San Bernardino County Jail System

The Detention and Corrections Bureau of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office operates the San Bernardino County Jail System. 

This includes four main jail facilities: the High Desert Detention Center, the West Valley Detention Center, the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center, and the Central Detention Center. The county also has five small jail locations at different patrol stations.

The San Bernardino County Jails house:

• Adult males and females who have been arrested by county or municipal law enforcement and are awaiting trial (have not made bail)
• Inmates who have been sentenced to the county jail, and
• Inmates being held for transport to the California Department of Corrections.
• Federal inmates being housed in partnership with the US Marshal Service

The Detention And Corrections Bureau has 7,400 jail beds in total among the four facilities, with an average daily population of 5,000 inmates.

Central Detention Center

The Central Detention Center (CDC) opened in 1971 and served as San Bernardino County's main jail for over 20 years. Overcrowding issues resulted in the construction of the other county facilities.

For over 20 years, CDC has been the primary booking facility for the police and sheriff stations operating in the east valley area. The U.S. Marshal's Service uses the CDC as a west coast hub for the transportation and housing of federal inmates. 

Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center

The Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center is San Bernardino County's primary facility for housing both male and female inmates sentenced to County commitments. The facility sits on nine acres and features three inmate-housing facilities. 

The Male Facility opened in 1960 as a work camp. The original site was also used as the Sheriff's Basic Academy until it moved many years later. 

The current facility has two Minimum Security Housing Units and a Maximum Security Housing Unit, with a maximum capacity of 1446 inmates. The average daily population at Glen Helen is 800 male and female inmates. 

Glen Helen's Female Facility opened in 1988 with three dorms for county sentenced inmates. In 2003, an additional Maximum Security Unit was added. The complex now houses both pre-trial and sentenced females. 

The Female Facility has the capacity to house 326 inmates. The average daily inmate population is 250.

High Desert Detention Center

The High Desert Detention Center opened in January 2006 to add much needed space to the Bureau of Detention and Corrections. This jail is the first Type II facility to be located in the High Desert and provides safe and secure housing for over 2,100 inmates.

West Valley Detention Center

The West Valley Detention Center (WVDC) opened in 1991 and is one of the largest county jails in California. The facility has a bed capacity of 3,347, and it completes 50,000 to 60,000 bookings and releases each year.  

Pre-trial inmates make up the majority of the population at the WVDC. Court dates are done by remote video for various locations including San Bernardino, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Chino, Victorville, and Barstow courts.  

Inmate Search

To find out if your loved one is being held in a San Bernardino County Jail facility, click here, call the inmate locator line at (909) 708-8371, or use VINE (see below). 

VINE (Victim Information and Notification Everyday)

Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) is a free and anonymous telephone service that provides victims of crime both information and notification. VINE monitors the custody status of offenders in the San Bernardino County Jail and receives updated information every 15 minutes.

The Toll Free Number for California VINE is 1.877.411.5588. Anyone can call the California State VINE line to determine an inmate's custody status. To search for offender information, callers will need one of the following items:

• Offender name or alias
• Secondary search option (if there is more than one offender with the same name), such as:
  • Arrest date
  • Date of birth
  • Middle initial
  • Offender identification number

VINE will let callers know about the offender's current custody status, the location of the inmate, and their offender number.

Prison Insights

Visiting Hours and Rules

Each jail in the San Bernardino County Jail System has unique visiting hours and visitor requirements. 

Visitors must call the Inmate Visiting Appointment Line at 909-887-0364, Tuesday through Saturday 8:00 am – 5:30 pm to make an appointment to visit an inmate at any of the San Bernardino County Jail facilities, or to get more visiting information.

General Visiting Rules for all San Bernardino County Jail Facilities

All Visitors must:

• Arrive 30 minutes before their visiting appointment.
• Provide a valid photo ID card (driver’s license, consulate i.d., passport).
• Be subject to a search of their personal belongings and vehicles.
• Not have any weapons, cell phones, audio, video, or photo recording devices
• Not bring into the facility tobacco or illicit drugs
• Maintain constant supervision of any minors.
• Dress appropriately

All incoming inmate mail must include the name of the sender, return address, inmate’s name, booking number, and the facility address printed on the outside of a plain envelope or it will be rejected by the jail.

