Search Blair County Prison Inmates

Blair County Prison Overview

Blair County Prison is the county correctional institution in Hollidaysburg and is operated by the prison administration under local Prison Board oversight. It is not listed by the county as a sheriff-run roster office. The official prison section instead splits public information into contact, visitation, inmate services, inmate mail, and TextBehind mail pages. That structure matters because it shows the real public route: call the jail for current custody, use court records for charges and bail, and use state or federal locators only when the person has moved outside the county jail system.

The facility holds a mixed county-jail population. Blair County Prison may house pretrial detainees, people committed after court hearings, county-sentenced inmates, work-release participants, and temporary holds before release or transfer. The county pages identify male and female restricted housing, protective custody, and units B through K. Those unit labels are not just internal terms. They control public visitation times, so a caller may need both the inmate's custody status and assigned unit before a visit can be planned.

The official prison contact page lists Warden Matt Hale, deputy wardens, lieutenants, case managers, extensions, and emails. For ordinary family lookup needs, the main public number remains the starting point. Staff may limit what can be released by phone, especially where criminal-history rules, security rules, medical privacy, juveniles, or sealed records apply.

The county's prison page shows the facility contact block and unit-based public schedule. This screenshot from the Blair County Prison official page matches the page subject and shows why the prison site is useful even without a public inmate roster.

The county page supports contact, visits, and facility rules, but it does not replace direct custody verification for a current Blair County Prison inmate.

Blair County Prison Capacity

Blair County does not publish a live population dashboard or an official rated-capacity figure on the prison pages reviewed. The most useful numbers are dated snapshots. WJAC reported in 2024 that then-Warden Abbie Tate described a 355-bed jail while the facility was holding 384 inmates. Altoona Mirror reporting in 2025 and later 2026 reports described counts above 400 in mid-2024, lower counts in 2025, and spring 2026 counts tied to transfers and overflow housing. Those figures are useful, but they should not be read as a live count.

Spring 2026 reporting also described a proposed replacement design with 454 beds and nine housing units. That number belongs to a planned replacement concept discussed in public reporting, not to the current jail's official capacity. Population planning in Blair County has also involved state-prison transfers, limited Centre County contract beds, and electronic-monitoring discussions.

Blair County Prison Inmate Lookup

No official online Blair County Prison roster, recent-bookings page, mugshot gallery, or searchable jail list was located on the county website. A current Blair County Prison inmate lookup therefore starts with the facility phone and then moves through related official systems. The Blair County inmate records path is strongest when custody, charges, bail, and transfer status are checked as separate questions.

1. Call Blair County Prison at 814-693-3155 and provide the person's full name, date of birth if known, and approximate arrest or booking date.
2. Ask whether the person is currently held, released, transferred, or not found, recognizing that staff may limit details.
3. Search Pennsylvania UJS Case Search for charges, bail, docket number, OTN, court events, and disposition.
4. Use Pennsylvania VINELink for custody notification, especially when a transfer or Centre County overflow placement is possible.
5. Use the Pennsylvania DOC locator only after state sentencing or parole supervision becomes the likely custody system.

Federal and immigration custody use different tools. The Federal Bureau of Prisons locator covers sentenced federal inmates and some older federal records. ICE Online Detainee Locator System covers immigration detainees. Neither is a substitute for Blair County Prison's phone line when the person was just arrested locally.

Blair County Prison Contact

The facility contact card is the practical anchor for current custody questions because no official public Blair County jail roster was found. Call before traveling for records or visit questions, since the official research did not identify separate public lobby hours for jail records. Court charges, bail, and docket events should still be verified through UJS or the Clerk of Courts rather than inferred from jail custody alone.

Central Booking fingerprinting is also tied to the prison. The county Court Administration research lists Central Booking at Blair County Prison, 814-693-3155 ext. 8, for people who need fingerprinting instructions. That is not a public roster, but it confirms the prison's role in the local booking path.

Blair County Prison Visits

The Blair County Prison visitation page requires visitors to be on the inmate's approved visitor list. The inmate completes that list, and approval normally takes three to five days after commitment. Inmates may receive three one-hour visits each week, with no more than three visitors at one visit. Visitors need valid state, driver, or federal photo ID. Minors must be with a parent or legal guardian and need proof such as a birth certificate.

Visits run by housing unit. The visit week is Saturday through Wednesday, and visitors must register ten minutes before the scheduled time. Personal belongings must be left in a vehicle or locker. Visitors are subject to search, and contraband can end a visit, bar later visits, or lead to criminal charges.

The screenshot from the official Blair County Prison visitation page shows the visitor-list rule, ID rules, weekly visit limits, and unit schedule source.

The schedule is detailed enough that visitors should confirm the housing unit before travel, not rely on a single jail-wide visiting window.

Blair County Prison Mail

Personal mail for Blair County Prison does not go straight to the Hollidaysburg jail address. The official mail pages route personal mail through TextBehind in Phoenix, Maryland. Privileged mail and publications go directly to the prison. Letters are opened and checked for contraband, legal mail is opened in the inmate's presence, and packages are not permitted. Books, magazines, and newspapers must come directly from the publisher.

The official inmate services page covers JailATM, Encartele, commissary, medical co-pays, programs, work release, and other jail services.

Those services are facility rules for Blair County Prison. State DOC facilities and Centre County accounts use their own systems.

Blair County Prison Intake

A Blair County arrest may come from a municipal police agency, Pennsylvania State Police, sheriff warrant service, or a court commitment. The person is then booked or processed through jail intake and court paperwork. Intake can include identity confirmation, search, property control, medical screening, classification, and housing assignment. The prison's security rules for mail, visits, contraband, and calls show the same custody controls used after intake.

Medical care is provided by PrimeCare Medical. Research from the county inmate services page says every new inmate undergoes a 48-hour quarantine. Inmates request medical care in writing to the Medical Department and may first be seen by a nurse before referral to a doctor. Co-pays listed in the research are $3.00 for a nurse visit and $5.00 for a doctor visit when the visit is not medically referred, with exceptions for initial commitment, psychiatric or emergency screening, chronic illness initial treatment, necessary follow-up, and qualifying emergency care.

Booking

The jail intake step after arrest or court commitment.

Classification

The jail review that helps assign housing, custody level, and program eligibility.

Detainer

A hold from another authority that can block release even when local bail is addressed.

Work release

An approved program where an inmate leaves for employment and returns to custody after work.

Blair County Prison Programs

Blair County Prison's Inmate Services Department offers educational, vocational, counseling, religious, law library, and work release services. Program admission is not automatic. The research states that inmates request participation through the housing-unit kiosk, and admission depends on need, eligibility, and security assessments. That makes program access a custody decision, not a public guarantee.

Work release is an important local detail. Approved inmates may leave the prison for gainful employment in the community, then return after work and remain in custody during non-working hours. The county describes the program as a way to help people meet financial responsibilities such as court costs, support, room and board, and lawful debts while readjusting to community duties.