The San Francisco County Inmate Population
The San Francisco Sheriff's Office operates the local jail system for the City and County of San Francisco. SFSO's current jail data page identifies the Intake and Release Center, County Jail #2, County Jail #3 in San Bruno, and County Jail #3 Annex as the active custody settings for local jail operations. The same official materials explain a point that matters for any San Francisco County inmate population search: County Jail #3 is outside the county line in San Bruno, but it is still a San Francisco jail facility under SFSO control.
The count changes through arrests, booking, court release decisions, bail or own-recognizance orders, sentence credits, transfers, and releases. People first enter through the Intake and Release Center, then may be released or moved to County Jail #2 or County Jail #3. Sentenced California prisoners move into CDCR's statewide locator after transfer, while federal and immigration custody are searched through separate systems.
The SFSO homepage is the official source for daily operational figures such as jail count, bookings, releases, and community programs. Its May 31, 2026 capture showed the kind of live context that static jail pages often lack.
The homepage numbers are useful for a quick status check, but they should be read with annual reports and trend reports for capacity, average daily population, and longer movement.
San Francisco County Inmate Population Statistics
SFSO's May 29, 2026 homepage statistic listed a jail count of 1,177 at 0500, plus 52 bookings and 82 releases for May 28, 2026. The 2025 SFSO annual report listed 17,253 annual bookings and 15,364 annual releases, with the agency noting that those are booking and release events rather than unique people. For longer jail-population context, the SFSO Jail Population Trend Report listed February 2026 average daily population at 1,299 and a snapshot population of 1,324.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Date |
|---|---|---|
| Jail count | 1,177 | SFSO homepage, May 29, 2026 count time |
| Community programs count | 1,914 | SFSO homepage, May 29, 2026 |
| February average daily population | 1,299 | SFSO Jail Population Trend Report, February 2026 |
| FY24 average daily population | 1,099 | SF.gov Annual Performance Report |
| FY24 rated capacity | 1,284 | SF.gov Annual Performance Report |
| Annual bookings | 17,253 | SFSO 2025 annual report |
San Francisco County Inmate Population Trends
Official trend material shows a jail system that fell during the early COVID-19 period, then rose again. The SF.gov Annual Performance Report says the jail population stayed below 1,000 between April 2020 and August 2023, then increased as arrest patterns and court outcomes returned toward normal. FY24 average daily population was 1,099, up from 818 in FY23, while the same report said FY24 was still below the FY14 to FY19 pre-COVID average of 1,291.
| Year / Date | Jail Population or ADP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| FY23 | 818 ADP | SF.gov Annual Performance Report |
| FY24 | 1,099 ADP | Up 34% from FY23; 86% of rated capacity |
| 2024 | 1,188 average | SFSO annual-report material |
| 2025 | 1,280 average monthly population | SFSO 2025 annual report; 8% increase from prior year |
| February 2026 | 1,299 ADP | SFSO Jail Population Trend Report |
Who Makes Up the San Francisco County Inmate Population
The SFSO 2025 annual report snapshot dated June 17, 2025 reported that 54.3% of people in custody had a serious or violent felony as the top charge, 42.8% had other felonies, and 2.7% had all other misdemeanors. The same source summarized total felony top charges at 97.04% and misdemeanor top charges at 2.96%. SF.gov added that about 75% of jailed people were pretrial felony prisoners who either could not be released or could not make bail.
- Charge level: SFSO's June 2025 snapshot placed nearly all top charges in felony categories.
- Race and ethnicity: the February 2026 trend report listed 535 Black people and 376 Hispanic people in the snapshot population.
- Women in custody: the February 2026 trend report listed 108 female people in the snapshot population.
- Long stays: February 2026 data listed 109 long-stayer cases, or 8.6% of the snapshot.
These categories are not the same as convictions. A top charge is the highest charge listed for custody tracking at a point in time. Court outcomes can amend, reduce, dismiss, or resolve charges later.
San Francisco County Jail Capacity
Facility capacity is split by site. SFSO lists County Jail #2 at 392 people and County Jail #3 at 768 people. SFSO current jail data adds County Jail #3 Annex rated capacity of 372 beds, while the 2025 annual report treats County Jail #3 and the Annex together in some capacity discussion. County Jail #1, the Intake and Release Center, was listed in the 2025 annual report with capacity of 298 and average jail population of 33, reflecting its booking and release role rather than a public visiting jail.
Capacity rules matter because a person can be moved within the SFSO system after booking. The SFSO policy manual says approved bed capacities are retained by the facility and Custody Operations Division. If an over-capacity facility remains over capacity or continues to increase, the sheriff can form a crowding committee to examine population-reduction methods.
Laws Governing San Francisco County Jail Data
California law treats much jail and arrest information as public, but it does not make every jail file or image available online. The California Public Records Act supplies the request path, while law-enforcement and court-access rules define what can be withheld, redacted, or limited to courthouse review.
Key statutes and rules:
California Government Code 7920.000 names the California Public Records Act framework used for local agency records requests.
Government Code 7922.535 provides the basic determination timeline for CPRA requests.
Government Code 7923.610 requires release of specified arrest information unless safety or investigation exceptions apply.
California Rule of Court 2.503 limits remote public access to criminal court records, even when courthouse access may be available.
How to Search San Francisco County Inmates
The official current-custody search is SFSO Find a Person in Jail. It covers people in San Francisco county jail custody, not state prison, BOP custody, or ICE detention. SFSO's search has three modes: name, SF number, and booking number. The name mode uses short first-name and last-name entries, while SF number is the permanent person identifier inside the San Francisco jail system.
