България prison guides

Bulgarian prisons: GDIN guides, Sofia Central and family visits

Sofia Central and Bobov Dol are different journeys. Bulgaria’s prison administration (GDIN) does not run a public inmate search. Twenty-eight oblasti.

Sofia and the provincial prisons

Court papers in Bulgarian are the source of truth for which затвор. Do not rely on a neighbourhood rumour around the Palace of Justice.

How Bulgaria is carved up on this site

Bulgaria (България) is a separate country folder — not a tab on a mixed European roster, and not a US state code. The analogue of a US state here is the first-level unit: Provinces (oblasti). Twenty-eight oblasti. Sofia-city and Sofia province are easy to mix. Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas are other provinces. The Black Sea is not a prison filter — the oblast is. Open a oblast page when you already know the slice of Bulgaria; stay on this hub when you need the national rules, the official locator, and the list of those units.

GDIN. Sofia Central and Bobov Dol are different journeys. Court papers in Bulgarian name the затвор. No public inmate search. Facility articles under /bulgaria/ are building guides (address, operator, how a visit is booked). They are not who-is-inside tables. If a oblast has few prison guides, that is coverage on this site, not an empty prison system. Assuming Sofia Central for every Bulgarian arrest, or mixing a Romanian ANP visit into Vidin.

Finding someone held in Bulgaria

Bulgaria does not publish a Google-style inmate spreadsheet. Главна дирекция „Изпълнение на наказанията“ is the named official route (www.gdin.bg/). GDIN or the lawyer. A neighbourhood rumour around the Palace of Justice is not placement. Bulgaria does not publish prisoner names. Confirm visits with GDIN or the prison.

A US reader used to sheriff websites will type “Bulgaria inmate search” and find nothing of the kind. That is the law. Court lists, Facebook groups and paid “worldwide jail” products are not Главна дирекция „Изпълнение на наказанията“. If the person was remanded overnight, reception can lag; if they were transferred out of the oblast you had in mind, the old desk is the wrong door. Use the oblast pages below to stop treating Sofia as a synonym for the whole country.

Visits, money and staying in touch

Visiting in Bulgaria is not a US-style walk-up. ID, booked slot, GDIN rules. Greek or Romanian papers do not open a Bulgarian gate. Where a facility guide on this site quotes hours, they were taken from that establishment’s official page — re-check the day before you travel. This country hub will not invent a national timetable.

Dress codes, dog searches and what you may carry are house rules. Money and remote contact, where they exist, go through the official national channel — not a personal transfer to a cellmate. SOF for Sofia; VAR and BOJ for the coast. Bobov Dol is a provincial road, not the metro. Kulata and Ruse are borders.

Travel, borders and the wrong-gate problem

SOF for Sofia; VAR and BOJ for the coast. Bobov Dol is a provincial road, not the metro. Kulata and Ruse are borders. Print the gate address from the official prison page, not from a maps pin that only names Sofia or “Bulgarian prison”. Neighbouring countries on this site have their own URLs; a cheaper flight into the next capital is not a visiting permit.

Assuming Sofia Central for every Bulgarian arrest, or mixing a Romanian ANP visit into Vidin. If you only know a town name, match it to a oblast first, then to a facility guide. Confusing one oblast of Bulgaria with another is the most common way to book the wrong visit.

Provinces (oblasti) of Bulgaria — each on its own URL

Bulgaria is not mixed with the United States or with other European countries. Below is this country’s own first-level map (Provinces (oblasti)). Open a unit for a longer article on how custody, visits and travel actually work there. US readers looking for a county inmate spreadsheet will not find one: Bulgaria does not publish that, and neither do we.

Provinces (oblasti)

28 pages, written so Bulgaria does not collapse into a single mixed list. This is the analogue of opening a US state after you choose the United States.

