The Broward County Inmate Population
Broward County runs one of the largest local jail systems in the country. The Broward Sheriff's Office Department of Detention operates four active jail facilities and books roughly 44,117 people a year, according to the sheriff's detention department page. The March 2026 Sheriff's Message puts annual processing at about 40,000 individuals. On any given day the jail holds far fewer than that yearly total, because most people stay a short time. The Florida Department of Corrections counted a Broward average daily population of 3,808 in its June 2025 county detention report.
Most of that count is pre-trial. People sit in the county jail after an arrest while a case is open, and they leave when they post bond, get released, are sentenced to time served, or move to state prison. Sentenced felons do not stay in the county jail for long terms. They transfer to the Florida Department of Corrections, which keeps its own separate count. So the daily Broward number rises and falls with arrests, first-appearance bond decisions, plea deals, and transfers, not with any single fixed roster.
Broward County Inmate Population Statistics
The headline figures come from two official sources. The Florida Department of Corrections publishes a monthly county detention report, and the Broward Sheriff's Office lists the rated capacity of each jail on its facility pages. The June 2025 state report set the Broward average daily population at 3,808 and the incarceration rate at 1.9 per 1,000 county residents. Summing the four sheriff facility pages gives a rated capacity of 5,086 beds. A Broward PREA audit lists a system capacity of 5,144, a small difference worth noting rather than blending.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Average daily population | 3,808 | FDC County Detention Report, June 2025 |
| Rated capacity (4 facility pages summed) | 5,086 | BSO facility pages, 2026 |
| System capacity (audit figure) | 5,144 | BSO PREA audit |
| Annual bookings | 44,117 | BSO Department of Detention page |
| Incarceration rate (per 1,000 residents) | 1.9 | FDC County Detention Report, June 2025 |
A second high-authority source, the Vera Institute, estimated the 2024 Broward jail population at about 4,494, or 352 per 100,000 residents ages 15 to 64. Vera and the state report use different methods and timeframes, so the two numbers do not match exactly. Both are useful, but the FDC monthly report is the most direct official Broward count.
Broward County Inmate Population Trends
The Broward jail count has stayed fairly steady in recent state reports while the longer trend points down. State detention reports show the average daily population near 3,600 in early 2024, dipping to 3,561 in March 2025, then rising to 3,808 in June 2025. Broward holds close to 7 percent of Florida's total county-jail population in those reports.
Looking back further, the Vera Institute reports a 35 percent drop in the Broward jail incarceration rate over ten years, and a 68 percent drop in the prison rate tied to the county. You can review the underlying county dashboard at the Vera Incarceration Trends page for Broward County.
The screenshot below shows that Vera dashboard, which charts Broward jail and prison rates over time and lets you compare them with statewide figures.
The trend view helps separate a single busy month from the slower year-over-year shift in how many people the county holds.
| Date | Average Daily Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| February 2024 | 3,600 | 1.8 per 1,000; 6.99% of statewide county-jail population (FDC) |
| March 2025 | 3,561 | 1.8 per 1,000; 6.67% statewide share (FDC) |
| June 2025 | 3,808 | 1.9 per 1,000; 6.98% statewide share (FDC) |
| 2024 (estimate) | 4,494 | 352 per 100,000 ages 15-64; -35% over ten years (Vera) |
Who Makes Up the Broward County Inmate Population
The Broward jail population is mostly pre-trial, mostly male, and spread across four facilities by classification rather than by where someone lives. The state's June 2025 facility breakdown shows how heavily pre-trial the system is. Across the four jails, roughly 90 percent of the daily count was pre-trial. The sheriff's classification staff decide which building holds each person based on security, medical, and program needs.
- Pre-trial vs sentenced - About 90 percent of the June 2025 count was pre-trial, around 3,429 of 3,808.
- Male vs female - The Main Jail and Conte are male; North Broward and Paul Rein hold both men and women in separate areas.
- Special needs - North Broward Bureau is the system's medical and mental-health facility and also holds protective-custody women and female juveniles.
- Juveniles in adult court - The Main Jail holds an average of about 65 juveniles charged as adults, housed apart from adults.
| Facility | Average Daily Population | Pre-Trial Share |
|---|---|---|
| Main Jail Bureau | 1,225 | 93.1% |
| Joseph V. Conte Facility | 1,166 | 85.4% |
| North Broward Bureau | 805 | 93.5% |
| Paul Rein Detention Facility | 612 | 88.2% |
Source: Florida Department of Corrections county detention report, June 2025. No official Broward dashboard publishes a current race or age breakdown, so those details are not listed here.
