St. Clair Federal Facility Scope
The Federal Bureau of Prisons operates institutions nationwide, but no BOP prison was identified in St. Clair County. The county Detention and Intervention Center has documented federal contract populations, including BOP and U.S. Marshals detainees. Contract lodging at a Sheriff-operated jail is not the same as a federal institution located in the county.
This distinction controls the lookup. The St. Clair County roster reports current physical custody at the local center. The BOP locator covers the federal sentenced system and qualifying post-1982 releases. A federal defendant under USMS authority can be held locally before sentencing without a useful BOP record. An ICE handoff can also follow a local or federal departure. One system cannot certify every layer.
Important: No BOP institution is located in St. Clair County. Federal prison records are searched through the nationwide BOP system.
Search St. Clair Federal Releases
The BOP Inmate Locator covers federal inmates from 1982 onward. Its strongest search uses a BOP register number, though DCDC, FBI, and INS numbers are also accepted. A name search uses first, middle, and last name with age, race, and sex refiners. Results can show the name, register number, age, race, sex, release date, and location.
Use identifiers carefully. A local Sheriff booking number is not a BOP register number, and a federal court case number serves a different purpose. Preserve each number with its agency label. This prevents a county custody event from being merged with the wrong federal person.
- Search by the BOP register or other accepted federal number when available.
- If searching by name, enter the full legal name, then try supported spelling variations and refiners.
- Open the result and compare the register number, age, identity details, release date, and location.
- Read the date as projected or past based on its timing, and interpret the location using BOP’s official definitions.
- Check the federal court record for supervision, detention orders, and case outcome.
- Follow a named transfer or detainer into the receiving agency’s official system.
The BOP record guide is the authority for field meanings. Save the access date because a future projection and location can change.
Federal Inmate Release Fields
A future date is projected. It may change before release. A past date with no facility indicates that the person was released from BOP custody on that date. Location “RELEASED” also means no longer in BOP custody. Those statements are strong within the federal prison system, but neither proves that supervision ended or that another sovereign did not take custody.
| BOP display | Accurate reading | Required caution |
|---|---|---|
| Future release date | Projected federal custody date | Can change |
| Past date, no facility | Released from BOP on that date | Another custody layer may follow |
| RELEASED | No longer in BOP custody | Does not end court supervision by itself |
| IN TRANSIT | Movement within custody | Not a release status |
| UNKNOWN | Confinement term is undetermined | Not proof of release |
| Community Corrections Management | BOP community-placement administration | Not necessarily unrestricted release |
BOP’s release statistics exclude transfers to another jurisdiction from ordinary release-to-location counts. That published practice reinforces a key rule: transfer and community release are separate events. If a result or local record identifies another jurisdiction, continue the search there.
- Projected release
- A future federal date that remains subject to change.
- Transfer
- Movement to another custodian while detention continues.
- Supervised release
- A court-ordered period of federal community supervision after imprisonment.
- Detainer
- An action tied to another authority that can affect the next custody step.
After a Federal Release
Release from BOP custody does not necessarily end the federal case. A sentencing court may impose supervised release after imprisonment. The federal court docket and judgment are the sources for that term. BOP’s locator does not serve as a full supervision record, so “RELEASED” should not be rewritten as “all obligations ended.”
Another government can also assume custody. ICE, a state corrections department, a county jail, or another lawful authority may act on its own case or detainer. A past BOP date remains accurate as a BOP event even when a second custody event follows. State the source and scope: released from BOP, transferred to a named agency, or no longer found in a certain current locator.
MI-VINE focuses on participating state and local custody events and does not replace the BOP locator for federal prison release. The Michigan OTIS system is likewise limited to MDOC prisoners, parolees, probationers, and recent discharges. Choose the database from the custodian, not merely from a St. Clair County address or connection.
Note: A federal release date and a federal supervision end date can be different events recorded by different authorities.
St. Clair Federal Contract Transfers
The Sheriff’s 2023 Annual Report says the county center maintains contracts with BOP, ICE, and USMS. An official 2022 ICE inspection documented these mixed populations at the same building at that time. The evidence should be dated. It explains why a federal person can appear on the local current-custody roster, but it does not prove that each contract or population remains the same in every later year.
If a person disappears from the St. Clair lookup, request the local booking and release record. Ask for the holding authority, actual local exit time, release disposition, receiving agency, and transfer destination when maintained and disclosable. A sentenced person may next appear in BOP. A pretrial defendant may remain under USMS authority. An immigration detainee may move to an ICE location.
The St. Clair federal contract-bed record path separates these BOP, ICE, and USMS routes. A local “release” field can describe release from the physical county jail without implying community release.
Federal Pretrial Release Records
The U.S. Marshals Service holds federal defendants from court commitment through acquittal or delivery to BOP and uses rented local jail space. USMS does not publish a historical released-person locator like BOP. A BOP search alone can therefore miss a federal pretrial person who was physically held at the St. Clair County center.
Use the federal court docket for detention, bond, release, acquittal, sentencing, and commitment orders. The court order explains legal authority. The local jail record can establish the precise physical exit from the county building. After sentencing and delivery to the federal prison system, the BOP locator becomes the primary public custody route.
A narrowly framed federal records request may seek a defined existing USMS record, subject to exemptions. Give a full identity, case number, holding location, and limited date range. Do not ask an agency to create a combined account from court, jail, and federal data when those source records can be requested separately.
ICE After Federal Release
The ICE Online Detainee Locator is for adults currently in ICE custody or qualifying CBP custody. Search by a nine-digit A-number with country of birth, or use the biographical route. It does not cover minors and is not a historical release archive. No result does not establish that an immigration case ended.
A federal BOP release can be followed by an ICE transfer, just as a St. Clair County departure can be. Compare the BOP date, local transfer record, and present ICE result. When those sources do not align, contact the responsible agency rather than converting a locator absence into proof of community release.
This layered check is particularly important in St. Clair County because official sources document federal and immigration populations at the same county-operated center. The address tells where a person was housed. The agency record tells whose authority controlled release.
Federal Release Record Requests
For a BOP result, record the register number, displayed release date, location, and access date. When a certified or more complete record is required, identify the precise BOP record sought through the agency’s public records process. Use the sentencing court for the judgment and supervised-release term. Use USMS for its own existing pretrial custody record, subject to exemptions.
For the local portion, the Sheriff Service Bureau is at 1170 Michigan Road, Port Huron, MI 48060. It maintains inmate records, accepts written requests at that address, and lists fax 810-966-4302. Records staff use 810-987-1704, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. General jail inquiries use 810-987-1700.
St. Clair County Sheriff Service Bureau1170 Michigan Road
Port Huron, MI 48060
Records: 810-987-1704
Fax: 810-966-4302
The county record cannot certify later federal release. It can document the local exit and named receiver. The BOP record cannot certify what happened earlier in the county jail. A sound release account preserves both events and does not blur their dates or legal meanings.
The St. Clair County release-record hub supplies the local court and Sheriff sequence when the person’s federal path began with a county booking.