Free West Virginia Parole Search: Find Parolees’ Records & More

Conduct a free West Virginia parole search to determine if someone is a parolee or in violation of their terms.

Generally speaking, parole as a legal category is a lot like probation in that both refer to court-mandated supervision of offenders. Probation is imposed for lesser offenses as an alternative to jail time, while parole applies to supervised early release from a prison sentence.

West Virginia places parole and probation under much the same institutional umbrella. This resource helps citizens navigate these complexities and find useful free search tools for looking up parolees, parole violators and absconders, information on hearings and officers, and even how to find probationers.

How To Check if Someone Is a Parolee (Free West Virginia Parole Search)

By far, the most powerful and flexible parole search tool is offered by the West Virginia Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation (DCR).¹ It’s an online engine that searchers can use for a wide variety of information inquiries.

The main parole search tool at the state level is the Offender Information Search (OIS).² It’s free for public use and can be accessed with a simple name search, although a search can be made more precise with an Offender ID number. Search results include offenders in prison, on parole and under active supervision, a category that applies to out-of-state probationers and parolees.

Other than this, the summaries that OIS provides include basic information about the offender, such as:

• Race
• Height & Weight
• Sex
• Birth Date
• Offense (The specific offense for which they were sentenced)

The summaries also include various dates of basic interactions with the court and correctional system, some of which we’ll come back to in later sections of this post.

The state’s Parole Service Offices offer another avenue for conducting a search.³ These offices are grouped into Northern and Southern Districts.

They coordinate groups of parole officers and can put the public in touch with the specific officer assigned to a certain offender. A directory of these offices provides phone numbers.⁴ The public can also reach the state’s parole board.

West Virginia Parole Board
1409 Greenbrier St, 2nd Fl.
Charleston, WV 25311

Phone: 304-558-6366

Check Who Has Violated Parole or Is on the Run in West Virginia

The Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation (DRC) Offender Information Search also offers a resource specifically focused on absconders from parole or probation. Additionally, this same tool, powered by the main OIS search engine, provides information about escapees from prison; it’s thus called the Escapees & Absconders Search.⁵

Unlike the usual function of the OIS, the Escapees & Absconders list doesn’t allow users to customize their searches. It provides a pre-generated list of parole and probation absconders, along with their names and pictures. Each page of this list includes a few names of escapees but not necessarily their pictures.

The list doesn’t provide direct links to summaries of offender information in the way the main OIS search does. What it does offer is Offender ID numbers (OIDs), which users can copy and plug into an OIS search if they want more detailed information.

This exercise will reveal details like what an offender was sentenced for and when they were scheduled for a parole hearing. It also shows that the OIS summary actually does not make note of whether an offender is an absconder or escapee.

The Escapees & Absconders list is thus a pretty crucial tool in determining whether a given parolee might have violated the conditions of their parole.

It’s an important consideration while conducting a parole search in West Virginia, since the Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation will be actively pursuing someone who’s jumped parole. The chaos these individuals can create in their own lives and the lives of those around them makes them a threat to public health and safety.

How To Search for Inmates in a West Virginia State Prison

The OIS search provided by the West Virginia Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation is also useful for finding currently incarcerated inmates in West Virginia’s prison system. As mentioned above, offenders can be searched by name, OID (Offender ID number) or both. Results include:

• Summaries of their basic information
• Their interactions with the court and correctional systems
• What they were sentenced for
• Their expected release date

The DCR provides a range of offender services that allow family, friends and loved ones to contact an inmate, schedule a visit (in the case of juvenile offenders) or send money or supplies.⁶ Further resources include:

• Juvenile Visitation forms⁷
  
• Offender Banking information
• Offender Calling and Video Visit information

The DCR even offers a series of property packages or the means of setting up prepaid commissary accounts for offenders, simplifying the process of providing external support for an inmate. For additional concern, contact the Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation to the information provided below.

Division of Corrections & Rehabilitation
1409 Greenbrier St.
Charleston, WV 25311

Phone: 304.558.2036

How To Conduct a Parole Hearing Lookup & Reach a Parolee’s Assigned Officer in West Virginia

Finding parole hearings and parole officers can be an important part of a parole search in West Virginia. When a parole hearing occurs—West Virginia’s parole board conducts them on a monthly basis—members of the public may wish to attend or contribute statements about the offender.

When someone’s on parole, there may be a need to report concerns for the parolee’s safety or well-being, the safety of those around them or potential violations of parole.

The OIS system is also of use in learning when a given inmate has a scheduled parole hearing. When it’s applicable, this is one of the pieces of information included in an OIS summary.

Parole Service Officers can be accessed through the directory of field offices mentioned above. These offices are the best avenue for members of the public to contact a parole officer assigned to a specific inmate and to voice concerns.

The Parole Board’s monthly hearings are held by video conference and provide information about how to attend a hearing or how to be notified as a crime victim through their FAQ page.^{8, 9} Contact information for the Parole Board is available below.

West Virginia Parole Board
1409 Greenbrier St., 2nd Fl.
Charleston, WV 25311

Phone: 304.558.6366

How To Look Up West Virginia Probationers for Free

Although the state of West Virginia carries out active supervision for out-of-state probationers through its Parole Service Offices, the state isn’t one of the jurisdictions that actually treats probation and parole as interchangeable.

As a court-supervised alternative to imprisonment, probation tends to be levied for less serious offenses as opposed to parole, which applies to the supervised release from prison of offenders convicted of serious crimes.

As such, for in-state probationers, West Virginia maintains a separate Division of Probation Services. The Offender Information Search that applies to so many of the above sections won’t display probationers sentenced in the state. However, the Division provides a large system of probation offices and Chief Probation Officers to contact in every county.¹⁰

Those Chief Probation Officers can serve as the starting point for seeking out a particular probationer. Their contact information, or the contacts for their offices, can also be found through the directories of West Virginia’s lower courts.¹¹

For example, information on probation sentences handed down in Kanawha County courts can be found by accessing the county’s court information page.¹² By reviewing court records, residents can discover current probation terms, violations, and completion information for criminal proceedings.

The above resources on how to conduct a West Virginia parole search were assembled with public safety and the best possible access to information in mind. Updates to this article will continue as further resources become available.