Germany · Nordrhein-Westfalen · seat Düsseldorf

North Rhine-Westphalia prisons: Cologne, Willich, Auskunft

North Rhine-Westphalia is Germany's most populous Land. Düsseldorf is the capital, but Cologne, the Ruhr, Aachen, Münster and Bielefeld all feed a dense JVA map. Auskunft is this Land's. There is no public inmate list, and a Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn map is not a roster.

North Rhine-Westphalia: how this area actually works

JVA Köln is the city house families still sometimes hunt under the old name Klingelpütz. That old site is not the current address. Follow the Land's present street, not a memory. Willich, toward Viersen and Mönchengladbach, is a different establishment with its own role, including women at points in its history, and it is not a Cologne tram. Werl carries a high-security reputation that is not a shortcut around visiting rules. Aachen, Bochum, Hagen, Remscheid, Siegburg, Münster and Bielefeld add further gates. The Rhine, the Ruhr and Westphalia are three geographies inside one Land. Mixing them is the ordinary mistake.

NRW's Justizvollzug is large and still not a public database. Remand at a Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund or Essen court can restrict contact. Sentenced prisoners move between houses, and sometimes out to Lower Saxony or Rhineland-Palatinate, because of security or programme. Dutch relatives through Aachen or Kleve need German permission if the person is held here. Belgian visitors the same. A Dutch penitentiary form will not open a gate in Willich or Werl. Münster, Bielefeld and Aachen are further separate journeys inside the same Land. Dortmund is not Düsseldorf, and Essen is not Duisburg.

This page groups prisons recorded as North Rhine-Westphalia. It does not list people at Cologne, Willich, Werl or anywhere else. The S-Bahn makes Dortmund and Düsseldorf look close. Visit slots do not. Read the establishment notice. Do not copy a Berlin or Frankfurt timetable onto a Ruhr address, and do not navigate to the old Klingelpütz plot if the letter names today's JVA Köln. Düsseldorf is the capital, not the default cell. Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg courts do not share one Ruhr gate. Bielefeld is Westphalia, not the Ruhr. Münster is further north.

Finding someone held in North Rhine-Westphalia

There is no NRW inmate search and no German national one. Auskunft goes to this Land's prison administration on its terms. The lawyer at the Landgericht in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen or Münster usually knows the first house. Do not ring a gate and ask for a name. Police custody overnight is not JVA Köln or Willich. A press report from a Dortmund trial is not a cell location. Cologne, Willich and Werl will not confirm a stranger's name. Wait for the written reply.

Match the Anstalt. Cologne is not Willich. Werl is not Bielefeld. Siegburg is not Bonn's court building. If the letter later names a Hesse or Lower Saxony house, change Land. The old Klingelpütz label is not a current booking. Ignore paid sites that promise every German prisoner in one box. Siegburg, Hagen, Bochum and Remscheid are separate addresses from both Cologne and Willich. Aachen is the Dutch border, not a Cologne tram, and Münster is another day north. Check the letter.

Visits and family practicalities

Each NRW establishment issues its own permission. Remand may need the court. A Cologne visit is not a Willich visit and not Werl's high-security process. This page does not invent hours for Düsseldorf, Aachen or the Ruhr. Read the Land notice that morning.

Bring the Ausweis requested. Phones stay outside. Approval for one house dies on a transfer to another, even if both are on the Rhein-Ruhr network. Re-check before you buy a ticket into Köln Hauptbahnhof or a bus toward Viersen.

Getting around North Rhine-Westphalia

Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn and Dortmund airports cover different corners. Cologne's JVA is a north-of-city trip from the Hauptbahnhof, not the Dom. Willich is an S-Bahn-and-bus problem via Viersen or Mönchengladbach. Werl sits on the Hamm-Dortmund side of Westphalia. Aachen is the western edge. Bielefeld is not the Ruhr.

Drivers on the A3, A40 and A57 should assume the last mile is slower than the autobahn. Parking at city houses is poor. Dutch number plates do not change the ID rules at the gate. Use the official address. Do not stop at the Landtag in Düsseldorf unless the letter actually sends you there, which it will not.

