Charles County Detention Center Overview
Charles County Sheriff's Office describes the Charles County Detention Center as the county's adult detention center and places it under the Sheriff's Office Corrections Division. The facility holds pretrial and sentenced adult men and women, and the Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards minutes describe the security range as minimum through maximum. The jail is not a state prison. It is the local intake and custody site for Charles County arrests, court holding, local jail sentences, work-release related functions, and records created during booking and detention.
The 2024 CCSO Annual Report gives the strongest current facility profile. It says the Charles County Detention Center opened in 1995, covers about 140,000 square feet, has 219 cells, processed 5,187 arrests through intake, booked 1,560 people, and had a 2024 average daily population of 218 offenders. The Corrections Division includes custody teams, shift commanders, accreditation and training functions, commissary, supplies, Central Processing, records, intake, finance, transportation, court holding, an inmate library, and law library support.
The official detention center page shows the main detention topics used by families and records users.
That source is useful because it collects the local rules for custody, visits, accounts, mail, phone calls, programs, and detention-center contacts in one county-run location.
Charles County Jail Population
Population numbers for the Charles County Detention Center should be read as jail measures, not as a complete count of every person from Charles County in any custody system. The 2024 report lists 218 offenders as the average daily population and 219 cells in the building. A cell count is not the same thing as a formal rated bed capacity, so the research does not support a claim that the jail was over capacity. It does show that the 2024 average daily population was close to the physical cell count.
The same official report lists 124 corrections officers in 2024 and separates arrests processed through intake from people booked into the jail. That distinction matters. A person can pass through intake and later be released, sent to court, transferred, or held under a different authority. The jail population is shaped by arrests, warrants, bond and release decisions, court commitments, local sentences, state-prison transfers, and detainers from other agencies.
| Measure | Figure | Source Year |
|---|---|---|
| Arrests processed through intake | 5,187 | CCSO Annual Report, 2024 |
| Individuals booked into facility | 1,560 | CCSO Annual Report, 2024 |
| Average daily population | 218 offenders | CCSO Annual Report, 2024 |
| Corrections officers | 124 | CCSO Annual Report, 2024 |
Look Up Charles County Detention Center Inmates
No official searchable Charles County jail roster was located on the Sheriff's Office site, the county site, or official Maryland sources. For a current Charles County Detention Center inmate lookup, start with the detention phone line and then use the official fallback channels. Maryland VINELink can help with custody status and notifications. Maryland Judiciary Case Search can show court cases and charges after filing, but it is not a jail roster and does not prove current housing. After state commitment, use the Maryland DPSCS incarcerated individual locator.
- Call the Charles County Detention Center at 301-932-3100 or 301-932-3101 with the person's full legal name and date of birth if known.
- Ask whether the person is in booking, housed in population, released, transferred, held for court, or committed to another agency.
- Search Maryland VINELink for custody status or release notification if the person is listed in the state notification system.
- Use Maryland Judiciary Case Search for filed charges, case number, hearing dates, bond entries, and disposition details.
- Submit a CCSO NextRequest request for records that are not available by phone, subject to Maryland Public Information Act limits.
For broader county-jail search context, the Charles County inmate records page distinguishes current jail custody from court records, state prison custody, federal custody, and immigration custody.
Charles County Detention Center Contact
The detention center address is the official address to use for the local jail, public-safety campus routing, and general custody questions. Visitors should not use the street address for personal mail because Charles County routes inmate personal mail through Smart Communications in Florida. The CCSO contact page also lists non-emergency agency routing, while the detention center numbers are the better first call for current custody and jail-service questions.
Charles County Detention Center
6905 Crain Highway
La Plata, MD 20646
301-932-3100
Detention contact also listed as 301-932-3101
Charles County Sheriff's Office
6915 Crain Highway, PO Box 189
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-6400
Non-emergency line: 301-932-2222
Charles County Detention Center Visits
Charles County uses video visitation. The official visiting-hours page says visits are held at the Detention Center Annex and that all visits are by video, not in-person contact. Remote video service is handled through iWebVisit. Visits must be scheduled ahead of time, may be monitored and recorded when they are nonprofessional visits, and can end for rule violations. Clothing must be appropriate and cover from the neck to the kneecaps.
| Visit Type | Schedule | Length and Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Remote video visit | Seven days a week, 7:45 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. | 15 minutes; $4.50 standard remote visit |
| Qualified professional remote visit | Scheduled through the same video system | 15 minutes; $5.50 remote professional visit |
| In-person contact visit | Not offered on the official page | All visits are video visits |
The CCSO visiting-hours page is the source for the county's video-visit schedule, iWebVisit reference, visit length, fees, and dress rules.
