The Camden County Inmate Population
Camden County does not operate a stand-alone county jail in Camden. The local jail population for Camden arrests is served by Albemarle District Jail, a regional jail at 210 Executive Drive South in Elizabeth City. The facility serves Camden, Pasquotank, and Perquimans counties, so the jail building's capacity is a regional facility number rather than a Camden-only headcount. That distinction matters: the Camden County inmate population is a county share inside a three-county jail arrangement, not a daily census of everyone in the Elizabeth City building.
Camden County's local records and custody path also splits across agencies. The Camden County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff J. Kevin Jones, handles law-enforcement work and sheriff records. Albemarle District Jail handles custody, visitation, mail, inmate funds, and the jail-linked VINE/SAVAN lookup. Court records after an arrest move through Camden County courts and North Carolina eCourts. Sentenced state prisoners are searched through the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction rather than through the jail.
Definition: In this Camden County context, "inmate population" means people connected to Camden County local custody, including pretrial detainees, short local sentences, and people awaiting release or transfer through Albemarle District Jail. It does not mean every person in state prison who was convicted in Camden County, and it does not mean the full 248-bed regional jail capacity.
Camden County Inmate Population Statistics
The most useful hard numbers come from two different source types. Albemarle District Jail's official history gives facility capacity and construction history. Vera Institute county trend data gives Camden County estimates within the regional jail group. The research file flags those Vera figures as regional-jail estimates for Camden County FIPS 37029, so they should be read as apportioned county trend values rather than a real-time roster count.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Camden County jail population estimate | 33.44 | Vera Incarceration Trends county CSV, 2024 |
| Albemarle District Jail design capacity | 248 beds | Albemarle District Jail official history, current facility opened 2010 |
| Infrastructure expansion capacity | Up to 500 beds | Albemarle District Jail official history |
| Camden estimated jail admissions | 121.07 | Vera county CSV, 2023, regional-jail estimate |
| Camden-only daily population dashboard | Not published | No official Camden or Albemarle dashboard located |
Do not read the 248-bed figure as "248 Camden County inmates." Albemarle District Jail is the regional facility for three counties, and Camden's recent Vera estimates are much smaller than the building's full capacity. The jail's capacity describes the Elizabeth City facility. The Camden County inmate population trend describes Camden's estimated share in a regional-jail data environment.
Camden County Inmate Population Trends
Vera's extracted Camden County values show a small regional-jail county whose estimated population moved within a narrow band from 2017 through 2024. The 2019 estimate was the highest recent value in the extracted table, while 2023 and 2024 were lower than the 2019 through 2021 range. Because Camden is grouped with Pasquotank and Perquimans in Vera's regional-jail mapping, trend language should stay cautious and avoid treating the numbers as a live jail census.
| Year | Camden County Jail Population Estimate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 33.44 | Vera county CSV; regional-jail estimate, not a daily roster count. |
| 2023 | 31.00 | Vera county CSV; estimated pretrial custody was 28.74. |
| 2022 | 31.36 | Vera county CSV; admissions estimate listed as 237.00. |
| 2021 | 34.43 | Vera county CSV; estimated pretrial custody was 31.74. |
| 2020 | 36.50 | Vera county CSV; pandemic-era jail data can be volatile. |
| 2019 | 38.08 | Highest recent value in the extracted 2017-2024 table. |
| 2018 | 32.17 | Vera county CSV. |
| 2017 | 30.04 | Vera county CSV. |
Who Makes Up the Camden County Inmate Population
The public sources reviewed did not publish a current race, sex, age, felony/misdemeanor, or housing-unit breakdown for Camden inmates at Albemarle District Jail. The safest public description is functional: Camden's local jail population is mainly people arrested or detained on Camden County matters who are not released at the magistrate stage, plus sentenced local inmates and people awaiting transfer, court action, or release processing. Recent Vera data does include pretrial estimates for Camden, but those are still county estimates tied to a regional jail.
- Pretrial population - Vera estimated Camden pretrial custody at 28.74 in 2023, 28.60 in 2022, 31.74 in 2021, and 33.80 in 2020.
- Sentenced local population - A current Camden-only sentenced/local split was not published in official local sources reviewed.
- Sex, race, and age - Recent official demographic tables for Albemarle or Camden jail detainees were not located.
- Other agency holds - Public Albemarle sources did not publish a Camden-specific count of federal, ICE, probation, parole, or other-jurisdiction holds.
Camden County Jail Capacity and Overcrowding
Albemarle District Jail's official history explains why the current facility is larger than Camden's individual estimates. The original 1972 jail had 44 beds. A late-1980s expansion added 24 cells that became available in 1990, and double-bunking approval brought the old building to a 90-bed rated capacity. Severe overcrowding drove the Jail Board to build the current 248-bed facility, which opened at the Pasquotank County Commerce Park site in 2010 and included infrastructure for possible expansion to 500 beds.
