How Missouri jails are organized
Each county or independent city in Missouri runs its own jail, and each has its own page here. St. Louis City is not St. Louis County (Clayton). Kansas City, Missouri is Jackson County — not Johnson County, Kansas. Springfield is Greene. Columbia is Boone. St. Charles County is the western suburb of St. Louis, a third jail in that media market. Independence is still Jackson County. Jefferson City is the state capital, but arrests are booked in the county or independent city where they happen.
Sheriffs run county jails. St. Louis City has its own division of corrections. DOC (Jefferson City, Farmington, Chillicothe) is prison. Municipal holdovers are overnight. This site currently has live roster pages for 27 of 115 counties plus St. Louis City (27 jail pages, 3,147 records tracked). The other 88 counties plus St. Louis City have a jail information page with lookup steps and contacts; until a roster feed is connected, the sheriff or detention center is the official source for who is in custody there.
Finding someone in a Missouri jail
Jackson, St. Louis County, and St. Charles often have inmate searches. The City Workhouse history is not the County Justice Center. We keep City and County on separate pages. If you know the county or independent city, open its roster above and search by name or charge. If you only know the city of arrest, find which county or independent city the city is in first.
Circuit courts sit by county; the 22nd Circuit is the City. St. Louis County Circuit is Clayton. A municipal court in a inner-ring suburb is not the county jail visit desk. The courthouse and the jail are often in different buildings. Confirm the facility name on the booking paperwork or with the attorney before you travel.
Bond, visits and money in Missouri
Missouri cash and surety are common. Kansas bondsmen may not cover Jackson County, Missouri. City and County windows are different. Bond amounts shown on a roster can change after the first court appearance. CurrentPrisonList does not post bail or accept payments.
The City Justice Center is downtown St. Louis. The County jail is a Clayton/south-county logistics problem. Jackson County’s Kansas City, Missouri complex is a different metro. Dress codes, video-visit providers and appointment times are set by each jail. Check the sheriff's website on the day of the visit.
Travel and common mistakes in Missouri
STL for the St. Louis pair of jurisdictions. MCI for Jackson County, Missouri (the airport sits in Missouri). SGF for Springfield. Crossing into Kansas changes the roster. Take the jail address from the sheriff's website or from the contact section of the county or independent city page, not from a generic map search.
A common mistake: searching St. Louis County for a City booking, or Johnson County, Kansas for a Jackson County, Missouri hold. Neighboring states have their own state pages on this site.