The source helps separate two points that are easy to confuse: the visit site is the Annex, but inmate lookup and jail account rules still tie back to CCDC.
Charles County Jail Mail and Money
Personal mail for a Charles County Detention Center inmate must be sent through Smart Communications, not directly to the La Plata jail. The official format uses Smart Communications/Charles County Detention Center, the inmate's name and number, PO Box 9116, Seminole, FL 33775-9195. Mail sent to the detention center by USPS is returned to sender. Phone accounts also use Smart Communications, and the detention page says no messages are taken for or relayed to incarcerated people.
| Service | Provider or Detail |
|---|---|
| Personal mail | Smart Communications/Charles County Detention Center, PO Box 9116, Seminole, FL 33775-9195 |
| Population phone times | 08:00 a.m. to 6:55 p.m.; Smart Communications account required |
| Phone account help | Smart Communications customer service, 727-349-1561 |
| Money deposits | JailATM online or lobby kiosk |
Money can be deposited online through JailATM or at the kiosk in the detention center lobby. The account balance maximum is $250, and commissary purchases are capped at $100 per week. Funds must be in the account by the posted commissary cutoff for the next order cycle. The kiosk accepts cash, debit, and credit; the detention-account details note a service fee for cash and a 10 percent service fee for credit or debit card deposits.
Charles County Jail Booking
Booking at Charles County Detention Center runs through Central Processing. A person arrested by the Sheriff's Office, local police, Maryland State Police, or another agency may be transported for identification, records checks, property handling, medical and classification screening, court processing, and release review. The 2024 numbers show why intake and booking should not be treated as the same event. The jail processed more arrests through intake than the number of people booked into the facility.
Initial booking charges may not match the later prosecutor-filed charges in Maryland Judiciary Case Search. A commissioner or court may set release conditions, order detention, or leave the person held because of another warrant, detainer, state commitment, federal hold, or immigration matter. Classification is the jail assessment used to assign housing, program eligibility, and supervision level. If a person is later sentenced to the Maryland Division of Correction, the county jail phone line may no longer be the best way to find housing.
Charles County Detention Center Programs
The Charles County jail has several local program details that distinguish it from a basic holding facility. The 2024 annual report says the detention center became the sixth branch of the Charles County Public Library in 2023, with library cards and literacy programming for incarcerated people. Support Services oversees the inmate library and law library. The report also names a GED program, College of Southern Maryland certification programs funded by grants, and an annual Re-Entry Fair.
The CCSO divisions page describes the Corrections Division structure, including Support Services, Central Processing, records, intake, transportation, court holding, programs, and jail services.
Those division-level details help explain why jail records, inmate services, visits, accounts, programs, and court movement are handled through several linked units inside the same corrections operation.
Charles County Jail Oversight
The Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards audited the Charles County Detention Center on November 19 and 20, 2024. The March 27, 2025 commission minutes say the facility was managed by Director Ryan V. Ross under Sheriff Troy D. Berry and housed sentenced and pretrial male and female inmates at minimum to maximum security levels. The minutes reported compliance with the majority of Adult Detention Center standards, with monitoring documentation for any standard requiring follow-up.
Health-care accreditation is another local detail. The detention page and 2024 annual report state that CCDC earned National Commission on Correctional Health Care accreditation in 2023. The research did not locate a public grievance form or a public medical-request form, so health-care requests should be handled through internal jail processes and facility staff. Older official history traces the county's jails from Port Tobacco, to La Plata courthouse facilities, to the 1981 to 1995 jail, to the current 1995 detention center.
Note: Confirm custody, visit approval, mail rules, and account status with CCDC before traveling or sending money.