oblast · BlagoevgradBlagoevgradБлагоевградBlagoevgrad Province is the south-west, the university town in the Struma valley, and the ski slopes of Bansko. It is a border oblast with North Macedonia and Greece, and a GDIN question rather than a resort question. Official visits are arranged with GDIN, not with the town hall in Blagoevgrad, and gdin.bg does not publish a roster.Open this area →oblast · BurgasBurgasБургасBurgas Province is the southern Black Sea: the port city, Nesebar and Sozopol, and a wide hinterland. Summer visitors think the coast is the oblast. GDIN thinks in institutions, and the coast is not automatically one of them. An arrest recorded in Burgas is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · DobrichDobrichДобричDobrich Province is Dobrudzha, the agricultural north-east, with the coast at Balchik and Kavarna and a Romanian border. It is not Varna, though Varna’s airport is how many people arrive nearby. Treat Добрич as the name on the stamp and Dobrich as the English name of the same oblast. GDIN still decides the gate.Open this area →oblast · GabrovoGabrovoГабровоGabrovo Province is the Balkan range at its most town-like: Gabrovo in the Yantra gorge and Veliko Tarnovo’s neighbour, with Shipka pass above. It is a small oblast with a long industrial memory and no public inmate list. An arrest recorded in Gabrovo is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · HaskovoHaskovoХасковоHaskovo Province is the south-central Maritsa country, Haskovo the city, Dimitrovgrad the industrial neighbour, and a Greek and Turkish border logic further south. It is Thracian plain, not the Black Sea and not Sofia. Treat Хасково as the name on the stamp and Haskovo as the English name of the same oblast. GDIN still decides the gate.Open this area →oblast · KardzhaliKardzhaliКърджалиKardzhali Province is the eastern Rhodope, a dam-reservoir town, and a border with Greece. It is one of the least-visited oblasts in English and fully inside the Bulgarian prison system. Official visits are arranged with GDIN, not with the town hall in Kardzhali, and gdin.bg does not publish a roster.Open this area →oblast · KyustendilKyustendilКюстендилKyustendil Province is the far south-west against North Macedonia, a spa town, and the coal town of Bobov Dol. Bobov Dol is why this oblast appears in a custody search: the high-security prison, not the mineral baths. An arrest recorded in Kyustendil is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · LovechLovechЛовечLovech Province is the northern fore-Balkan, Lovech the covered-bridge town, and Troyan the monastery town. It is a quiet oblast on the Sofia–Varna road with a GDIN history that should be read off the current paper, not off folklore. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) runs closed institutions for Bulgaria. Start at gdin.bg. It will not offer a name search.Open this area →oblast · MontanaMontanaМонтанаMontana Province is the north-west, a Danube-adjacent oblast whose name confuses English readers and has nothing to do with the American state. The town of Montana is the centre. Lom is the river port. Official visits are arranged with GDIN, not with the town hall in Montana, and gdin.bg does not publish a roster.Open this area →oblast · PazardzhikPazardzhikПазарджикPazardzhik Province is the upper Thracian plain west of Plovdiv, the Maritsa towns, and the Rhodope gate at Velingrad. It is a corridor oblast on the Trakia motorway. An arrest recorded in Pazardzhik is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · PernikPernikПерникPernik Province is the industrial basin immediately south-west of Sofia, a short commute and a separate oblast. Families treat it as a Sofia suburb. GDIN does not. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) runs closed institutions for Bulgaria. Start at gdin.bg. It will not offer a name search.Open this area →oblast · PlevenPlevenПлевенPleven Province is the Danube plain’s central city, a siege in the history books and a working oblast today. Belene, on the river, is a name that carries prison history. The current GDIN fact has to be read from the current order, not from 1940s memory. Official visits are arranged with GDIN, not with the town hall in Pleven, and gdin.bg does not publish a roster.Open this area →oblast · PlovdivPlovdivПловдивPlovdiv Province is Bulgaria’s second city, the Maritsa, and the ancient hill of the old town. It is an oblast with its own courts and its own place in the GDIN map, not a Sofia annex and not Pazardzhik. An arrest recorded in Plovdiv is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · RazgradRazgradРазградRazgrad Province is a north-eastern inland oblast, the Beli Lom valley, between Ruse and Varna’s hinterland. It is small, agricultural, and fully part of GDIN’s national map. Treat Разград as the name on the stamp and Razgrad as the English name of the same oblast. GDIN still decides the gate.Open this area →oblast · RuseRuseРусеRuse Province is the Danube city facing Romania’s Giurgiu, the country’s main river crossing, and a nineteenth-century city that still feels like a capital of the north. The bridge is not a prison and not a shared administration. Treat Русе as the name on the stamp and Ruse as the English name of the same oblast. GDIN still decides the gate.Open this area →oblast · ShumenShumenШуменShumen Province is the fortress plateau above the north-east, a city with a monument you can see for miles, and the road between Varna and the Danube. It is an inland oblast with a coast-shaped reputation it does not deserve. An arrest recorded in Shumen is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · SilistraSilistraСилистраSilistra Province is the Danube’s Bulgarian end, a river fortress town and a Romanian border, with the Ludogorie inland. It is the far north-east and a full day’s thinking away from Sofia. Treat Силистра as the name on the stamp and Silistra as the English name of the same oblast. GDIN still decides the gate.Open this area →oblast · SlivenSlivenСливенSliven Province is the city under the Blue Rocks, a Balkan gate between the Thracian plain and the east. It is an oblast with a GDIN name of its own in the national system, which is why it should not be merged into Burgas or Stara Zagora. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) runs closed institutions for Bulgaria. Start at gdin.bg. It will not offer a name search.Open this area →oblast · SmolyanSmolyanСмолянSmolyan Province is the high Rhodope, Pamporovo’s ski slopes, and the gorge towns toward the Greek border. It is the mountainous south and a poor place to guess a prison from a chalet map. Treat Смолян as the name on the stamp and Smolyan as the English name of the same oblast. GDIN still decides the gate.Open this area →oblast · SofiaSofia CityСофия-градSofia City is the capital oblast, a city-province distinct from Sofia Province around it. Sofia Central Prison is the GDIN institution families mean. The slug is sofia-city so it does not collide with the prison page sofia-central. The ring of towns outside the city is the other oblast. An arrest recorded in Sofia City is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · SofiaSofia ProvinceСофийска областSofia Province is the oblast around the capital, not the capital. Its administration is often described as sitting in Sofia, and that wording sends families to the wrong unit. The city’s prison is Sofia City’s. This province is the ring: Samokov, Botevgrad, Etropole, Ihtiman. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) runs closed institutions for Bulgaria. Start at gdin.bg. It will not offer a name search.Open this area →oblast · Stara ZagoraStara ZagoraСтара ЗагораStara Zagora Province is the central Thracian energy city, the rose valley’s eastern edge, and a plain that the Trakia motorway crosses. It is a major oblast between Plovdiv and the east, with its own GDIN place in the national system. An arrest recorded in Stara Zagora is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · TargovishteTargovishteТърговищеTargovishte Province is a small north-eastern oblast between Shumen and Veliko Tarnovo, easy to miss on a Hemus motorway journey and impossible to skip if the case file names it. An arrest recorded in Targovishte is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · VarnaVarnaВарнаVarna Province is the northern Black Sea city, the port, the resorts of Golden Sands, and a hinterland that is not Dobrich. It is Bulgaria’s maritime capital and a GDIN city, not a beach with a courthouse attached. An arrest recorded in Varna is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · Veliko TarnovoVeliko TarnovoВелико ТърновоVeliko Tarnovo Province is the old capital on the Yantra bends, a university town, and a crossroads of northern Bulgaria. The fortress is the photograph. The prison system is GDIN, and the fortress is not part of it. An arrest recorded in Veliko Tarnovo is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →oblast · VidinVidinВидинVidin Province is the north-western corner, the Danube fortress of Baba Vida, and a bridge to Romania. It is the far end of Bulgaria from Burgas and a GDIN oblast like any other. Official visits are arranged with GDIN, not with the town hall in Vidin, and gdin.bg does not publish a roster.Open this area →oblast · VratsaVratsaВрацаVratsa Province is the Balkan edge north-west of Sofia, a gorge above the town, and the road toward the Danube. It is close enough to the capital for bad assumptions and far enough for a missed slot. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) runs closed institutions for Bulgaria. Start at gdin.bg. It will not offer a name search.Open this area →oblast · YambolYambolЯмболYambol Province is the Tundzha valley in the south-east, a quiet oblast between Sliven and the Turkish border direction. It is easy to fold into Burgas or Haskovo and wrong to do so once a GDIN address is involved. An arrest recorded in Yambol is the start of a paper trail. The Bulgarian prison administration (GDIN) decides where the person actually sleeps.Open this area →