Prison guides in North Rhine-Westphalia

Facility articles for houses we have sourced in this Land. Empty coverage here is this site’s map, not proof that nobody is held in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Köln · Local (men)JVA KölnKöln’s JVA on Ossendorfer Straße in Ossendorf is the Rhineland local — remand and sentenced men from Cologne courts, separate from Willich’s large NRW trainer and worlds away from Berlin Moabit’s Sprechschein culture.Read the guide →Willich · Closed (men)JVA WillichWillich on Am Deich is NRW’s workhorse — a large closed men’s prison near Viersen that takes sentenced prisoners from across North Rhine-Westphalia while families in Cologne still book Köln-Ossendorf by mistake.Read the guide →

Questions families actually ask

Can I search NRW prisons for someone's name?
No. Cologne, Willich, Werl and the Ruhr houses have no public roll. Auskunft is a North Rhine-Westphalia procedure. Germany does not run a national inmate search.
Is Klingelpütz the current Cologne prison?
Klingelpütz is the old name people still type. The visit address is today's JVA Köln as published by the Land, not a demolished or former plot.
Are Willich and Cologne the same booking?
No. Willich is toward Mönchengladbach and Viersen. JVA Köln is in Cologne. Werl is another house again. The letter names one gate.

Other Länder (federal states) in Germany

land · StuttgartBaden-WürttembergBaden-WürttembergBaden-Württemberg runs its own prisons from Stuttgart, not from Berlin and not from Munich. Stammheim, Bruchsal, Freiburg and the houses toward Konstanz and the Rhine are Land establishments. There is no national inmate search. A family asks this Land's Justizvollzug, and a Berlin office will not answer for a Stuttgart file.Open this area →land · MunichBavariaBayernBavaria is Germany's largest Land by area, with its own Justizvollzug based on Munich rather than on a federal jail service. Stadelheim, Straubing and the smaller houses are Bavarian answers, not Prussian ones. Nobody can Google a list of people in custody. Auskunft is a Land matter.Open this area →land · BerlinBerlinBerlinBerlin is a city-state, so the prison system is the city. Tegel, Moabit and Plötzensee are the names families already use. The Berliner Justizvollzug handles Auskunft. There is no public list of people in custody, and a phone call to the gate is not how you locate someone.Open this area →land · PotsdamBrandenburgBrandenburgBrandenburg wraps Berlin. Potsdam is the capital, and the prisons families actually hunt are in Brandenburg an der Havel, Cottbus and the smaller towns, not on Unter den Linden. The Land answers its own Auskunft. There is no public inmate list, and Berlin's city desk is the wrong door for a Brandenburg file.Open this area →land · BremenBremenFreie Hansestadt BremenBremen is a two-city Land: the city of Bremen and the port of Bremerhaven, with Lower Saxony in between on the map. JVA Bremen at Oslebshausen is the house. Auskunft is Bremen's, not Hamburg's. There is no public list of people in custody.Open this area →land · HamburgHamburgFreie und Hansestadt HamburgHamburg is a city-state whose prison names are Fuhlsbüttel, Billwerder and Hahnöfersand, not the port terminal and not Schleswig-Holstein. The city runs its own Justizvollzug. There is no public inmate list. Auskunft is a Hamburg request, and a Kiel or Hanover office will not invent an answer.Open this area →land · WiesbadenHesseHessenHesse sits in the middle of Germany, with Wiesbaden as capital and Frankfurt as the city everyone actually flies into. Preungesheim, Weiterstadt, Butzbach and Kassel are different gates. The Land runs Justizvollzug. There is no public inmate list, and a Rhine-Main rumour is not an address.Open this area →land · HanoverLower SaxonyNiedersachsenLower Saxony stretches from the North Sea coast to the Harz, with Hanover as capital. Celle, Rosdorf, Oldenburg and the city houses are one Land system. Auskunft is Lower Saxon. There is no public inmate list, and Hamburg or Bremen will not answer a file that is still here.Open this area →land · SchwerinMecklenburg-VorpommernMecklenburg-VorpommernMecklenburg-Vorpommern is the thinly populated north-east, from Schwerin and Rostock to the Polish border and the Baltic islands. Bützow is the historic prison town. The Land's Justizvollzug is small. There is no public inmate list, and Hamburg or Berlin will not answer a file that still sits here.Open this area →land · MainzRhineland-PalatinateRheinland-PfalzRhineland-Palatinate runs from Mainz and Koblenz down the wine valleys to Trier and the French border. Diez, Wittlich and Zweibrücken are the prison towns families hunt. Auskunft belongs to this Land, not to Hesse and not to Saarland. There is no public inmate list.Open this area →land · SaarbrückenSaarlandSaarlandSaarland is Germany's smallest territorial Land, pressed against France and Luxembourg, with Saarbrücken as capital. JVA Saarbrücken is the house families mean. Auskunft is Saarland's. There is no public inmate list, and a French permis de visite will not locate or admit you.Open this area →land · DresdenSaxonySachsenSaxony is Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz, plus the Czech border. It is not Saxony-Anhalt. Bautzen and Waldheim carry heavy history and are working Land prisons today. Auskunft is Saxon. There is no public inmate list.Open this area →

All of Germany →

Source

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

Official locatorBerliner Justizvollzug — Zentrale AuskunftsstelleOpen official site →