The Covington County Inmate Population
The Covington County inmate population is held at one local facility, the Covington County Jail at 290 Hillcrest Drive in Andalusia. The Covington County Sheriff's Office runs the jail. The county's own jail page states the facility houses both county and municipal inmates, which is a key local fact. A person arrested by Andalusia, Opp, Florala, Red Level, or another municipal department may still appear in county custody rather than a separate city jail. Most people held are pre-trial detainees, with others serving short sentences or waiting to transfer into Alabama Department of Corrections custody.
The count rises and falls with arrests, bond decisions, releases, and transfers to state prison. Official county sources reviewed did not publish a live daily headcount or a rated bed capacity for the jail. So the figures below describe the scale of the operation and the county context, not a current count. For a specific custody check, the jail phone line is the reliable channel.
Covington County Inmate Population Statistics
The official county pages do not post a live population dashboard or a rated bed count, so no honest daily jail figure can be stated here. What the research can source is the county's overall size, the statewide prison total, and the jail's operational scale from the state sheriff audit. The stats below are sourced context, not a jail headcount.
The table lists figures the research could source, each tied to its origin and year. The jail's own capacity and daily population were not published in the official sources reviewed and are left out rather than guessed.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| County population estimate | 37,748 | U.S. Census QuickFacts, 2024 |
| County population (decennial) | 37,570 | U.S. Census, 2020 |
| Statewide ADOC inmates | 27,601 | ADOC inmate search, May 2026 |
| State prisoner feeding receipts | $1,072,898.65 | Examiners of Public Accounts audit, 2019-2025 |
| Municipal food account receipts | $222,500.21 | Examiners of Public Accounts audit, 2019-2025 |
Covington County Inmate Population Trends
No multi-year daily-population series for the county jail was found in official sources, so a year-by-year count cannot be shown without inventing it. What the state sheriff audit does prove is the scale of jail activity over a long period. Over October 2019 through March 2025, the jail ran county, municipal, and state-prisoner feeding accounts, an inmate trust fund, a jail store, work-release accounting, and a bail-bond fee fund. That points to steady, sizable custody activity even without a posted headcount.
- Inmate trust fund - $684,065.52 received over the audit period (Examiners of Public Accounts).
- Jail store - $853,194.47 received over the audit period (Examiners of Public Accounts).
- Work release program - $31,288.90 received over the audit period (Examiners of Public Accounts).
- State feeding allowance - $2.25 per prisoner per day, raised to $2.50 on Oct. 1, 2024 (sheriff audit).
Note: These are financial totals, not a daily population, so they show the jail's operating scale rather than a count you can convert into an average headcount.
Who Makes Up the Covington County Inmate Population
The jail did not publish a breakdown by pre-trial versus sentenced, sex, or charge level in the official sources reviewed. The verified facts are about who the jail is built to hold, and the county demographic profile gives surrounding context that should not be read as a jail breakdown.
What the official sources confirm:
The county jail houses both county and municipal inmates, according to the official jail page.
The sheriff audit confirms county, municipal, and state-prisoner feeding and accounting, but it does not provide a live headcount.
For a current population or a specific custody check, the jail is the reliable channel; for statewide sentenced prisoners, use the ADOC search.
Covington County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding
The official active-jail sources did not publish a rated capacity, a bed count, or a daily population, so no crowding ratio can be stated honestly. Some non-official directory sites list a bed count, but those are not reliable enough to publish as fact. No consent decree, capacity lawsuit, or overcrowding declaration specific to the Covington County Jail turned up in the official sources reviewed.
The strongest official record is the state sheriff audit, which is financial and operational rather than a conditions report. If a current capacity or crowding question comes up, the sheriff's office is the office to ask, since the jail does not maintain a public capacity dashboard.
Laws Governing the Covington County Inmate Population
A short set of Alabama laws shapes who holds the inmate population and what jail data the public can inspect. The sheriff must keep a public jail book on each prisoner, and the state open-records right supports requests for those writings. Expungement and arrest-procedure rules round out the framework.
