Ellis County Jail Log
Ellis County does not publish a conventional live inmate roster on the sheriff site. The official online custody list is the Ellis County Jail Log PDF, which is reached from the 23rd Judicial District Court Dockets page. That local path matters. A user who looks only on the county jail landing page may find visitation, mail, deposits, and phone service links without finding the current alpha prisoner listing.
The inspected jail log is titled Alpha Prisoner Listing Summary and identifies ECSO, Ellis County Sheriff's Office, and ORI Number KS0260000. It is an alphabetical PDF, not a database form. The record is useful for confirming that a name appears in current jail materials, locating a booking number, checking the booking date, and seeing a housing label. It does not show charges, bond, court dates, mugshots, arresting agency, or release date. For a deeper booking file, use the jail phone, the district court, or the sheriff's Kansas Open Records Act process.
The source path is visible on the official court site. The 23rd Judicial District Court Dockets page places the jail-log link under its jail logs area.
That court-hosted route is the first online channel for Ellis County inmate records because the PDF is the public list that users can search by name.
Use Ellis County Roster Search
Because the jail log opens as a PDF, the search method is the browser or PDF viewer find tool. On most computers, Ctrl+F opens the search box. On a phone, use the PDF viewer menu or browser find option. Search last name first, then try a partial name if the spelling may differ. The jail log should be read with care because it can include both people housed in Ellis County Jail pods and people shown in an out-of-county section.
- Open the 23rd Judicial District Court Dockets page and locate the Jail Logs area.
- Select the Ellis County Jail Log link, which opens or downloads the PDF prisoner listing.
- Use Ctrl+F or the PDF viewer search field to search a last name, first name, or partial spelling.
- Read the row across the visible columns, including booking number, booking date, date of birth, sex, race, and housing.
- Check whether the person appears on an ECJ housing page or in an out-of-county placement area.
- If the name does not appear, call the jail or use a written KORA request for booking records that are not visible online.
Absence from the PDF is not proof that a person was never booked. A person may be in intake before the next log is printed, may have been released, may be housed under another authority, or may be listed in a different system. For charges filed after arrest, use Kansas district court records rather than the jail log. The custody list and the criminal case are related, but they are not the same record.
Ellis County Roster Fields
The Ellis County roster has no web form fields, filters, or search button. Its searchable content is the text embedded in the PDF. The table below reflects the actual field inventory described in the research. It is more limited than vendor jail portals, but it is direct and free.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | PDF column | n/a | Alphabetical listing; search with Ctrl+F by last name or partial spelling. |
| Booking # | PDF column | n/a | Booking transaction identifier, with examples such as year-based number strings. |
| Booking Date | PDF column | n/a | Shown in month, day, year, and time format. |
| DOB | PDF column | n/a | Date of birth helps distinguish people with similar names. |
| Sex | PDF column | n/a | Inspected entries used M and F values. |
| Race | PDF column | n/a | Inspected entries used abbreviated race values. |
| Inmate # | PDF column | n/a | The column exists, but inspected examples were blank. |
| Housing | PDF column | n/a | Shows ECJ pod, dorm, court, medical, booking, or out-of-county placement labels. |
| Search button | None | n/a | No online form exists for this jail log. Use PDF find. |
| Refresh frequency | Not posted | n/a | The PDF shows a print date and time, but no update cadence is stated. |
Ellis County Inmate Record Details
An Ellis County inmate record from the public jail log is a custody snapshot. It confirms that the listed person appears in the sheriff's prisoner summary at the time the PDF was printed. It should not be treated as a full arrest report, full court docket, or criminal-history file. A booking is jail intake after arrest. A booking number is the jail's transaction number for that intake. Housing is the current jail location or placement label, which can change during custody.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Report title | Alpha Prisoner Listing Summary, the jail-log format used for the inspected PDF. |
| Agency | ECSO and Ellis County Sheriff's Office, tied to ORI Number KS0260000. |
| Name | The listed prisoner's name in the alphabetical custody summary. |
| Booking number | The jail transaction identifier connected to that booking event. |
| Booking date and time | When the person was entered into the jail booking process. |
| Date of birth, sex, race | Identity fields that help separate similar names. |
| Housing | ECJ pods, dorms, court, booking, medical isolation, padded-floor status, or out-of-county placement. |
| Mugshot | Not shown on the Ellis County jail log. |
| Charges and bond | Not shown on the jail log. Confirm through jail staff, court records, or KORA where available. |
| Release status | Not directly shown except through absence from the current log or a placement label. |
Housing labels need local context. ECJ A Pod through H Pod, dorm labels, medical isolation, padded floor, booking group, and court all point to operational status inside the jail or around court movement. Out-of-county placement means the person may still appear in Ellis County custody materials while housed somewhere else, such as another county or a listed placement site. Do not read that label as a release.