The official jail site does not publish a current daily census or an overcrowding dashboard. For Camden County search users, the important capacity point is that Albemarle's 248 beds serve three counties. A Camden estimate of about 31 to 34 people in recent Vera data can coexist with a 248-bed regional facility because the denominator is not Camden alone.
Laws Governing the Camden County Inmate Population
North Carolina public-records and jail-standard laws shape what can be inspected, what must be requested from a custodian, and what may be withheld. Camden County's public-records page says requests may be verbal and should be directed to the agency that has custody of the record. For inmate status, that usually means VINE/SAVAN or Albemarle District Jail. For arrest and incident records, the local path is the Camden Sheriff's Records Management Division. For charges and dispositions, the path is eCourts or the clerk.
Key Statutes:
N.C. Gen. Stat. 132-1 defines public records broadly and states North Carolina's public-access policy unless another law applies.
N.C. Gen. Stat. 132-1.4 limits ordinary access to criminal investigation records but requires specified arrest-related information to be public.
N.C. Gen. Stat. 153A-221 requires minimum standards for local confinement facilities, including security, health, supervision, medical care, sanitation, food, and welfare.
N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-534 governs pretrial release conditions, including secured bonds, unsecured bonds, custody release, and electronic-monitoring conditions.
N.C. Gen. Stat. 162-62 addresses legal-status checks and ICE detainer handling in specified local-confinement situations.
Camden County and the State Prison Population
A person arrested in Camden County may begin in local custody through Albemarle District Jail, but a state-prison sentence is a separate system. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction offender-search page says its Offender Public Information Search includes state prison offenders, probationers, and parolees and contains historical information back to 1972. It expressly does not include county jail information.
No state prison was located in Camden County. Do not confuse Albemarle District Jail in Elizabeth City with Albemarle Correctional Institution in Stanly County near New London. The shared "Albemarle" name can mislead searchers, but the correctional institution is not the Camden regional jail and should not be used for Camden County jail visitation, mail, or funds.
Programs, Conditions, and Recent Camden Custody Updates
Albemarle District Jail's public pages provide limited program detail, so the Camden County inmate population should not be described with invented GED, vocational, substance-abuse, work-release, or formal reentry programs. Verified public details include an inmate handbook after processing, video visitation, mail privileges, inmate accounts for canteen activity, indigent writing supplies with later recoupment from deposits, medical and prescription debits, and return of remaining account money by debit card after release or a transfer lasting more than 24 hours.
Recent official developments were mostly structural rather than litigation-focused. Camden County moved into North Carolina eCourts Track 3 on February 5, 2024, which affects how court records after a jail arrest are searched. Albemarle District Jail's homepage also described detention-officer hiring and in-person application hours. No official consent decree, DOJ investigation, jail-closure order, recent death-in-custody report, or Camden-specific jail-construction bond item was located in the research sources reviewed.
How to Search the Camden County Inmate Population
The primary local lookup starts at Albemarle District Jail's inmate lookup link, which routes to North Carolina VINE / SAVAN. That service is built for custody status and notifications rather than for a detailed county-hosted booking roster. For someone arrested very recently in Camden County, the public VINE entry may lag behind booking, so the jail phone line remains important.
- Open the Albemarle District Jail website and use the Inmate Information menu's inmate lookup link, or go directly to North Carolina VINE for site 34003.
- Search by the person's name or available offender-identifying information in the VINE/SAVAN interface.
- If the arrest is same-day or the result is unclear, call Albemarle District Jail at 252-335-4844.
- For Camden arrest reports or incident records, contact the Camden Sheriff's Records Management Division; Records Manager Cara Coltrain is listed in the staff directory at 252-338-5046 ext. 271.
- If the person has been sentenced to state prison, switch to the NCDAC Offender Public Information Search.
- Use the BOP locator for sentenced federal prisoners and ICE's locator for immigration detention instead of the local jail lookup.
Current Inmate Lookup in Camden County
Albemarle District Jail does not publish a separate Camden County jail roster, daily booking report, or mugshot gallery on the official pages reviewed. Its inmate lookup path points to VINE/SAVAN, while its official pages publish contact, visitation, mail, funds, policies, and jail history information. VINE/SAVAN is the practical current-custody channel; sheriff records and court records answer different questions.
