Pender County Inmate Population Overview
The Pender County inmate population is split between the local jail system and the state prison system. The local side begins with Pender County Jail, a sheriff-operated facility in Burgaw that holds male and female inmates under bond, awaiting trial, held by court order, serving local sentences, or temporarily housed for North Carolina corrections. That is the group most readers mean when they ask who is in the Pender County jail today.
The state side is different. Pender Correctional Institution is physically in Pender County, but it is run by the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction. It holds sentenced male state prisoners and is searched through the state offender locator. The sheriff roster does not show the full prison population, and the state locator does not include county jail bookings.
Pender County Inmate Population Statistics
The strongest local numbers are capacity and point-in-time roster figures. The sheriff's jail page and the 2023 North Carolina Jail Administrators' Association directory list Pender County Jail at 92 beds. The public roster API returned 87 records for the default in-custody date on June 23, 2026. That count is useful as a snapshot, but it is not the same as an official average daily population report.
Pender County is also building a larger public-safety complex. The county announced a new Law Enforcement Center in November 2024, and local coverage in February 2026 described a 102,930-square-foot project with a 232-bed detention center. Until the sheriff changes the official jail address and roster pages, the active jail for lookup and visitation remains the current Burgaw jail.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Pender County Jail rated capacity | 92 beds | Sheriff Jail Division page and NCJAA directory, 2023 to 2026 |
| Current roster count | 87 records | Pender Zuercher public roster API, June 23, 2026 |
| Estimated occupancy snapshot | About 94.6% | Derived from 87 records and 92 beds, inspection-date only |
| Planned detention capacity | 232 beds | Pender County release and WCTI, 2024 to 2026 |
| Pender Correctional Institution capacity | 768 offenders | NC DAC facility page, inspected June 23, 2026 |
Pender County Jail Capacity Trends
The local trend is less about a published annual booking total and more about capacity pressure. Port City Daily reported in 2018 that the existing jail began with 30 beds in 1978 and reached 92 beds after later renovations. That same reporting described overcrowding and county contracts to house overflow inmates with neighboring counties. The current roster metadata still contains out-of-county and neighboring-county location values, which helps explain why a person tied to a Pender County case may not always be physically inside the Walker Street jail.
| Year or Date | Population or Capacity Note | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Current jail reportedly began with 30 beds. | Port City Daily, 2018 |
| 2018 | Jail capacity was 92 beds, with overflow housing contracts discussed. | Port City Daily, 2018 |
| 2023 | NC jail directory listed rated capacity as 92. | NC Jail Administrators' Association |
| Nov. 7, 2024 | County broke ground on a new Law Enforcement Center with planned jail capacity of 232 beds. | Pender County news release |
| June 23, 2026 | Public roster returned 87 current in-custody records. | Pender roster API inspection |
Pender County Inmate Population Makeup
Pender County does not publish a full aggregate demographic report for the jail population in the sources reviewed. The public roster does expose record-level race, sex, date of birth, arrest date, and held-for agency. That means a user can read fields on a person-by-person basis, but the source does not provide a reliable official table of jail population by race, sex, age band, felony level, or sentence status.
The roster does show the range of agencies tied to local custody. Held-for agency values include the Pender County Sheriff's Office, Burgaw Police Department, Surf City Police Department, Topsail Beach Police Department, North Carolina State Highway Patrol, wildlife officers, probation and parole, Pender Correctional, bail bondsman, and many North Carolina county agencies. Those values are not the same as final court charges. They are custody and hold fields.
- Held for agency
- The agency or authority listed as responsible for the hold.
- Detainer
- A request or hold from another agency or jurisdiction.
- Safekeeping
- A custody placement used for safety or security reasons outside ordinary housing.
- DOC or DAC
- The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, the state prison and supervision agency.
Pender County Inmate Records Laws
North Carolina public-records law is the reason many jail and arrest facts can be requested, but it also sets limits. G.S. 132-1 defines public records broadly, including documents, electronic records, and photographs made or received in public business. G.S. 132-1.4 treats criminal investigation and intelligence records differently, while making certain arrest information public. For costs and formats, G.S. 132-6.2 governs copies and special service charges.
Records point: The Pender County inmate population can be searched online for current jail custody, but older booking records may require a public-records request through the county's NextRequest portal.
Search Pender County Jail Roster
The official county jail lookup is the Pender County Inmate Lookup hosted through CentralSquare/Zuercher. It is linked from the sheriff's web services and jail pages. The portal covers current county-jail custody and recent in-custody date checks within the configured window. It does not require a login during normal public use.
The roster is most useful when a name is known. Broad filters can help, but they can also exclude a person if intake data is incomplete or the listed agency differs from the arresting agency. The in-custody date filter is limited to dates within the last 30 days, so it is not a full archive of every past Pender County booking.
