Union Parish Recent Bookings and Inmate Search

Union Parish recent bookings can be found through the Union Parish Sheriff's Office website and by calling the Union Parish Detention Center directly, since the parish LAVINE roster is currently offline. Records include arrest dates, charges filed, and bond amounts for people held in Farmerville. All persons listed are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

LAVINE Roster Status and Booking Search Alternatives

The Union Parish LAVINE roster at union.lavns.org/roster.aspx is currently offline. This means the public web roster that most Louisiana parishes use to display current bookings is not available for Union Parish right now.

The offline LAVINE page for Union Parish is shown below.

The Union Parish LAVINE roster is not currently displaying inmate data, so contact the sheriff's office or call the jail directly for current booking information.

To find out who is in custody, your best options are to visit the Union Parish Sheriff's Office website at unionsheriff.com or to call the Union Parish Detention Center directly at (318) 368-9827. Jail staff can confirm whether a specific person is in custody and tell you the current bond status. You can also email Sheriff Dusty Gates at dustygates@unionsheriff.com for non-urgent inquiries.

VINELink at www.vinelink.com is another option. Even when the LAVINE web roster is down, the underlying notification system may still be active. You can register through VINELink for alerts on a specific person's custody status without relying on the public web roster.

Union Parish Sheriff's Office

Sheriff Dusty Gates runs the Union Parish Sheriff's Office, located at 710 Holder Road, Farmerville, LA 71241. The main phone line is (318) 368-3124. The sheriff's website is at unionsheriff.com, and you can also reach the office by email at dustygates@unionsheriff.com for questions that do not need an immediate answer.

The Union Parish Sheriff's website is shown below.

The sheriff's site at unionsheriff.com is the main online resource for Union Parish inmate information while the LAVINE roster remains offline.

The sheriff's office handles all law enforcement in Union Parish, including patrol operations, arrests, and management of the parish detention center. When someone is arrested in Union Parish, they are typically brought to the sheriff's office for booking before being transferred to the detention center. The sheriff's office is the right place to call for information about a recent arrest, an active warrant, or a person's current custody status.

The sheriff also handles public records requests for law enforcement documents. If you want a copy of an arrest report or booking record for a past date, you can submit a written request to the sheriff's office. Under Louisiana law, the agency has three business days to acknowledge the request and a reasonable period to produce the records.

Union Parish Detention Center

The Union Parish Detention Center is at 707 Rodeo Circle, Farmerville, LA 71241. The direct jail phone number is (318) 368-9827. Use this number when you need specific information about a person in custody, including their housing status, current bond amount, or upcoming court dates.

The detention center holds people arrested on local charges and waiting for a court appearance. It also houses people serving short sentences for misdemeanor offenses. Union Parish is a rural north Louisiana parish, so the facility is smaller than jails in more populated parts of the state. That said, it operates continuously and processes bookings throughout the day and night.

When someone is booked in, jail staff take their photo, record identifying information, and enter the arrest charges. That intake record is what typically appears on the public LAVINE roster. While the LAVINE web page is offline, that internal record still exists. Calling (318) 368-9827 gives you access to the same information.

Bond amounts are set by the court after a hearing. The detention center records whatever bond amount the judge sets and can tell you that amount when you call. Some charges have preset bond schedules that allow for immediate release after booking, while more serious charges require a formal hearing. If the person you are looking for was recently arrested, they may still be waiting for a bond hearing.

What Booking Records Contain

A booking record captures the basic facts of an arrest and intake. For Union Parish, each booking includes the person's full legal name, date of birth, race, sex, and the date and time they were processed into the detention center. The charges are listed as filed by the arresting officer, which may be a sheriff's deputy, a state trooper, or another law enforcement agency operating in the area.

The charge on a booking record is not a conviction. It is what was alleged at the time of arrest. Charges can be dropped, amended, or reduced by the district attorney before or during trial. The booking record stays the same regardless of what happens later in court, so you may see charges on a roster that were never prosecuted.

Bond information shows up once a judge has acted on the case. If no bond is listed, the person may still be waiting for a hearing, or a judge may have denied bond. Some violent offenses or repeat offense situations result in a no-bond hold, meaning the person stays in jail until trial regardless of ability to pay.

Mugshots are part of the booking record. Their availability on public-facing pages depends on the sheriff's office policy. Even when a photo is shown, it is a record of the booking event, not proof of wrongdoing. Every person in a jail booking record is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds them guilty.

Louisiana Public Records Law

Louisiana gives residents a strong right to access government records. The main statutes are R.S. 44:1 and R.S. 44:31. R.S. 44:1 defines what counts as a public record, and R.S. 44:31 states that any person can inspect and copy those records without needing to show a reason. Jail booking records and inmate rosters held by the sheriff's office are public records under this framework.

There are limits. Juvenile records stay sealed. Files tied to active criminal investigations can be withheld if releasing them would hurt the case. Certain personal data, like Social Security numbers, is redacted. But the core booking data, meaning who was arrested, when, and on what charges, is public and available to anyone who asks.

R.S. 15:587 governs formal criminal history record information. This is different from a basic jail roster lookup. Under R.S. 15:587, full criminal histories are more tightly controlled and are handled through the Louisiana State Police rather than the local sheriff. If you need a background check for employment or licensing purposes, the State Police process is the right channel. For a simple check on whether someone is currently in the Union Parish jail, public records law under Title 44 is what applies.

If the Union Parish Sheriff's Office denies a public records request you believe is valid, the Louisiana Attorney General's office handles complaints. The AG can review the denial and advise on whether it was proper under the law.

LA VINE Notifications and VINELink

LAVINE stands for Louisiana Victim Information and Notification Everyday. The program lets you sign up to receive automatic alerts when a specific person's custody status changes at a Louisiana jail. Notifications go to a phone number or email address you choose and arrive as soon as a status change is recorded. Learn more at lcle.la.gov/programs/lavine/.

The LAVINE web roster for Union Parish is down, but you may still be able to register for custody notifications through VINELink at www.vinelink.com. VINELink is the national version of the same system and covers facilities in all 50 states. Registration is free. You can sign up online or call 866-528-6748 at any hour of the day. If the person you are tracking moves between facilities, including to a state prison, VINELink can still send alerts.

The notification function was built with crime victims in mind. If you have been harmed by someone in custody and want to know the moment they are released or transferred, automatic alerts are far more reliable than checking the roster by hand each day. The system sends a notification as soon as the jail records the change, which can be minutes after it happens.

State Inmate Search Through DPS&C

The Union Parish Detention Center holds people in local custody. If someone is not on the parish roster and does not show up when you call the jail, they may have already been transferred to a Louisiana state correctional facility after a conviction. The Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections runs a free public offender search at doc.la.gov/offender-search/.

The DPS&C database covers all state prisons, work release centers, and offenders on parole or probation in Louisiana. You can search by name and see the person's current facility, their sentence, and their projected release date. This system is completely separate from LAVINE and covers a different population, specifically people who have been sentenced rather than those still awaiting trial.

Transfers happen fast. A person can appear in the Union Parish Detention Center one week and move to a state facility the next after sentencing. If you do not find someone on the parish side, always check the DPS&C database before concluding they are not in custody anywhere in Louisiana.

For people with federal charges or federal sentences, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has its own inmate locator at bop.gov. Federal cases are prosecuted separately from state cases, and people serving federal sentences are not in the DPS&C system.

Nearby Parishes

Union Parish is in north Louisiana and borders four parishes, each with its own sheriff and inmate roster.