Broward County Jail Capacity and Population
The four jails are rated for 5,086 beds when you add the sheriff's facility pages, and the June 2025 average daily population was 3,808. By that math the system as a whole ran below its summed rated capacity. That does not mean every building had room. Classification rules, medical units, protective custody, and gender separation all limit where a given person can be placed, so one facility can be tight even when the system has open beds elsewhere.
Jail conditions have drawn recent attention. News reporting in 2024 raised concern about inmate deaths and pushed for reform, and the public defender called for stronger mental-health protocols. The sheriff has pointed to programs such as the RISE Program, launched with Recovery Solutions, to treat people found incompetent to proceed. These are operating and reform issues, not a published overcrowding order, and the research found no court-ordered population cap.
Laws Governing the Broward County Inmate Population
The reason jail population data is public, and the rules that govern how the jail runs, both come from Florida law. Florida starts from openness on public records, then sets jail standards and reporting duties on top of that. A few core statutes shape what you can see and how the population is managed.
Key Statutes:
Florida Statutes § 119.01 - sets the policy that state, county, and municipal records are open for inspection unless an exemption applies.
Florida Statutes § 951.23 - requires county jails to follow minimum standards for capacity, food, medical care, classification, and inspections.
Florida Statutes § 406.11 - gives the medical examiner jurisdiction over deaths that happen in custody or a penal institution.
34 U.S.C. § 60105 - the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act, which requires states to report custody deaths.
The Florida Model Jail Standards add detail. The 2026 manual, effective January 1, 2026, calls for annual and unannounced inspections, public inspection reports, and reporting of deaths, serious injuries, and suicide attempts as unusual incidents. Together these rules explain why a jail roster exists and why custody deaths must be counted.
Broward County and the State Prison Population
A felony conviction with a prison sentence moves a person out of the county count and into the state count. After sentencing, the Broward jail processes the transfer through Central Intake, and the Florida Department of Corrections handles reception and classification. From that point the lookup changes too. You stop using the sheriff's arrest search and start using the Florida Department of Corrections offender search.
No state prison sits inside Broward County. The state directory lists Broward addresses that are community-corrections and probation offices, not prisons. The Vera Institute ties a prison population of roughly 5,956 to Broward in 2024, a number that reflects people sentenced from the county, not people held within its borders.
How to Search the Broward County Inmate Population
The sheriff's public lookup is called Arrest Search, not Inmate Search, and it covers people booked into Broward Sheriff's Office jails. It is the right first stop for a recent arrest. The tool sits at apps.sheriff.org/arrestsearch, and the sheriff also links it from its detention arrest-search page. Results update every 15 minutes.
You only need a name to start. The form takes a last name and a first name, and it asks for at least two letters in one of those fields.
The form shown here is short on purpose. The list of results stays brief until you open a single record for the full booking detail.
- Open the arrest search at apps.sheriff.org/arrestsearch.
- Type at least two letters of the last name, the first name, or both.
- Complete the CAPTCHA if the system shows one, then click Search.
- Open the arrest number to see the booking photo, charges, bond, and current location.
- If the person was sentenced to prison, switch to the state offender search instead.
Current Inmate Lookup in Broward County
A current search runs against the live booking system. The result list shows only a few columns, then the arrest number opens the full record. The search form itself is simple, and the table below lists what it accepts. Knowing the fields ahead of time saves a failed search, since the tool needs at least two letters and may ask for a CAPTCHA before it returns anything.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Name | Text | One name field | At least two letters of the first or last name are needed. |
| First Name | Text | One name field | Can be used with or instead of the last name. |
| CAPTCHA | reCAPTCHA | Sometimes | May appear before results to confirm a real visitor. |
| Search | Button | n/a | Opens results in a new tab; the result table shows 15 per page. |
The result list returns the arrest number, name, sex, and current location. Location matters more in Broward than in a one-jail county, because it tells you which of the four buildings holds the person right now.
Past and Released Inmate Records
The arrest search is built for current and recent custody, not as a full history archive. Once someone is released or transferred, the online record may drop away. For an older booking, an arrest record, a local records check, or a copy of a report, the route is the sheriff's public-records unit through its GovQA records portal. The records unit answers at (954) 831-8700, Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Fees can apply based on the record type and staff time, and the office gives an estimate before paid work begins.
