Search St. Tammany Parish Inmate Population

St. Tammany Parish has one of the larger jail populations on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The St. Tammany Parish Jail in Covington processes hundreds of bookings each month, and the inmate count changes throughout the day. You can search the current inmate population using online tools from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office and the LA VINE notification system. Both resources give you real-time access to who is in custody, what charges they face, and their bond status. This page covers how to look up inmates in St. Tammany Parish and what records are available to the public.

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office manages all jail operations in the parish. The main jail sits at 1200 Champagne St in Covington, LA 70433. You can call (985) 809-8200 for general questions about the facility, bond amounts, or inmate status. Staff are on site around the clock, so calls about inmates get answered at any time of day.

The sheriff's office also runs an online inmate search tool on its website. The St. Tammany Parish current inmate roster shows a list of all people in custody. Each entry includes the person's name, booking date, charges, and bond details. This is one of two main ways to check the St. Tammany Parish inmate population from home. The search page lets you filter by name, which makes it fast to find a specific person. If you need more detail than what the site shows, call the jail line and staff can pull up the full booking record.

Note: The online roster may lag a few hours behind the most recent bookings or releases.

St. Tammany Parish Inmate Population on LA VINE

LA VINE is the state-run victim notification system. It tracks inmates across Louisiana jails. For St. Tammany Parish, the LA VINE roster pulls data straight from the jail's booking system. It updates roughly every 30 minutes. This makes it the most current public source for checking who is held at the St. Tammany Parish Jail at any given moment.

You can search the LA VINE roster at sttammany.lavns.org. Type in a first or last name and the system returns a list of matching inmates. Each result shows the booking number, charges, and bond information. If you want to be notified when an inmate is released or transferred, sign up through VINELink. The alert system is free and works by phone, text, or email. It runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Below is the LA VINE roster page for searching the St. Tammany Parish inmate population at sttammany.lavns.org.

The roster lists every person held at the St. Tammany Parish Jail along with their charges and bond status.

Booking Records in St. Tammany Parish

Every arrest in St. Tammany Parish creates a booking record at the jail. The process logs the person's full name, date of birth, physical description, charges, arresting agency, and bond amount. These records feed into the LA VINE system and the sheriff's own database. Most of this data is public under the Louisiana Public Records Act, R.S. 44:1.

If you need copies of booking records beyond what the online tools show, you can visit the jail in person or call (985) 809-8200. The sheriff's office may charge a small fee for printed copies, as allowed under R.S. 44:32. For people who have been transferred to a state prison, you will need to check with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections instead. State-level inmates have their own tracking system that takes over once the transfer is complete.

St. Tammany Parish Jail Inmate Services

The St. Tammany Parish Jail offers several services for inmates and their families. Visitation schedules, phone call access, and commissary deposits all go through the jail administration. If you need to deposit money into an inmate's account, ask about accepted methods when you call the facility. Rules change from time to time, so check with the jail before making a trip.

Mail sent to inmates must follow specific rules. Write the inmate's full name and booking number on the envelope. All mail gets screened before it reaches the inmate. Items that do not meet the guidelines get sent back to the sender. The jail does not accept packages unless approved by jail staff ahead of time.

Bond payments work through the jail's booking office. Cash bonds and surety bonds are both accepted. The bond amount depends on the charges and is set by a judge or by a preset bond schedule. Some charges do not have a preset bond and will need a court hearing before the person can be released.

Inmate Records and Louisiana Law

Louisiana law makes most inmate population data public. The current roster, booking photos, charges, and bond amounts are all open records. R.S. 15:574.12 sets boundaries on what stays private. Medical records, mental health evaluations, and pre-sentence reports fall outside the public scope. Parole and clemency files are also off limits to the general public.

You have a right to ask for inmate records from the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office under the state's Public Records Act. Written requests get a response. The office can charge for copies but cannot block access to records the law says are open. If your request is denied, you can challenge the denial in court.

Cities in St. Tammany Parish

St. Tammany Parish covers a large area on the north shore. Slidell is the largest city in the parish. All arrests within St. Tammany Parish go through the parish jail for booking.

Nearby Parishes

These parishes border St. Tammany Parish. If you are not sure which parish handled an arrest, check the location where the booking took place.