Search Federal Bureau of Prisons Releases

BOP Release Status Meaning

The BOP locator covers federal inmates released after 1982. Its historical result can display a past release date with the location label RELEASED. BOP explains that this means the person is no longer in BOP custody. The person may remain on federal supervised release or parole, or may be held by a state, local, or immigration authority.

IN TRANSIT carries a different meaning. It can reflect movement under U.S. Marshals Service authority. BOP also warns that the label may persist after a court release if BOP did not receive a later update. Neither a missing location nor IN TRANSIT proves community release.

Search the BOP Locator

Open the official BOP Inmate Locator. An identifier search is usually the cleanest route. The locator accepts a BOP register number, DCDC number, FBI number, or INS number. A name search uses the person’s name and identifying characteristics. Match more than one fact before accepting a result.

1. Search by a known federal identifier when available.
2. Otherwise enter the full name and narrow with the displayed identifying details.
3. Open the matching result and record the exact location or status label.
4. If RELEASED appears, record the past release date and access date.
5. Check the court docket and any named receiving custodian.

The Starr County released-person search helps distinguish an earlier county handoff from the later federal event. A Starr booking-out date cannot be reused as the BOP release date.

Federal Release Record Fields

The locator is a finding tool, not the full release file. Preserve enough information to connect the locator result with the federal case and any record request. The exact event wording matters because RELEASED and IN TRANSIT support different conclusions.

Do not assume that the locator lists the reason for release, the gate time, or every later supervision condition. Those details require the court or agency record.

BOP FOIA Release Records

The BOP Freedom of Information Act channel is the formal route for agency records. A focused request should identify the person by full name, register number, date of birth, relevant institution if known, and a narrow date range. Ask for the release date and type, designation history needed to trace movement, and records showing departure from BOP custody, subject to privacy rules and exemptions.

FOIA does not promise that every requested item will be released. Identity verification or authorization may be required for person-specific material. A narrow request makes the event easier to identify and reduces confusion between a court order, a USMS movement, and a completed BOP release.

Start with the locator because it may settle the narrow question at no charge. Save the register number, exact status label, past release date when shown, and access date. Then frame a FOIA request around the missing event. Ask for records that establish departure from BOP custody and any designation history needed to trace the move. Do not ask BOP to certify a county-jail handoff or an ICE event. Each custodian controls its own record.

Supervised release

Court-ordered federal supervision after incarceration.

USMS movement

Custody transport or placement under Marshals Service authority.

BOP release

Departure from Bureau of Prisons custody.

Transfer

Movement into another custodian’s control.

Starr Federal Court Records

Starr County lies in the McAllen Division of the Southern District of Texas under 28 U.S.C. §124(b)(7). The PACER Case Locator can identify the federal docket. The judgment may show the prison term and supervised-release conditions. Later orders may address detention, revocation, modification, or case disposition.

A court order explains legal authority, but it may not record the actual gate timestamp. Pair it with BOP’s status and agency documentation. A federal pretrial defendant held under USMS authority may not appear like a sentenced BOP inmate at all.

PACER draws from federal court feeds, and its national case-locator subsets update nightly. The court's own CM/ECF system may be more current. Published PACER policy generally charges ten cents per page, caps many individual documents at three dollars, and waives quarterly charges of thirty dollars or less. A judgment can identify imprisonment and supervised release. Later docket entries may show dismissal or a release order, but the physical custodian remains the source for the completed custody event.

Note: Use the court for legal disposition and the physical custodian for the custody event.

Federal Custody Beyond BOP

The U.S. Marshals Service handles many federal defendants before sentence and during movement. Contract placement may occur at a site that is not a BOP prison. A person can therefore have a federal case without a locator history that resembles a sentenced BOP term. Use the USMS Southern District channel and court docket when the BOP search does not fit the case stage.

Another sovereign may take custody after BOP. State warrants, local matters, or immigration custody can continue. Follow the named recipient. Never infer the next custodian from geography, surname, or a blank search.

National BOP Facility Scope

A county booking-out record and a BOP locator result mark different points. If Starr County transferred the person to USMS, preserve the recipient and handoff date, then locate the federal case. If the person was later designated to BOP, use the register number to follow that term. A later RELEASED result closes only the BOP part of the chain. This sequence prevents one agency's departure date from being reused as another agency's release date.

No federal Bureau of Prisons facility was verified in Starr County. That does not make BOP irrelevant to Starr cases. A person sentenced in the Southern District of Texas may be designated to a suitable facility anywhere in the federal system. Facility location and court location are distinct.

Keep each conclusion narrow. RELEASED supports “no longer in BOP custody” as of the displayed date. IN TRANSIT supports no release claim. A blank result may reflect spelling, identifier problems, pretrial USMS custody, or system scope. Verify with the responsible agency instead of forcing the facts into one locator.