Search Benton County Jail Inmates

Benton County Jail Overview

The Benton County Sheriff's Office jail page identifies Benton County Jail as the only jail in Benton County. The facility receives adults arrested by Benton County deputies, Corvallis Police, Philomath Police, Albany Police, Oregon State University Police, Oregon State Police, and other agencies that bring local arrests into county custody. It is a county jail, not a state prison. It holds pretrial adults, local sentenced adults, people awaiting release review, and people waiting for transfer to a contract bed or another custody system.

The jail sits in downtown Corvallis beside the historic courthouse block. Benton County's own facility facts make the local story clear: the jail is small, old, and heavily shaped by classification. Adults in custody must be separated by sex, offense type, risk, and medical or behavioral health needs. That means an empty bed is not always an available bed. The jail can reach practical capacity before all physical beds are filled.

The Sheriff's Office uses the Oregon term Adult in Custody, often shortened to AIC. That term appears on the jail roster, mail rules, visiting pages, and annual reports. A person listed as a Benton AIC may be inside the Benton County Jail or may be in a rented bed at Polk County Jail or Clatsop County Jail.

Benton County Jail Capacity

The Benton County Jail facts page says the jail was built in 1976, covers about 8,000 square feet, and was first designed for 27 adults in custody. Remodeling raised the physical bed count to 40. The same official materials explain that the useful operating range is often much lower, about 28 to 34 adults in custody, because classification and separation rules limit which people can be housed together.

The capacity pressure drives several daily decisions. Benton County rents beds in other county jails, uses a matrix release process when lawful and appropriate, and may temporarily close to new arrestees when no suitable cell is open. The 2024 BCSO Annual Report reported 1,359 bookings, 75 forced releases, 10 facility closures, 731 adult-in-custody transports, and 31,799 transport miles. Those numbers show why the physical jail page and the roster must be read together.

The official jail facts page shows the facility history and capacity limits that explain many roster results.

Those capacity limits are the reason Benton adults in custody may appear with a housing location outside the downtown jail.

Benton County Jail Roster Lookup

The correct lookup path is the Benton County jail roster hub, which links to the current Adult in Custody Report and the release report. The current report is described by the Sheriff's Office as updating about every four hours. It lists people in BCSO custody, including those housed at Benton County Jail and those held in rental jail beds. Released adults appear in a separate report covering the prior 31 days, updated once daily.

The roster shows full entries on the page. Records can include booking number, file number, arrest date, incident number, arresting agency, arrest case number, location, age, sex, race, physical descriptors, total bail label, and charge information. Booking photos are not displayed because Benton County states that photos were removed from the roster under HB 3273 and Oregon booking-photo law.

1. Open the official jail roster hub and choose the Adult in Custody Report for current Benton County Jail custody.
2. Use Search By Name with a full name or part of a name. A blank search returns all records.
3. Sort by booking date, person's name, or housing location if the person may be in a contract bed.
4. Read the Location field before planning a visit, mailing, or money deposit.
5. If the person is no longer listed, check the release report, then Oregon Offender Search or VISOR for sentenced custody.

Benton County Jail Visiting

The Benton County Jail visitation page separates social visits, professional visits, and visits for people housed in contract facilities. For social visiting at the Benton County Jail, the adult in custody must submit a visitor list, and jail staff must approve the visitor before a visit can be scheduled. Scheduling is by phone at 541-766-6866 during daily scheduling windows of 8:00-9:00 AM or 6:00-7:00 PM. Staff require advance notice.

Do not use the Benton visiting schedule if the roster location shows Polk County Jail or Clatsop County Jail. Benton County specifically directs visitors to follow the receiving facility's current rules for contract-facility housing. That distinction matters because Benton custody status and physical housing location can be different.

Benton County Jail Mail

The contact an Adult in Custody page says personal correspondence and legal documents may be sent by mail. Use the adult's full legal name, not a nickname, and include a return name and address. Mail without a return address will not be delivered or held. Books must come directly from a publisher, bookstore, or book club, and hardback, plastic, or metal binding is not allowed. Periodicals must also come from the publisher.

Benton County Jail uses NCIC Inmate Communications for phone service. Adults in custody have daily chances to contact family or friends, but jail staff do not take or relay personal messages. Commissary or money-deposit vendor details were not located in inspected Benton official pages, so current deposit instructions should be confirmed with the jail before sending funds.

Benton County Jail Booking

After a Benton County arrest, the jail intake process creates the local custody record. Deputies complete booking, screen for medical and mental-health issues, inventory property, classify the adult in custody, and determine whether release is available. The public roster may not update at the exact moment of intake. The Sheriff's Office describes the current Adult in Custody Report as updating about every four hours, so a new arrest can take time to appear online.

Classification can decide whether the person remains at Benton County Jail or is transported to a contract facility. The jail bed rentals page states that Benton rents 40 jail beds in other facilities, with Polk County used for pretrial adults and Clatsop County used for sentenced adults. In 2024, Benton reported 731 transports. In 2023, it reported 792 transports. A roster location outside Benton County is not a sign that the case moved out of Benton courts.

The Benton jail bed rentals page is the official source for the contract-bed program involving Polk and Clatsop Counties.

The contract-bed program explains why the roster search is more reliable than guessing where a Benton adult in custody is physically housed.

Benton County Jail Programs

The 2024 annual report describes several current jail operations. Adults receive an orientation and jail handbook. Deputies perform medical and mental-health screening, administer medications under jail nurse guidance, and track well-being checks. The jail moved monitoring functions to Spartan handheld devices, installed cameras in areas that previously lacked coverage, and earned its first state-certified accreditation through the Oregon State Sheriffs' Association.

Substance-use treatment is a current local issue. Benton County received an Oregon Criminal Justice Commission grant to begin a Jail Medication for Opioid Use Disorder program. The report says jail medical staff can begin medication treatment, move some patients to a 30-day time-release injection, and connect released patients to local community health centers for continued care. The Oregon Knowledge Bank also describes a Benton County Transition Program that does reach-ins before DOC releases to Benton County.

Classification

The housing decision based on risk, sex, offense type, medical needs, and behavioral health needs.

Matrix release

A capacity-management release process used when the jail needs an appropriate open bed.

Contract bed

A rented jail bed in another county facility used for a Benton adult in custody.