A local records check covers Broward arrests only. It is not a full criminal history, which routes to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. For someone sentenced to state prison, the past-custody trail moves to the state offender search instead of the county roster.
What a Broward County Inmate Record Shows
The arrest detail page holds far more than the short result list. Opening an arrest number brings up the booking photo, the demographics, the location, and one panel per charge. Bond and release fields appear when they are set, and a holder panel shows when another agency has placed a hold. The table below maps the main fields a Broward record can show.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Arrest Number | The booking identifier used to open the record and to post bond. |
| Booking Photograph | The booking image, viewable after you open the arrest number. |
| Charges | One panel per charge with statute, description, and status. |
| Bond Type and Amount | The bond set per charge, when one has been set. |
| Location | Which of the four Broward jail facilities holds the person now. |
| Holder Fields | A hold or detainer from another agency that can block release. |
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The single most common mistake is searching the wrong system. Pre-trial detainees and short county sentences live in the sheriff's arrest search. Sentenced felons live in the state offender search. They are run by different agencies and update on different schedules, so a person can vanish from one before clearly appearing in the other.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial and short sentences | Sentenced felons |
| Run By | Broward Sheriff's Office | Florida Department of Corrections |
| Where to Look | BSO Arrest Search | FDC offender search |
| Update Pace | Every 15 minutes | Weekly, with nightly release and location updates |
State and Federal Inmate Search
Beyond the county jail, three other systems each hold a different slice. Sentenced state prisoners appear in the Florida Department of Corrections offender search. Federal inmates appear in the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator, which covers inmates from 1982 forward. Immigration detainees appear in the ICE Online Detainee Locator, which searches current ICE custody by A-number or by exact name and country of birth.
Broward has an ICE facility inside the county, the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, but its detainees do not appear in the sheriff's arrest search. Federal pre-trial defendants may sit in U.S. Marshals custody and may not show in the BOP locator until they are committed to a federal institution. For release and movement alerts across these systems, VINELink offers notification, though it does not replace any single locator.
Broward County Detention Facilities
Five facilities hold part of the population the public searches for. Four are county jails run by the sheriff, and one is a federal immigration center. Each page below explains who is held there and how to look someone up.
- Main Jail Bureau - the maximum-security downtown jail and central booking site for adult men.
- Joseph V. Conte Facility - a male, medium-custody, direct-supervision jail in Pompano Beach.
- North Broward Bureau - the special-needs jail for medical, mental-health, and protective-custody populations.
- Paul Rein Detention Facility - the newest jail, holding men and women in separate areas.
- Broward Transitional Center - an ICE immigration facility, searched through the federal detainee locator.
Inmate and Custody Terms Defined
A few terms come up again and again in the jail population and on a booking record. Short definitions keep the rest of the page clear.
- Pre-trial detainee
- A person held before a case is resolved, who has not been convicted.
- Classification
- The jail's assessment of security, medical, and housing needs that decides which facility holds a person.
- Detainer or holder
- A hold placed by another agency that can keep someone in custody even after bond is posted.
- PR bond
- Release on a written promise to appear, without posting full cash bond.
- Direct supervision
- A jail design where deputies are stationed inside housing units rather than behind glass.
Broward County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Broward County inmate population?
The Florida Department of Corrections set the Broward average daily population at 3,808 in its June 2025 county detention report. That is the daily count, not the yearly total. The sheriff's office books about 44,117 people across a full year because most stays are short.
How do I search the Broward County inmate population?
Use the sheriff's Arrest Search at apps.sheriff.org/arrestsearch. Enter at least two letters of a first or last name, complete the CAPTCHA if it appears, and open the arrest number for the booking photo, charges, bond, and current facility. The list refreshes every 15 minutes.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
The arrest search is built for current and recent custody and may not keep old records online. For a past booking or a copy of a record, file a request through the sheriff's GovQA public-records portal or call the records unit at (954) 831-8700.
Why can't I find someone who I know is in Broward?
They may be in a system the arrest search does not cover. Sentenced state prisoners are in the state offender search, federal defendants may be in U.S. Marshals custody, and immigration detainees at the Broward Transitional Center are in the ICE locator. Booking can also lag the physical arrest by a short time.
Does the roster show booking photos?
Yes. The arrest search publishes the booking photo on the detail page once you open the arrest number. The short result list shows only the name, sex, location, and arrest number.