If your friend or loved one is incarcerated in a North Carolina state prison, you can locate and track their movements using the North Carolina criminal offender searches. Indeed, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety has at least six criminal offender search links on its official website. Check them out below:

1.       NC Offender Inmate Locator

If you know the name or DOC ID of the person incarcerated in a North Carolina detention facility, use it to locate the inmate here. The NC DPS inmate search portal generates personal information, sentence history, and supervision record of current inmates, probationers, and parolees in North Carolina. Also, you can use it to find details about absconders, escapees, and released inmates.

2.       Automated System Query (ASQ)

Now, the Automated System Query allows you to analyze the NC DPS inmate database and generate specific statistical reports per the criteria you want. For example, you can analyze the offender demographic patterns based on their county of conviction, crime category, or highest grade level claimed. Such statistical reports are crucial to law students, law enforcement agents, policymakers, and anyone else interested in crime trends and formulating plans and policies for inmates.

3.       NC SAVAN Search

Next, NC PDS operates the NC Statewide Automated Victim Assistance and Notification Search, updating victims of crime, their families, and friends on case details and changes in the custody status of their perpetrators serving time in the North Carolina prison system. Start by conducting an inmate search here to confirm that the inmate is in a North Carolina correctional facility. Then, register to receive updates on changes in the custody status of the inmates.

4.       NC Sex Offender Registry

The NC sex offender registry lists all registered sex offenders in North Carolina. Use it to search for a sex offender in North Carolina,

5.       Interstate Compact Offender Tracking

Use the Interstate Compact Offender Tracking inmate search to locate a probationer or parolee who has been transferred to another state.

6.       Law Enforcement Search

Finally, the Law Enforcement Search is a North Carolina inmates database compiled for law enforcement investigators.

About the North Carolina Department of Public Safety

North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NC DPS) is an umbrella agency for law enforcement and public safety in North Carolina. The department was established at 512 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh, in 1977. It supervises the enforcement of state laws, homeland security, and adult and juvenile inmates in the North Carolina prison system, including community supervision. For this, NC DPS splits its duties into the following divisions:

• Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice – The department oversees all state prison facilities, including community supervision, parole, and probation offices
• NC National Guard – The department has at least 12,000 volunteer airmen and soldiers providing military support to the national and state authorities
• Emergency Management – NC Emergency Management works with local communities, neighboring states, and federal agencies in responding to, recovering from, and mitigating damage from disasters
• North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency – The division administers community grants for disaster recovery
• Alcohol Law Enforcement – The division has 109 ALE special agents enforcing alcoholic beverage, tobacco, and lottery laws
• State Capitol Police – Secures state-owned properties, public officials, state employees, and visitors to the state-owned premises
• State Highway Patrol – Secure the highways in North Carolina
• Administration – Provide core support services to the other NC DPS divisions
• Professional Standards, Policy, and Strategic Planning – Tasked with operating the department ethically and complying to legal regulations and policies

North Carolina Prison Statistics

As of November 3, 2022, there were 106,646 offenders in the North Carolina prison system. These include 27,632 male inmates, 2,325 female inmates, 65,727 probationers, and 10,962 post-release inmates/parolees. The inmate population is almost triple compared to about 38,000 offenders recorded in February 2015. Here are additional North Carolina prison statistics:

• By the end of 2019, there were 57 state prisons in North Carolina. These facilities are consolidated into male and female facilities in the central, coastal, mountain, and triangle regions. Here, NC DPS assigned 25,300 uniformed and support staff to look after the inmates, with an annual budget of $2.2 billion.
• The incarceration rate in North Carolina is 617 per 100,000 people. It includes persons serving time in jails, federal prisons, juvenile detention centers, and immigration detention facilities. The NC incarceration rate is below the overall U.S. incarceration rate of 664 per 100,000 people.
• Even though North Carolina is a majority-white State (64.1% White), most inmates in North Carolina prisons are of black race/ethnicity. As of 2017, 52 percent of the inmate population was black.
• In the year 2020, North Carolina released 17,106 inmates. And, since NC DPS adopted an individualized reentry initiative it boasts an 86 percent success rate of reentry programs participants not reoffending.
• In 2021, at least 17 percent of inmates in North Carolina had serious mental illnesses and addictions. It is four times greater than offenders in the general population.