Alaska Jail Mugshots
Alaska jail mugshots are booking photos taken when a person is arrested and booked into a state, borough, or city jail. This page helps you find Alaska jail mugshots and inmate records through the free VINE service, the Alaska Department of Corrections, local police, and the Alaska State Troopers. You can search by full or partial name to see who is in custody, where they are held, and what they are charged with. Pick a borough or city below to start the search. All tools listed here are free or low cost.
Alaska Jail Mugshots Quick Facts
How to Search Alaska Jail Mugshots
Alaska works unlike most states. There are no county jails here. The state runs an integrated prison-jail system through the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC). All 13 state-owned facilities hold both pretrial and sentenced inmates. A few small boroughs and cities run short-term holding cells, but long-term inmates go to a DOC center. The Alaska DOC is your first stop for Alaska jail mugshots and inmate status.
The fastest free tool is VINE. VINE stands for Victim Information and Notification Everyday. It is the state-approved vendor for Alaska's inmate database. The site is open day and night at vinelink.com or by phone at 1-800-247-9763. VINE is updated every 15 minutes for jails and twice a day for prisons. You can search by full or partial name, or by DOC number. Enter the first two letters of a last name if you are not sure of the spelling. You can also sign up for free text or email alerts when custody status changes.
VINE shows the inmate's name, facility, charges, tentative release date, and photo if one is on file. Some Alaska jail mugshots are posted through VINE; others are not. Release of a booking photo depends on the agency that took it. For a full mugshot, you often need to file a public records request with the agency that holds the image.
The VINE inmate search is run for all Alaska DOC facilities and is free to use. It is the best first stop for finding a person in custody.
Note: Recent bookings may take 4 to 12 hours to show up in VINE, and released inmates stay in the system for about two weeks before they are removed.
Alaska DOC Facilities and Jail Mugshots
Thirteen state-run centers hold the bulk of Alaska's inmates. Each one books, houses, and releases people from its own region. Goose Creek Correctional Center in Wasilla is the biggest with room for 1,536. Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River is the women's facility and holds up to 415. Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward is the max-security prison with 500 beds. Anchorage Correctional Complex takes most of the bookings for the state's largest city.
Smaller regional centers serve the rest of the state. Fairbanks Correctional Center has 307 beds. Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau holds 231. Wildwood Correctional Complex in Kenai holds 449. Ketchikan, Nome, Bethel, and Palmer all have their own regional centers. Each one feeds the same DOC inmate system, so one search on VINE pulls records from all of them at once. The DOC institution directory lists phone numbers, addresses, and visiting rules for each center.
The Alaska public courts portal is the main web door to case data tied to booking records. You can use it for free to check court dates, bail, and case status.
Alaska CourtView and Jail Mugshots
CourtView is the Alaska Court System's free online case search. It is the second main tool for finding jail mugshots info, since a booking often ties to a court case. The site is at records.courts.alaska.gov. You can search by party name, case number, hearing date, or ticket number. Most records from 1990 onward are in CourtView. Some older files still need a visit to the clerk's office.
A criminal case page shows charges, court dates, bail, and the holding facility. The page may not show the Alaska jail mugshot, but it points you to which DOC center has the person. That cuts down the time it takes to run down a record. CourtView covers all trial courts in Alaska, both Superior and District. Cases from Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kenai, and the rest of the state come up in one search. Copy fees are $2.50 per page for uncertified copies, or $5 plus $2.50 per page for certified ones.
Try CourtView to run a free search of Alaska trial court case files. It shows case type, charges, bail, and upcoming hearings.
Juvenile case files are confidential. Sealed cases need a court order. Under Alaska Rule of Administration 40, some cases are removed from the public index within 60 days if the defendant is acquitted or the case is dropped. For court records from before 1990, call the court clerk where the case was heard. The court eAccess portal is another way to view Alaska case data and file documents online.
The Alaska court eAccess site lets you view case documents and run deeper searches than basic CourtView.
Alaska Public Records Act and Jail Mugshots
The Alaska Public Records Act is in Alaska Statutes AS 40.25.100 through AS 40.25.295. Under this law, any person can ask to see public records held by state and local agencies. Agencies have 10 working days to give a first response. You do not need to say why you want the record. The Alaska Department of Law APRA page has a full guide to the request process.
