Arrested in Riverside County?

Use the Riverside County Sheriff’s inmate locator. You search by last name, and adding a first name and date of birth narrows the results. A new booking can take a few hours to show up, and someone arrested by a city police department may be held briefly at the station before being taken to a county jail. The Sheriff notes that the locator’s information should not be relied on for legal action, so confirm the details before you act on them. If you can’t find the person, call us and we will help find out where they are held and when their first court date is.

It usually depends on where the arrest happened. The Riverside County Sheriff runs five jails: the Robert Presley Detention Center in downtown Riverside, the Cois M. Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta, the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio and the Blythe Jail. People can be moved between jails after booking, so check the locator again before you plan a visit. Visits are set up by calling the jail the day before, and each jail has its own visiting hours and rules.

If they stay in custody, they must be brought to court for arraignment, usually within 48 hours, not counting Sundays and holidays (PC 825). Someone arrested on a Wednesday after court has closed must generally be brought in by Friday. The first court date is usually at the courthouse that serves the area of the arrest: the Riverside Hall of Justice, the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, the Banning Justice Center, the Larson Justice Center in Indio or the Blythe courthouse. If the District Attorney’s office has not filed charges by then, the person is usually released, but charges can still be filed later.

The judges in each county adopt a bail schedule every year (PC 1269b). Under the Riverside court’s current bail schedule, many misdemeanors and some lower-level felonies lead to release without bail, either with a citation or after booking, on a signed promise to appear. Most other charges, including most violent felonies and many domestic violence charges, have a scheduled bail amount that can usually be posted at the jail at any time before the first court date. If bail is not posted, a judge reviews bail and release, usually at the arraignment. Someone who has missed court before or has another hold may not be released without bail, even on a lower-level charge.

Bail can be paid in full, and that money is generally returned after the case ends if every court date is kept. Many families use a licensed bail bond company instead, which usually charges a fee of about 10 percent of the bail that is not refunded.

Often, yes. A judge can release someone on their own recognizance, or OR: a signed promise to come back to court and follow any conditions the judge sets, with no money paid (PC 1318). For a misdemeanor, OR release is the rule unless the judge finds on the record that it would put public safety at risk or would not make sure the person returns to court (PC 1270). For serious or violent felonies and certain domestic violence, threat and stalking charges, release on OR, or on bail different from the schedule, requires a hearing in open court (PC 1270.1). The California Supreme Court has held that a judge may require money bail only after looking at the person’s finances and finding that release conditions without money would not be enough, and that bail must generally be set at an amount the person can realistically raise, even if it is not easy (In re Humphrey, 2021; In re Kowalczyk, 2026). Proof of a job, a home address and family support helps the judge decide, so gather it before the first court date.

The judge tells the person what they are charged with, makes sure they have a lawyer, takes a plea, usually not guilty at this stage, and decides bail or release. In domestic violence and some other cases, the judge must consider a criminal protective order and often issues one (PC 136.2). In a felony case, the next step is usually a preliminary hearing, which must be held within 10 court days if the person is in custody, unless they agree to a later date or the court finds good cause for a delay (PC 859b).

If the person cannot afford a lawyer, the judge appoints one at the arraignment, usually from the Riverside County Public Defender’s office (PC 987). Public defenders are full-time criminal defense lawyers, and many are very experienced. Ty Martinez started in criminal law as a deputy public defender. Because the office is appointed by the court, it usually cannot step in before the first court date, and you cannot choose which lawyer you get. If the public defender has a conflict, for example because it represents a co-defendant, the court appoints a different lawyer.

As soon as you can, ideally before the arraignment. A private lawyer can start right away: visit the person in jail at their request or a relative’s request (PC 825), find out the charges and the bail, gather what the judge needs to consider release, and be ready to argue for it at the first court date. In some cases, a lawyer can also talk with the prosecutor before charges are filed. You choose who handles the case. If a public defender has already been appointed, you can usually still hire a private lawyer later in the case.

As little as possible about the case. After booking, an arrested person has the right to at least three free local calls, generally within three hours of the arrest, to a lawyer, a bail bond company, or a relative or other person, and a parent arranging care for a child can make two more (PC 851.5). Only the call to a lawyer is protected from monitoring. Other jail calls and video visits are usually recorded, and prosecutors can use what is said. Tell your loved one to ask for a lawyer and not to discuss what happened with officers, other inmates or family, even in letters.

Then the bail is usually the amount the judge set on the warrant, not the schedule (PC 1269b), and some warrants, especially for probation or supervision violations, carry no bail, so the person waits to see a judge. A warrant from another county can mean waiting to be picked up by that county, but for a case involving only misdemeanors, the judge must release the person on their own recognizance unless public safety or a return to court is at risk (PC 1270). Our warrants page explains how a lawyer can often clear a warrant before an arrest.