Jail Registers

Licking County has had a jail since ca. 1808 or 1809.  The earliest surviving records of County Jail prisoners date from 1874, and are found in a volume called a Jail Register.  Our Department has Jail Registers from 1874-1994, but there are gaps for the years 1880-1903, 1920-1927 and 1959-1979.  We also have Inmate Intake Records from 1979-2011.  These Intake volumes contain less information than the Registers.  Later records of prisoners in the County Jail are available from the Sheriff's Office, tel. 740-670-5500.

 
A page from a Jail Register volume, showing records of some prisoners in 1905


Jail Registers typically record the prisoner's name, birthplace, dates of incarceration, offense, sentence, age, sex and race.  Additional or less information is included in some volumes.  The Jail Registers and Inmate Intake Records are public records, so you are free to search for information in them.  In addition to data about individual prisoners, the Registers offer some interesting general information, such as the crimes that persons tended to be arrested for during certain periods.

The Licking County Jail, from 1889-1987 (photograph taken 2013)


The building which housed the County Jail from 1889-1987 is still standing on South 3rd Street, two blocks south of the Courthouse Square.  Tours and other events are occasionally held there.  For more information about this "Historic Licking County Jail," please contact Pam Jones at the Commissioners' Office, tel. 740-670-5114.

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