Each of the counties that came from Old~Bedford has a county jail. When a person is arrested, and needs to be confined for any period of time he or she is placed in the county jail. The records of all such arrests are filed and maintained by the county. It should be noted from the beginning, though, that prison records are not always permitted to be made available to the general public; access to them might require a court order.
Records maintained in regard to prisoners of the county jails will often include, in addition to the name, the age and sometimes the birth date of the prisoner. In cases where a female prisoner might give birth while incarcerated, the name and birth date of the child might be included. If a prisoner dies while incarcerated, the prison records might include the death date. Included with the basic records by which a prisoner is committed to the county jail, the file might contain any bail papers, if bail was assigned and posted. The file might also contain any affidavits taken in the investigation of the situation which resulted in the incarceration of the prisoner. If the case went to trial, the file might contain the outcome of that case along with a list of jurors, and if the accused person was found guilty a statement of the sentence handed down might be included. If the prisoner was eventually pardoned or paroled, papers related to those actions should also be included in the file.
Prison records are normally maintained in the prison office, but they might also be stored in the Prothonotary office of the court house, where fines and the like are maintained.