Prison guides in Bulgaria

Each page is written for that establishment — address, how families actually locate someone, and how visits work — not a copied country intro.

Kyustendil

Bobov Dol · High securityЗатвор Бобов долBobov Dol is Bulgaria’s high-security coal-town prison name — GDIN visits in Kyustendil province, a long drive from Sofia Central’s capital routine.Read the guide →

Sofia City

Sofia · PrisonСофийски централен затворСофийският централен затвор is capital custody in Bulgarian headlines — GDIN visits where Cyrillic court papers beat any English-language inmate search.Read the guide →

Questions families actually ask

Can I search Bulgarian inmates online?
No. Contact GDIN.
Does CurrentPrisonList list who is in jail in Bulgaria today?
No. Bulgaria pages are geographic and procedural guides. Bulgaria does not publish prisoner names. Confirm visits with GDIN or the prison.
Why does Bulgaria have Provinces (oblasti) instead of one mixed list?
Twenty-eight oblasti. Sofia-city and Sofia province are easy to mix. Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas are other provinces. The Black Sea is not a prison filter — the oblast is. Mixing those units would be the same mistake as putting Ohio inmates under California.
How do I visit a prison in Bulgaria?
Identify the establishment through Главна дирекция „Изпълнение на наказанията“ or the lawyer, get on the visitor list, and book that house. ID, booked slot, GDIN rules. Greek or Romanian papers do not open a Bulgarian gate. Plan travel via Sofia only if the letter actually names a house there — the oblast pages exist because it often does not.

Other countries

Each country is a separate area of the site so US county rosters, UK prisons and European JVA / maison d’arrêt guides never share a URL.

GBUnited Kingdom13 Nations and regions · 140 prison guidesDEGermanyDeutschland16 Länder (federal states) · 10 prison guidesFRFranceFrance13 Régions · 8 prison guidesDKDenmarkDanmark5 Regions · 3 prison guidesIEIrelandÉire26 Counties · 4 prison guidesNLNetherlandsNederland12 Provinces · 3 prison guidesBEBelgiumBelgië / Belgique13 Regions and provinces · 3 prison guidesESSpainEspaña17 Autonomous communities · 3 prison guides

All countries →

Source

Confirm location, visits and hours on the official service. This site does not list who is in custody.

Official locatorГлавна дирекция „Изпълнение на наказанията“Open official site →