- Open the sheriff's inmate lookup portal or reach it from the sheriff's Web Services page.
- Leave the defaults in place to view current custody, or enter a full or partial name.
- Use race, sex, or held-for agency only when the result set is too broad.
- Use the in-custody date only for recent dates inside the portal limit.
- Read the main row and the hold-reasons row before drawing a conclusion.
The Pender County roster interface is the source for the screenshot below, which shows the filters and roster columns used for public inmate lookup.
The image matches the research finding that Pender County uses name, race, sex, in-custody date, and held-for agency filters rather than a broad historical booking search.
Pender County Inmate Search Fields
The roster metadata gives a detailed view of the public search form. The active public filters are name, race, sex, in-custody date, and held-for agency. Other fields exist in the vendor template or API, but the current Pender County configuration does not expose them as public columns or filters.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Text | No | Free-text filter; names display as last, first, middle. |
| Race | Dropdown | No | Includes White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Unknown. |
| Sex | Dropdown | No | Female, Male, Unknown, or all. |
| In Custody On | Date | No | Defaults to the current date and can be set within the last 30 days. |
| Held For Agency | Dropdown | No | Includes sheriff, local police, state agencies, probation, and many county agencies. |
| Cell Block | Dropdown | Not exposed | Tracked in metadata, including out-of-county and safekeeping values, but hidden in current public columns. |
Pender County Inmate Record Fields
A Pender County roster entry is not a full criminal case docket. It is a custody record. The visible row can show a mugshot when available, name, race, sex, date of birth, arrest date, and held-for agency. A second row carries hold-reason text, which may include sentenced language, arrest date detail, bond text, or other custody notes.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Mugshot | Booking image if present, or a generic icon if no image is available. |
| Name | Person's roster name in last-first format. |
| DOB | Date of birth, not only age, under the current Pender configuration. |
| Arrest Date | Date tied to intake or the listed hold. |
| Held For Agency | Agency or authority linked to the custody hold. |
| Hold Reasons | Narrative hold, bond, sentenced, or arrest-date text. It is not a final court disposition. |
Past Pender County Inmate Records
The Pender roster is built around current and recent custody, not a full public archive. The portal has an in-custody date filter limited to the last 30 days and does not publish a separate daily booking-report archive in the sources reviewed. If a released person no longer appears, the next local channel is the Pender County public-records request portal.
Use Pender County NextRequest for older booking records, arrest information, or a booking photo that is not visible online. The request should identify the person's full name, approximate arrest or booking date, date range, key terms, and the type of record sought. North Carolina law may allow withholding of criminal investigation material, so ask for public arrest information and booking records as clearly as possible.
Pender County Jail vs Prison Search
Lookup accuracy depends on the custody system. A person arrested in Pender County may begin on the county roster, move through bond or court review, then disappear from the roster after release or transfer. A sentenced prison term moves the person to NC DAC. Federal and immigration matters use their own locators.
| Custody Type | Primary Search | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| County jail | Pender inmate lookup | Current local jail custody and recent in-custody checks. |
| State prison or supervision | NC DAC offender search | State prisoners, probationers, parolees, and historical state records back to 1972. |
| Custody notification | NC SAVAN / VINELink | Notifications for jail inmates, state prisoners, probationers, parolees, and registered sex offenders. |
| Federal prison | BOP inmate locator | Federal Bureau of Prisons custody, usually after federal sentencing or designation. |
| Immigration detention | ICE detainee locator | ICE civil immigration detention, searched by A-number or biographical details. |
Pender County Detention Facilities
Two facilities matter for Pender County inmate population searches. The county jail is the local pretrial and short-term custody facility. Pender Correctional Institution is a state prison in the same county, but it is not searched through the sheriff roster.
- Pender County Jail - the sheriff-operated jail for people under bond, awaiting trial, held by court order, sentenced locally, or temporarily housed for state corrections.
- Pender Correctional Institution - an NC DAC male medium-custody state prison for sentenced state offenders.
Pender County Inmate Population FAQ
How large is the Pender County inmate population?
The county jail had 92 rated beds in the sheriff and jail-directory sources, and the public roster returned 87 current records on June 23, 2026. That roster figure is a point-in-time count, not an official average daily population.
Where is the Pender County inmate population searched first?
Start with the Pender County Inmate Lookup for current county jail custody. If the person is not listed, call the jail, check NC DAC for sentenced custody, use VINELink for notifications, and consider BOP or ICE if federal or immigration custody is possible.
Does the roster show past Pender County inmates?
Only in a limited way. The in-custody date filter is configured for the last 30 days, and the sheriff does not publish a full booking archive in the researched sources. Older records should be requested through Pender County NextRequest.
Is Pender Correctional Institution part of the county jail roster?
No. Pender Correctional Institution is a state prison operated by NC DAC. Search it through the state offender locator, not the county jail roster.