Check ICE Custody Releases

ICE Release Scope in New Kent

No standalone ICE detention center was found in New Kent County. The research also did not find a current official ICE facility listing that proves routine ICE use of Pamunkey Regional Jail. An older USMS and PRJ agreement permits certain federal placements and contains immigration-related language. That document shows contractual authority, not a current person placement or an active ICE contract.

PRJ is a regional jail in Hanover County that serves New Kent local custody. It is not an ICE detention center. A New Kent arrest may lead to PRJ booking, followed by community release, VADOC transfer, federal pickup, another jail, or an immigration handoff. The correct conclusion depends on PRJ's recorded disposition and receiving agency. A name disappearing from the current roster cannot choose among those outcomes.

ICE Transfer Is Not Release

An immigration detainer can change the meaning of a jail departure. A detainer is a request or notice from another authority concerning custody. If PRJ records that ICE or another federal agent received the person, local jail custody ended but immigration custody began or continued. Calling that event a community release would erase the most important part of the record.

Ask PRJ Booking/Release at 804-365-6400 extension 3043 or Records at extension 3033 for the actual date and time PRJ custody ended, the recorded release or transfer type, and the receiving agency if that field is releasable. Provide the full legal name, date of birth, approximate booking date, PRJ inmate ID if known, and New Kent as the arresting locality. Request an existing record rather than asking staff to speculate about current ICE placement.

Search ICE Release Status

The ICE Online Detainee Locator System, or ODLS, offers two search methods. The identifier route uses the A-number and country of birth. The A-number must contain nine digits, so leading zeroes are added when needed. The name route uses the exact first and last name as recorded, plus country of birth. People under 18 are not displayed.

1. Use the A-number route when the number and country of birth are known.
2. Add leading zeroes until a shorter A-number contains nine digits.
3. If searching by name, try the precise recorded spelling and account for known name order or spacing differences.
4. Read any result as an ICE-specific custody or recent-release result, then match it to the PRJ handoff date.
5. If no result appears, contact the responsible ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office with the same identifiers.

ICE material cited in the research says ODLS may include people released from ICE custody during the last 60 days. That is a limited recent period, not a lifetime immigration detention archive. The system may therefore help document a recent ICE release after a PRJ transfer. It does not promise that every old release remains visible.

Note: An ODLS result concerns ICE custody; it does not by itself explain the earlier New Kent court case or PRJ release processing.

Why ICE Release Searches Fail

A no-result screen is not proof that ICE never held the person. The event may be older than the recent-release scope. The name may differ from the recorded spelling, the A-number may lack leading zeroes, country of birth may be wrong, or the person may fall outside the public display rules. Another authority may also hold the person, or the local jail event may never have involved ICE at all.

Save the exact spelling, search method, and date of the ODLS check. A result viewed near the event can disappear as the limited recent-release period passes, while a later search may use a different spelling or identifier. When an ICE result and a PRJ handoff seem to describe the same person, compare the A-number, full name, country of birth, and event dates. Do not force a match from name alone. If a family or legal representative has a notice bearing an A-number, that identifier is more useful than guessing from the local jail name.

Work backward from the known custodian. PRJ's receiving-agency field can establish whether the immigration path is even relevant. A federal court docket may show USMS rather than ICE authority. BOP's locator applies to sentenced federal prison custody, not ordinary civil immigration detention. Virginia Jail VINE can alert to a PRJ release or transfer, but its combined event wording cannot identify community release without reconciliation.

A-number

The immigration identifier used by ODLS, entered as nine digits with country of birth.

ODLS

ICE's current and limited recent detainee locator, not a permanent release archive.

ERO

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, the field component that can route a person-specific custody inquiry.

Detainer

A notice or request tied to another authority's interest in taking or maintaining custody.

Request ICE Transfer Records

The record request should follow ownership. Ask PRJ for the local admission, custody-end entry, release or transfer code, and receiving-agency field. Ask ICE for ICE detention or release records. Ask USMS when the evidence points to federal criminal pretrial or transport custody. A court clerk can supply an entered order but cannot certify the time of a jail-to-agent handoff.

A focused PRJ request can ask for electronic copies of the existing booking sheet, custody history, actual date and time custody ended, recorded disposition, receiving agency if nonexempt, and the release or transfer form. PRJ's FOIA administrator may be reached at FOIA@pamunkeyjail.gov, PO Box 510, Hanover, VA 23069, or 804-365-6400 extension 3008. Ask for redaction of exempt fields and production of the rest.

No local ICE record fee, fixed response route for a named ERO office, or New Kent ICE address was established in the research. Those details should not be invented. Use ODLS and ICE's official routing based on the person-specific result or transfer record.

ICE and BOP Releases Differ

BOP administers sentenced federal prison custody. ICE civil detention belongs to a different federal system. A BOP result marked “Released” or “Not in BOP Custody” does not answer whether ICE later detained the person. Likewise, an ODLS release result says ICE custody ended within that system's scope but does not rule out a state warrant, local jail custody, or another federal authority.

The published PRJ agreement requires federal detainees covered by its terms to be released only to the committing federal agent or a Deputy U.S. Marshal. That rule reinforces the need to identify the receiving agent. It does not prove every federal pickup was ICE. For criminal federal placements, use the Federal Detention Chain and its USMS, docket, and BOP sequence.

Different ID numbers must also stay separate. A PRJ inmate ID identifies the regional jail episode. An A-number identifies an immigration file. A BOP register number identifies a federal prison record. A federal court case number identifies litigation. Matching them through dated official records is safer than assuming one number should work in every portal.

Best ICE Release Evidence

For a New Kent-connected chain, the strongest starting proof is PRJ's custody-end record with the receiving agency. An ODLS result can then support current ICE custody or a recent ICE release within the tool's stated scope. A direct ICE record or field-office confirmation is stronger when the exact physical release date matters. Preserve the wording and the date each source was checked.

A VINE “released or transferred” alert is useful near the event but cannot settle destination. PRJ roster absence is weaker because the list is current custody only and has no release field or archive. An old agreement is evidence of a permissible arrangement, not proof of a current placement. The New Kent County released inmate search provides the full local, court, state, and federal reconciliation path when the destination remains unclear.

If records conflict, compare scope before deciding. PRJ can speak to its own handoff. ICE can speak to ICE custody. A court can speak to its order. State exactly what each record proves and leave unresolved gaps open until the record owner responds.