Search West Detention Center Inmates

West Detention Center Overview

The Palm Beach County West Detention Center is operated by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Belle Glade, about forty-five miles west of the Sheriff's headquarters in West Palm Beach. It houses adult county jail detainees under PBSO custody and gives the western part of the county a local detention point rather than sending everyone to the coastal jail.

The American Correctional Association report lists the West Detention Center at 988 rated beds, with an actual population of 661 on the October 11, 2023 audit date. People can be booked, moved, or housed between the West and Main centers based on classification, bed space, court routing, or medical needs.

This is a working county jail, not a holding annex. It houses adult detainees under PBSO custody, mostly people awaiting court action or serving short local sentences, with the same booking and intake steps used at the Main jail. Because an inmate can be transferred between the two facilities, a person booked in Belle Glade today may be housed in West Palm Beach next week, which is why the county roster, not the facility, is the reliable way to confirm a location.

The Sheriff's West Detention Center page is the official source for the Belle Glade facility.

That page confirms the Belle Glade location and the facility's role within the county jail system.

West Detention Center Capacity and Population

The West Detention Center is rated for 988 beds in the October 2023 ACA report, and it held 661 people on the audit date. The count shifts daily as people are booked, bonded out, or moved between the county's two jails.

As at any jail, rated beds do not mean every unit has open space, because security classification limits how inmates can be housed together.

The West Detention Center is the smaller of the two PBSO jails. Across both facilities, the accreditation report recorded a combined 1,991 people on the audit date, a 12-month average daily population of 1,884, an average length of stay of 36 days, and an average sentence of 63 days. The West facility's 661 count was part of that combined county jail population.

How to Look Up an Inmate at the West Detention Center

This is a county jail, so the lookup path is the Sheriff's booking roster, not a state or federal locator. The PBSO Booking Blotter covers bookings into both the West and Main detention centers. Search by name and confirm the details before assuming a match.

1. Open the PBSO Booking Blotter from the Arrest and Jail menu.
2. Search by the person's last name, with exact spelling when known.
3. Confirm the booking date, booking number, and arresting agency.
4. Open the profile for charges, bond, housing, and custody status.

A confirmed match should line up on more than the name. Check the booking date, the booking number, and the arresting agency, since common names can return more than one result. If nothing matches, the person may have bonded out, been released, or moved to the Main jail or the state system.

If the person has already been sentenced and transferred to state prison, the county roster will not list them. The full roster guide is on the jail inmate records page.

West Detention Center Address and Contact

The West Detention Center is in Belle Glade, in the western farm belt of the county. Use the facility phone line for custody questions specific to this jail that the roster does not answer, and use the Sheriff's central public-records portal for booking records that are not posted online.

Visiting Someone at the West Detention Center

Visits for West Detention Center inmates run through the Sheriff's video visitation centers and are scheduled in advance. Visitors for inmates housed at the Main or West Detention Center may use either listed center. Bring valid government identification, follow the dress code, and expect screening. Exact day and time windows are set by the facility, so confirm them before traveling, especially for the Belle Glade location.

The rules and online scheduler are posted on the PBSO visitation page.

Mail, Phone, and Money at the West Detention Center

Mail to a West Detention Center inmate should carry the full name and booking number in the Sheriff's approved format. Money can be deposited into a commissary account through the method the Sheriff lists. Fees and posting times can vary, so confirm the current steps on the official pages.

The Sheriff's inmate accounts page is the official source for current deposit steps, and the same PBSO rules apply unless the agency posts West-specific instructions.

Programs and Services at the West Detention Center

Inmate services at the West Detention Center are run through the same Sheriff's Contract Compliance Division that covers the Main jail. That division oversees the contracts for healthcare, food service, and commissary, along with laundry, education, a reading and law library, re-entry, religious services, and substance-abuse education. The accreditation report references Wellpath for healthcare and Trinity Food Services for food service among the contract staff supporting both facilities.

For families, the practical points match the Main jail. Medical and mental-health screening begins at intake, requests for care or services follow jail procedures, and the details of any inmate's care are confidential. Visitation, mail, and account rules follow the same PBSO policies unless the agency posts West-specific instructions.

Western Palm Beach County and the West Detention Center

Palm Beach County is geographically large, and the western communities around Belle Glade and South Bay sit far from the coastal county seat in West Palm Beach. The West Detention Center gives those farm communities a local detention point instead of treating the whole county as a single coastal facility. For a family in the Glades, that can mean a shorter trip for a visit or a records question than a drive to Gun Club Road.

Municipal police agencies across the western county can make arrests that end in a PBSO booking here, so the arresting agency and the jail operator are not always the same. A person booked at the West Detention Center still moves through the same county court system and the same Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and is searched through the same Sheriff's booking roster.

Booking and Intake at the West Detention Center

Booking at the West Detention Center follows the same county process as the Main jail. An arresting agency brings the person in, and intake staff identify them, check warrants and holds, inventory property, run security screening, take fingerprints and a booking photo, and begin medical and mental-health screening. A municipal arrest in the western communities can still result in a PBSO booking here.

After booking, the person is moved before a judge for a first appearance, where bond and release conditions are addressed. Depending on classification and bed management, an inmate may later be moved between the West and Main detention centers.

The Sheriff's Court Security Division handles transport to and from the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit's court facilities, which include a criminal-justice complex in Belle Glade as well as locations in West Palm Beach, North County, and South County. That local court presence is part of why the western county has its own detention center rather than routing every case to the coast.

About the West Detention Center

The West Detention Center matters because Palm Beach County is geographically large, with western agricultural communities around Belle Glade and South Bay that are far from the coastal county seat. A separate jail in Belle Glade keeps custody, court routing, and visitation closer to those communities. Public records for either jail still run through the Sheriff's central records and public-records portal. Once sentenced to prison, an inmate from this jail transfers to the state system, which may include South Bay Correctional Facility nearby.