealing and expungement rules are date-sensitive. The version of §19.2-392.2 changes on December 1, 2026, so the law in force for the relevant event must be checked. Chapter 23.2 defines sealing as restricting public access across named court and law-enforcement systems. A sealed record’s loss of public visibility says nothing by itself about the custody outcome.
Note: Requesters should ask the custodian to cite the legal basis for each withheld part instead of assuming all jail records are open.
Craig County Regional Jail Context
Botetourt–Craig Regional Jail is in Fincastle and is operated by the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office, even though it holds Craig detainees. The official facility page confirms its regional role, contact details, and hours. The FY24 Virginia Jail Cost Report identifies Craig inmates among those housed there.
Those figures describe occupancy, not releases. The same report lists 31,712 all-inmate housed days and zero federal or out-of-state average daily population for that fiscal year. Neither figure establishes an annual Craig release total or a lasting ban on federal detention. No official annual release count was found.
Find Craig County Released Inmates
Start with the custody system that likely held the person. Citizen Connect can establish current confinement or admission at Botetourt–Craig, but it cannot display a release event in its local setup. VADOC covers state custody and supervision. Jail VINE supports local custody notices, while NAAVI is the separate eligibility-based VADOC notification route. Court, BOP, and ICE tools each answer narrower questions.
- Search Citizen Connect Current Confinements under the same identity. Treat an absent name only as a reason to verify further.
- Call the jail or request its release and transfer entry. Ask whether the local booking ended in community release or transfer.
- Search Craig General District and Circuit Court records for the matching bond order, disposition, sentence, and later orders.
- Use VADOC only for a state sentence, VADOC authority, or supervision. Use the seven-digit DOC ID when available.
- Use Jail VINE for an advance local custody alert. Confirm any transfer event with the jail and receiving system.
- Use BOP or ICE only when a person-specific record points to federal or immigration custody.
For a named-person search, keep the spelling, approximate booking date, charge, and case number together. A matching record from two systems is stronger than a name-only result. When the release needs formal proof, the jail’s dated release entry or the later custodian’s document is the durable source.
VADOC Craig County Release Search
The VADOC Inmate and Supervisee Locator covers people in VADOC custody or supervision and is updated daily. It is not the primary tool for a short regional-jail stay. A person physically out on probation or parole may still appear because supervisees are within scope. Fully discharged inactive people are not promised permanent locator access.
| Search field | Use and limits |
|---|---|
| First name | Enter at least the first three letters |
| Last name | Enter the full last name |
| DOC ID | Use the seven-digit identifier for the most exact match |
| Optional filters | Location, race, gender, and age range can narrow a common name |
| Release-date field | Planning information for a person under VADOC authority, not proof of completed release |
The official VADOC locator screenshot preserves the state search route used for Craig County custody and supervision.
The image helps distinguish the statewide locator from the regional jail portal. For an inactive person, request the notification-of-release letter, Order of Release, discharge date, or release authorization from VADOC.
Craig County Recent Release Limits
Craig County has no official rolling 24-hour or 72-hour release list. Citizen Connect offers Current Confinements and Admits by Date Range. Its Last 24 Hours and Last 7 Days controls belong to admissions. A custom range can cover no more than 31 days, but it still searches bookings rather than releases. Calling those results released inmates would reverse the meaning of the portal.
The portal’s update cadence, online retention, and booking-photo display were not verified. For an urgent change, call the 24-hour jail line. For a date range, ask whether an existing release log is maintained and request it with release date, time, booking number, type, and transfer status. Virginia FOIA does not require the jail to create a custom list that does not exist.
The official Citizen Connect portal screenshot preserves its current-confinement and admission controls.
The display is useful for reading the control labels correctly. It does not turn an admission window into a Craig County release feed.
Note: The current GS-08 retention period supports a later records request, but it does not set the portal’s online display period.