The Alaska Public Records Act guide explains how to file a request for Alaska jail mugshots and other public records with state and local agencies.
Booking photos fall under a gray zone. Some departments release Alaska jail mugshots with a records request. Others turn down the request under AS 12.62.160, which governs the release of criminal justice information. Criminal history is treated as confidential under that statute. A mugshot alone is usually a photo; the record around it, such as the criminal history, is not. Each agency reads the rules its own way. The Alaska Statutes Title 12 Chapter 62 is the starting point for the rules on criminal justice information.
The Alaska Statutes 12.62 page covers the release and use of criminal justice information, which shapes how Alaska jail mugshots may be shared.
Other key statutes are AS 12.25.010 on arrest by a peace officer, AS 12.25.030 on arrest without a warrant, AS 12.62.110 on central repository duties, and AS 12.62.180 on sealing records. The full statute text is on the Alaska Legislature statute page. If a request is denied, you can ask the agency for a written basis and then appeal or ask for court review.
Visit the Alaska Legislature statute search to read the full text of the laws that govern records access and criminal justice data.
Alaska State Troopers Jail Mugshots
The Alaska State Troopers are the main law enforcement agency for unincorporated Alaska. Most of the state has no city police, so troopers make the bulk of arrests in those areas. Every day, the troopers post dispatch notes at dailydispatch.dps.alaska.gov. These notes cover arrests, warrant pickups, and DUIs. You can search by date range, by incident number, or by keyword.
The Alaska State Troopers daily dispatch site shows recent arrest notes and incident reports from across the state.
For older or more detailed files, use the DPS records portal. You make an account, file a request, and track the status online. Trooper records cover arrests, booking data, and criminal history. The DPS office itself is at 5700 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, AK 99507. The Criminal Records and Identification Bureau handles name-based background checks for $20 and fingerprint checks for $35. More info is at the DPS home page.
Use the Alaska DPS records portal to file and track public records requests with the state troopers and Department of Public Safety.
The Alaska DPS home page links out to all state police resources, from arrest records to background checks.
Troopers are split into five detachments by region. Detachment A and Detachment D cover the interior from Fairbanks. Detachment B covers the Mat-Su Valley out of Palmer. Detachment C covers the Kenai Peninsula out of Soldotna. Detachment E is the southcentral unit run from Anchorage. For the list of contacts and posts, see dps.alaska.gov/ast.
The Alaska State Troopers main page links to each detachment, post, and records request form.
Alaska Jail Mugshots Background Checks
A name-based criminal history report costs $20 from the Alaska Department of Public Safety Criminal Records and Identification Bureau. Fingerprint-based checks are $35. Same-day extra copies are $5 each. The R&I Bureau runs an online self-service portal at backgroundcheck.dps.alaska.gov. That tool lets you request your own criminal record by email.
The Alaska DPS background check portal lets you request a name-based criminal history report online.
Under Alaska law, criminal history is confidential. A third-party request needs signed consent from the record subject. Some older or minor cases are off limits under Administrative Rule 40(a). Walk-ins at the Anchorage office are often done the same day. Mail-in requests take 7 to 10 business days. The bureau phone is (907) 269-5767.
Federal Inmates from Alaska
Alaska has no federal prisons. Federal inmates from Alaska are held at facilities out of state, most often at FCI Sheridan in Oregon. To find a federal inmate, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. The tool covers federal inmates from 1982 to today. You can search by name, register number, FBI number, or INS number.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator covers federal inmates held in Alaska cases from 1982 to the present.
Older federal files may be held by the National Archives. For state-level courts, the Alaska Court System home page points to the right trial or appellate court. For a second VINE-style tool, the backup is vinelink.com.
The Alaska Courts home page is the main door to all state trial courts and records request forms.
The VINElink alternate page is the mirror of the main VINE inmate search for Alaska custody lookups.
Alaska Jail Mugshots by Borough
Alaska is split into 30 boroughs and census areas. Pick a borough or census area below to find local Alaska jail mugshots resources, police contacts, and court info for that region.
Alaska Jail Mugshots in Major Cities
The biggest cities run their own police. Pick a city below to find the police records unit, local jail info, and booking resources for Alaska jail mugshots in that area.