Key Statutes:
Alabama Code § 36-22-8 - The sheriff must keep a public jail book describing each prisoner received, including name, charge, commitment date, and release date.
Alabama Code § 36-12-40 - Alabama residents have a right to inspect and copy public records except where the law provides an exception.
Alabama Code § 14-6-1 - The sheriff is responsible for the safekeeping of county prisoners, which the sheriff audit cites for custody and feeding duties.
Alabama Code Chapter 15-27 - Alabama allows expungement petitions for qualifying criminal records, which affects whether an old arrest record stays public.
Note: The absence of an online roster does not end access, since the jail book and other public records can still be inspected or requested under state law.
Covington County and the State Prison Population
When a person from Covington County is convicted of a felony and sentenced to state time, they leave the county inmate population and join the state prison count. From that point the search tool changes. The Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search covers currently incarcerated state prisoners, while the county jail does not. No ADOC prison sits inside Covington County, so a sentenced person is held elsewhere in the state.
For context, the ADOC search page showed a statewide total of 27,601 inmates when reviewed in May 2026, about 25,007 men and 2,592 women. Those are statewide figures, not a Covington County jail count. The ADOC database holds current inmates only, with no historical data online, and it leaves out inmates sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act.
How to Search the Covington County Inmate Population
Covington County does not publish a searchable online jail roster in the official sources reviewed. So the search is a sequence of official contacts rather than a single web form. The right first step depends on the custody stage. For a recent local arrest, call the county jail. For a sentenced state prisoner, use ADOC. For a federal or immigration case, use the federal locators.
Before you start, gather the person's full legal name, date of birth or age, the approximate arrest date, the arresting agency, and the city where the arrest happened.
- Call the Covington County Jail at 334-428-2640 to confirm whether the person is currently housed.
- Give the staff the identifying details so they can match the right person.
- Ask the current status: in custody, bond set, blocked by a hold, released, or transferred.
- If you need a document, ask how to inspect or request the jail-book entry or booking record under state law.
- If the person was sentenced to state prison, search the ADOC inmate locator instead.
- For court dates and filed charges, use the Covington docket search or Alacourt, not the jail.
The Covington County Sheriff's Department oversees the jail, so its page is the starting point for custody questions about the local inmate population.
Because no public roster was located, this sheriff page and the jail phone line are the practical entry points for confirming who is in the Covington County inmate population.
Current Inmate Lookup in Covington County
For a current Covington County inmate, the live channel is the jail itself, not a web search. Staff can confirm whether a person is in custody, whether bond is set, and whether a hold blocks release. Because no county roster form was located, the search-field table below shows the statewide ADOC inmate search, the locator with a confirmed public form for sentenced inmates who passed through county custody.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIS # | Text | No | Six-digit Alabama Institutional Serial number; if entered, names are ignored and only the exact match shows. |
| First Name | Text | No | Used alone or with last name; open-ended search. |
| Last Name | Text | No | Open-ended; partial letters return matching last names. |
| Search | Button | n/a | Up to 50 records shown; Youthful Offender Act inmates excluded. |
These fields come straight from the ADOC inmate search, which lists current sentenced inmates who moved out of Covington County custody.
Use this statewide form once a Covington County inmate has been sentenced and entered the state prison population.
Past and Released Inmate Records
Finding someone no longer in custody works much the same way. With no online roster, there is no public archive of past bookings to scroll through. The route is a written public-records request to the jail or sheriff for the jail-book entry, booking sheet, bond information, release order, or booking photo, where releasable. The jail inmate records page walks through this contact chain in more detail.
Name the record you want rather than asking for everything. A clear request might ask for the jail-book entry for a person booked on or about a given date, plus a fee estimate and whether redactions apply. A person sentenced to state time appears in the ADOC locator, and court charges and dispositions live with the Covington County Circuit Clerk or through Alacourt.