Only mail that is on lined paper, plain paper, or postcards which are not cardstock thickness may be accepted. 

The following is prohibited in inmate mail:

• Blank paper, blank envelopes or stamps
• Cardstock paper, greeting cards, construction paper, or manila envelopes
• Perfume, powder or cologne on the mail
• Kiss impressions on the correspondence
• Stained or extremely dirty letters
• More than 10 photographs
• Anything gang-related
• Nude or partially nude photos or drawings
• White out, white out tape, crayons, paint, markers, glue, tape, glitter, stickers or labels
• Metal or plastic
• Gum or any food items

All magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and books (paperback only) must come directly from the publisher, a bookstore, or a reputable internet/mail order company via their internet or mail order facilities

How to Call an Inmate

Inmates at the San Bernardino County Jails cannot receive incoming phone calls. However, they have access to phones and can make outgoing collect calls from the inmate housing area on a daily basis. All calls from an inmate in the jail are collect.

California law has established the right of an arrested person to make at least three free local telephone calls upon being booked: one call to an attorney, one to a bail bond agent, and one to a relative or other personal contact. Phone calls are recorded and may be monitored at any time.

How to Send Money

Each facility in the San Bernardino County Jail system has deposit kiosks in the lobby where you can deposit money into an inmate's commissary account. Deposits can be made in person, 24/7.

The kiosk machines only accept cash, credit, or debit cards.  Personal checks or money orders are not accepted. Upon release, inmate’s will receive their account balance in cash or check.

Care Packages

Family and friends can order commissary items to be delivered to inmates in the San Bernardino County Jail system using the iCare website, located at icaregifts.com.

Programs For Inmates

The San Bernardino County Jail System provides a variety of rehabilitation programs through the Inmate Services Unit (ISU) to help reduce recidivism and allow inmates to transition back into the community.

The ISU is based at Glen Helen and administers services for inmates housed in San Bernardino County’s four primary custody facilities and five outlying jails.   

Academic, vocational, and cognitive classes are provided. As well as twelve-step programs, crisis counseling and religious services to facilitate rehabilitation during incarceration and upon release.  

Central Detention Center

Inmates are offered various programs which include GED, high school diploma, and substance abuse intervention. CDC also hosts numerous juvenile programs for at-risk youth.

Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center

Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center has a work release program that works in conjunction with the courts and the local Judicial Council. Qualifying in-custody inmates can take specific classes and, upon completion, may qualify for Work Release. Then, they provide manual labor for public facility maintenance.

Under the direction of the court, the inmate can be released before his maximum sentence has been completed in order to reestablish ties with their family. The program is fee-based ($15 per day) and requires the inmate to wear an ankle monitor.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department and San Bernardino County Fire Department have a program where they train inmates to work as firefighters. There is an 8-acre inmate fire camp which houses male inmate fire hand crews. 

West Valley Detention Center

The WVDC provides a full range of inmate instruction programs in the fields of culinary arts, laundry services, and landscape maintenance. There are also worship services for various denominations. 

Culinary instructional programs are offered through the Food Service Program to attain certification in food safety management. The Food Services Division serves three nutritious meals per day, providing over three million meals annually to inmates. 

Medical care is provided to all inmates at West Valley Detention Center from the time of booking through release. The inmates are medically screened upon arrival and evaluated for medical and mental health conditions which could require continued care and treatment.   

The facility also houses the inmates with the greatest medical needs and includes two special medical/mental health housing areas staffed around the clock with medical/mental health professionals.

Pictures of San Bernardino County Jail System

Careers at San Bernardino County Jail System

If you are interested in a career with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and would like more information about the job openings in the San Bernardino County Jail System, click here.