The NCDAC NC SAVAN page describes a 24-hour automated offender information and notification service. Users may call 1-877-NC SAVAN (1-877-627-2826), and registered users may receive notifications by telephone and email, with other notification channels described by NCDAC materials.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| State / site | Location selector | Yes | Albemarle District Jail links to North Carolina VINE site 34003. |
| Offender name | Text | Usually yes unless using an ID | VINELink commonly supports name search; exact labels can change in the dynamic app. |
| Offender ID / identifying number | Text | Optional or alternative path | Use when known to narrow similar names. |
| Notification registration method | Account/contact fields | Only to register | NCDAC describes telephone, email, text, TTY, and app-style notification channels depending on setup. |
| Language | Interface or phone support | Optional | English and Spanish notifications; translation support is described for more than 100 languages. |
Past and Released Inmate Records
VINE/SAVAN should be treated as a current or recent custody and notification tool, not as a historical Camden booking archive. For a released person, the best next step depends on the record needed. Custody confirmation and jail processing questions go to Albemarle District Jail. Arrest reports, incident reports, citations, and background checks go to Camden Sheriff's Records Management at 117 NC Highway 343 in Camden. Formal charges, hearing dates, and dispositions go to North Carolina eCourts or the Camden Clerk of Superior Court.
Camden County entered the North Carolina eCourts Track 3 transition on February 5, 2024. That makes the Judicial Branch Portal especially important after a jail arrest because a jail lookup may show custody status while the court file shows the case number, court dates, prosecutor action, and final disposition.
What a Camden County Inmate Record Shows
The public VINE/SAVAN route should not be described as a full jail record unless a live result verifies each field. The research found no static Albemarle sample profile showing a public mugshot, charges, bond, housing unit, and booking time. Use the record as a custody-status source first, then use sheriff or court channels for records that VINE does not display.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Name | Searchable offender identity; exact public display format was not captured from a static sample. |
| Custody status | NC SAVAN's core purpose is offender status and custody-change notification. |
| Facility / agency | Albemarle District Jail participates through the North Carolina VINE site linked by the jail. |
| Notification options | Phone, email, text, TTY, or app options may be available depending on platform registration. |
| Charges and bond | Not verified in a public VINE sample; confirm through jail, magistrate, court, or sheriff records. |
| Mugshot / booking photo | No county-hosted mugshot gallery was located; do not assume a photo appears online. |
County Jail vs. State Prison: Where to Look
Camden searchers often use one phrase, but custody systems are separate. A local jail lookup is for people held through Albemarle District Jail while their Camden case is pending, while they serve a short local sentence, or while they await release or transfer. The NCDAC locator is for state prison offenders, probationers, and parolees. Federal and immigration custody use federal systems.
| County / Regional Jail | State Prison (NCDAC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who Is Held | Camden, Pasquotank, and Perquimans local detainees, pretrial defendants, and local sentenced inmates. | People sentenced to North Carolina state prison, plus probationers and parolees in the NCDAC system. |
| Run By | Albemarle District Jail Commission / Jail Administrator. | North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. |
| Where to Look | VINE / NC SAVAN through Albemarle District Jail's inmate lookup link. | NCDAC Offender Public Information Search. |
| Stays Listed | Current or recent custody and notification status; not a historical booking archive. | Historical state offender information back to 1972, according to NCDAC. |
State and Federal Inmate Search
For state custody, use the NCDAC Offender Public Information Search. Search by offender ID when known, or by last name, first name, middle name, gender, race, ethnic group, date of birth or age range, and status. NCDAC also offers statistical tools and special searches, but the offender locator is the identity lookup.
For sentenced federal prisoners, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. For immigration detention, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System, which generally searches by A-Number and country of birth or by biographical information. Neither BOP nor ICE replaces Albemarle District Jail for Camden local custody.
Camden County Detention Facilities
Camden County's facility list is intentionally short because no separate Camden County jail, city jail, state prison, federal prison, ICE facility, or work-release annex was located in official sources. The single serving facility for local jail custody is the regional jail in Elizabeth City.
- Albemarle District Jail - regional jail serving Camden, Pasquotank, and Perquimans counties for local pretrial, local sentenced, transfer, and release-processing custody.
Camden County Inmate Population FAQ
How big is the Camden County inmate population?
Vera's 2024 Camden County jail population estimate is 33.44, and recent extracted values ranged from 30.04 in 2017 to 38.08 in 2019. Those are Camden County estimates in a regional-jail data setting, not a live daily census from Albemarle District Jail.
Does Camden County have its own jail roster?
No separate county-hosted Camden jail roster was located. Albemarle District Jail links its inmate lookup to North Carolina VINE / SAVAN, and same-day custody questions should be confirmed by calling Albemarle District Jail at 252-335-4844.
Where are Camden County inmates held?
Camden arrestees who remain in local custody are held through Albemarle District Jail in Elizabeth City. Camden County's sheriff's office and courthouse are in Camden, but the regional jail is across the county line because Camden participates in the Albemarle/Tri-County jail arrangement.
Can I find a released or past inmate online?
VINE/SAVAN is not a historical booking archive. For released custody history, use the jail phone line, Camden Sheriff's Records Management, Camden County public-records request process, and eCourts or the clerk for formal court records.