- Open the SFSO Find a Person in Jail page.
- Search by the first letters of the first and last name, or use an exact SF number or booking number.
- Open any matching result and check the facility location, booking date, bond, next court date, and charges.
- If no current San Francisco jail result appears, call jail information or check whether the person moved to CDCR, BOP, ICE, another county, or release status.
For a missing or unclear jail result, the fallback chain is practical: jail information at 415-553-1430, Intake and Release at 415-558-4443, after-hours jail line 415-553-1444, in-person inquiry at the 425 7th Street jail lobby, or an SFSO public-records request through GovQA.
Current San Francisco County Roster Lookup
The public roster returns a compact jail record. Inspected fields include the person's name, age, facility location, SFNO number, booked-on date, next court date when available, booking number, total bond, court department, docket number, statute, charge description, charge disposition, attempt field, and scheduled release date. The inspected public result did not show a mugshot, date of birth, pod, cell, arresting agency, or full physical description.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Name | Text | Name search only | SFSO says to enter the first three letters; the app enables search once first and last name are long enough. |
| Last Name | Text | Name search only | Same short-entry pattern as first name. |
| SF Number | Text | No | Permanent personal identification number in the San Francisco County jail system. |
| Booking Number | Text | No | Exact booking-event number. |
The official jail-search page is the best match for current San Francisco jail custody.
The search page is not a statewide criminal-history tool. It is a current local custody lookup tied to SFSO jail records.
Past San Francisco County Inmate Records
SFSO states that if a person is not listed, they are not in the San Francisco jail system. That does not mean the person has no case, no past booking, or no custody record somewhere else. Released or historical jail records may require an SFSO public-records request, while filed criminal case records route through San Francisco Superior Court.
Use the SFSO public-records page and the GovQA portal for sheriff records that are not displayed in the public roster. Include name, SF number, booking number, booking date, and the specific record requested when known. For filed criminal case information, use the Superior Court's case information page instead of the jail roster.
What a San Francisco County Inmate Record Shows
A public SFSO inmate record is built for custody status and court routing. It is not a full rap sheet. It can show a total bond amount and next court date, but it does not prove final guilt or final case outcome. Court records after filing may show different charges than the booking entry.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| SFNO Number | Permanent jail-system person identifier. |
| Booking Number | Event-specific booking number for the jail intake. |
| Booked On | Date and time the person was booked. |
| Total Bond | Combined bond amount displayed by the jail locator. |
| Next Court Date | Next scheduled court event when populated. |
| Charge Details | Docket number, statute, description, disposition, attempt field, and scheduled release date when present. |
County Jail vs State Prison Search
San Francisco County jail custody and California state-prison custody are different systems. The county roster covers pretrial detainees, people serving local jail terms, and people being processed through SFSO facilities. CDCR CIRIS covers sentenced state prisoners after transfer to state custody. Federal and immigration custody use still different federal locators.
| Custody Type | Where to Search | Common Result Fields |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco county jail | SFSO Find a Person in Jail | SFNO, booking number, location, bond, next court date, charges |
| California state prison | CDCR CIRIS | Name, CDCR number, age, current location, commitment county, admission date |
| Federal prison | BOP Inmate Locator | Name, register number, age, race, sex, release date, location |
| Immigration detention | ICE ODLS | A-number or biographical search, country of birth, detention information when available |
State and Federal Inmate Search
There is no adult CDCR prison, BOP prison, or ICE detention center in San Francisco County in the official facility lists reviewed. That does not end the search. People sentenced to state prison from San Francisco should be checked through CDCR CIRIS and the CA.gov CDCR locator service page. Federal inmates are searched through the BOP inmate locator. Immigration detainees are searched through ICE ODLS. Victim notification and alert searches can use VINELink California.
No active San Francisco sheriff or police mobile app with a public custody roster, warrant search, or jail lookup was located in the research. SFSO annual material referred to an external-facing Sheriff app as a goal, but no App Store or Google Play custody tool was documented.
San Francisco County Detention Facilities
The local facility map is small but easy to misread because the names and sites have changed. County Jail #2 is the primary public-facing jail. The Intake and Release Center shares the 425 7th Street complex, while County Jail #3 and its Annex are on the San Bruno campus. The hospital jail wards are custody health-care units, not a public jail-search destination.
- San Francisco County Jail #2 holds San Francisco jail detainees, including the county's women in custody.
- Intake and Release Center handles booking, release, and transfer processing.
- San Francisco County Jail #3 is the largest SFSO jail and is located in San Bruno.
- San Francisco County Jail #3 Annex is a San Bruno safety-net and overflow housing site for incarcerated males.
- Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Jail Wards 7D/7L serve incarcerated people who need locked medical or psychiatric care.
San Francisco County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the San Francisco County inmate population?
The SFSO homepage listed a jail count of 1,177 for May 29, 2026, while the SFSO Jail Population Trend Report listed February 2026 average daily population at 1,299. Use the daily homepage count for a snapshot and the trend report for average population.
How do I search the San Francisco County inmate population?
Use SFSO Find a Person in Jail for current local custody. Search by name, SF number, or booking number. If the person is not listed, check the jail information line, records request portal, CDCR, BOP, ICE ODLS, and VINELink based on the type of custody.
Does the San Francisco roster show mugshots?
The inspected public SFSO result did not show a booking photo. It showed custody, booking, bond, court, and charge fields. Booking-photo requests should go through SFSO public records, subject to CPRA exemptions and redactions.
Where do court charges appear after booking?
Filed charges are handled by San Francisco Superior Court after the District Attorney files a complaint or later charging document. The jail roster may show booking charges, but the court record is the formal case record.