What a Covington County Inmate Record Shows
Because no public online profile could be inspected, the fields below describe the Alabama jail-book baseline a request can reach, plus the data the jail keeps internally. Not every field is releasable, and some may be redacted.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name and Description | The prisoner's name, age, sex, and distinguishing marks in the jail book. |
| Booking Date | The intake date and time when the person was received into custody. |
| Charge or Hold | The charge held on or the reason for the hold. |
| Bond | The bond amount and type, if set by a court or magistrate. |
| Arresting Agency | The county or municipal agency that made the arrest. |
| Release Status | The order or date of release, transfer, or continued custody. |
A few terms help when reading any record. Booking is the jail intake record made after arrest. A detainer is a hold request from another agency. No-bond hold means the person cannot be released on ordinary bond, while a charge is an allegation, not a conviction.
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
The most common mistake is searching the wrong system. Pre-trial detainees and people serving short county or municipal terms sit in the county jail. Sentenced felons serve their time in a state prison run by ADOC, which keeps a separate locator. The table sorts out which system covers which part of the inmate population.
| County Jail | State Prison (DOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Pre-trial, county, and municipal inmates | Sentenced felons |
| Run By | Covington County Sheriff | Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) |
| Where to Look | Jail phone and records request | ADOC statewide inmate search |
| Confirmed Online Roster | None located | Yes, current inmates only |
State and Federal Inmate Search
Three custody levels use three different tools. For a sentenced Alabama state prisoner, use the ADOC inmate search, which accepts an AIS number or a name. For a sentenced federal prisoner, use the federal Bureau of Prisons locator, which searches by number or by name. For an immigration detainee, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator, which works by A-number plus country of birth or by biographical details.
For a federal case, the federal BOP inmate locator landing page is the search entry point by register number or name.
The federal locator covers people in federal custody and sits outside the Covington County jail population entirely.
For release or transfer alerts, register through the Alabama Victim Notification System where the person appears. That is a notification tool, not a full profile source, so it supplements the jail rather than replacing it. None of these tools work like a county booking gallery.
Covington County Detention Facilities
The county inmate population is held at a single confirmed local facility. The research found no separate jail annex, regional jail, work-release building, ICE center, BOP facility, or state prison inside the county. The historic courthouse-square jail in Andalusia is a landmark, not the active detention facility.
- Covington County Jail - the county jail in Andalusia holding both county and municipal inmates, including pre-trial detainees and people serving short sentences.
Covington County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Covington County inmate population?
Official county sources reviewed did not publish a live jail population or a rated bed capacity, so no honest daily count can be given here. The verified fact is that the jail houses both county and municipal inmates. For a current headcount or to confirm whether a specific person is housed there today, call the jail at 334-428-2640.
How do I search the Covington County inmate population?
There is no confirmed online jail roster, so the search starts with the jail phone line at 334-428-2640. Ask staff whether the person is in custody and what their status is. If you need a document, request the jail-book entry or booking record under state law. If the person has been sentenced to state prison, use the ADOC inmate search instead.
Can I look up a released or past inmate?
Yes, but not through a web roster. Submit a written public-records request to the jail or sheriff for the jail-book entry, booking sheet, bond information, and release order, where releasable. A person sentenced to state time appears in the ADOC locator. Court charges and case outcomes live with the circuit clerk or through Alacourt.
Why can't I find a city jail for an Andalusia or Opp arrest?
The county jail houses both county and municipal inmates, so a city arrest often ends up in county custody. The arresting agency and the holding facility are not always the same. A person can be arrested by a city officer, booked into the county jail, and charged in municipal, district, or circuit court, then searched in ADOC if sentenced.
Are Covington County jail mugshots online?
No official public mugshot gallery was located in county sources. A booking photo may be available through a public-records request to the jail or sheriff when it is releasable. Expungement orders can restrict or remove covered arrest records. The jail roster mugshots page explains what is and is not public.
What is the difference between the county jail and ADOC?
The county jail holds pre-trial detainees and people serving short county or municipal sentences, run by the sheriff. ADOC runs the state prisons that hold sentenced felons. They keep separate records and separate search tools. A person moves from the county jail to ADOC after a felony conviction and sentencing.