Craig County Release Court Trail
Craig General District Court hears misdemeanors, traffic matters, and felony preliminary hearings. Craig Circuit Court handles felony prosecutions and maintains the later criminal record. One confinement may therefore have an early General District trail and a Circuit Court disposition. Search both when a felony was certified or indicted rather than assuming the first docket is complete.
Use the Virginia Judicial System case gateway, select the right court, and match case number, defendant, charge, and hearing history. A bond order may explain pretrial release. A sentencing order can state active and suspended time. A dismissal or acquittal can explain why confinement ended. None is a live sensor for the moment the jail completed discharge.
The official court search path screenshot shows where Craig court records can be selected.
Online information may lag clerk entry. A clerk-certified order controls when the exact court record is needed.
Craig County Release Supervision
Physical release and legal supervision are separate. VADOC administers probation and parole supervision, while the Virginia Parole Board decides eligible parole matters. District 40 in Fincastle serves Craig County. A released supervisee may remain in the VADOC locator because the person is still under state supervision even though no longer in prison.
Read the result’s location and status language, then contact District 40 for public verification when appropriate. Virginia FOIA permits discretionary withholding of probation and parole records, so private case notes, conditions, or addresses should not be expected. The Board’s monthly reports show board action, not the later moment of physical departure. More detail is available on the Craig County Parole / Probation page.
Craig County Release Notifications
Virginia Jail VINE and VADOC NAAVI are different tracks. Use Virginia VINELink for a person held at Botetourt–Craig. Search by name or offender or booking number, select the correct record, and register a phone, text, or email destination. Telephone registration uses a private four-digit PIN. VINE may keep calling until the PIN is entered or 24 hours passes.
A Jail VINE release alert can mean transfer, work release, home electronic monitoring, or another custody change. Treat it as a prompt to call the regional jail. VADOC no longer uses VINE for state-prison notifications. NAAVI is the eligibility-reviewed system for qualifying victims and may provide anticipated and actual release notices. Registration in one system does not automatically move to another when custody changes.
Craig County ICE Release Checks
ICE’s Online Detainee Locator includes current detainees and people released from ICE custody within the prior 60 days. Its information can lag by as much as eight hours. That limited window can help when a person-specific regional-jail record identifies an immigration transfer, but ODLS is not a lasting release archive. A missing result after the window says little about past ICE custody.
Search with the nine-digit A-number and country of birth, or exact name and country of birth. Minors do not appear, and safety or processing limits can suppress a result. No Craig or Botetourt ICE detention contract was verified. Use this route only when the local release entry or court record points to ICE, and confirm the final status with the named custodian.
Craig County Custody Status Sources
Each official system has a fixed scope. Checking the wrong one can produce a true “no result” that answers the wrong question. The strongest sequence follows the actual custody chain and preserves the difference between physical custody, community supervision, and full discharge.
| System | Best use | What it cannot prove |
|---|---|---|
| Citizen Connect | Current regional-jail confinement or admission | Why an absent person left |
| Jail release record | Actual local release time, type, and possible transfer | Later status in another system |
| VADOC locator | State custody or active supervision | Permanent access to fully inactive records |
| Craig court record | Bond, disposition, sentence, and later order | The exact physical exit time |
| BOP locator | Federal custody and federal release status | Freedom from every other custodian |
| ICE ODLS | Current or recent immigration custody status | A permanent historical release record |
Can a person be released and still appear in a locator? Yes. VADOC includes supervisees, so someone in the community on probation or parole may still have a result. The status and agency scope control the meaning.
Craig County Release Facility
One detention facility is mapped for Craig County: Botetourt–Craig Regional Jail. It is outside Craig County at Fincastle, yet it is the official regional jail serving Craig detainees. Community release, court-ordered release, and bond are recorded by the jail. A transfer should name or point toward the receiving jail, VADOC, BOP, or ICE system.
No state prison or federal prison is located in Craig County. The Sheriff’s courthouse office is not a substitute detention facility and should not be called Craig County Jail. For local booking and release records, use the regional jail. For a state sentence, follow VADOC once that authority applies.