Ellis County Inmate Access Channels
The PDF is the fastest public route, but it is only one route. New bookings, recent releases, bond questions, sealed or restricted material, and records that are not displayed in the jail log require another access channel. The Ellis County Sheriff's Office is the source for jail custody and booking records. The District Court is the source for filed criminal cases. Kansas statewide tools cover prison custody, victim notice, federal inmates, and immigration detainees.
For direct jail questions, call Ellis County Jail at (785) 625-1050. For sheriff office routing, use (785) 625-1040. For in-person records or written open-records issues, use the sheriff's office at 105 W. 12th St., Hays, KS 67601. The office's Kansas Open Records Act policy says requests must be written and include the requestor's name, mailing address, phone number, and detailed information about the records sought.
Ellis County Jail
105 W. 12th St.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 625-1050
County jail custody, booking, housing, and bond questions.
Ellis County Sheriff's Office
105 W. 12th St.
Hays, KS 67601
(785) 625-1040
KORA records routing and sheriff office questions.
The sheriff's KORA page is the official records-request channel for booking records that do not appear in the log.
KORA can help with specific booking records, but it does not force release of every criminal-investigation record or protected personal detail.
Ellis County Booking Intake
Local official sources describe jail deputies as responsible for booking, maintaining order, bonding, transporting, court escorts, inmate welfare, and discipline. A practical custody path begins with arrest by a sheriff's deputy, police officer, Kansas Highway Patrol officer, warrant authority, or another agency. The person is then transported to the jail, entered through booking, screened, classified, assigned housing, and scheduled for court review when required.
The jail log reflects part of that process after the person reaches the published custody summary. It can show the booking date and housing assignment, but it does not state how long intake took or when the next PDF will be posted. A first appearance, bond decision, or prosecutor filing may happen through the 23rd Judicial District after the jail booking. The Ellis County Attorney may later file, amend, reduce, or decline charges, so a jail intake fact should not be read as a final court outcome.
For court-side detail after a booking, the separate Ellis County court records after jail arrest page follows the path from jail intake to filed criminal case.
Ellis County Jail Visitation
Once a person is located, visitation must follow the jail's video visitation rules. Ellis County describes visits as video phone visits in the lobby area between the courthouse and sheriff's office. The schedule is organized by housing sections, which means the housing label in the jail log can help a visitor pick the correct day. Visits are scheduled online through JailFunds, and visitor identification rules are strict.
| Item | Ellis County Rule |
|---|---|
| Visit type | Video phone in the lobby area; no contact visits. |
| General days and hours | Tuesday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Length | 30 minutes; county rules also state at least one weekly period of at least 20 minutes. |
| Scheduling | Online through JailFunds. |
| Tuesday | Sections A and C. |
| Wednesday | Sections B and D. |
| Thursday | Sections E and F. |
| Friday | Sections G and H. |
| Weekend exception | Out-of-state family may receive a case-by-case weekend exception approved by both Jail Sergeants. |
| Visitor limit and ID | Up to three approved visitors at one time; picture identification is required except for minor children. |
| Property and dress | No purses, backpacks, food, drinks, gum, cell phones, cameras, or revealing clothing. |
The official Ellis County visitation page publishes the video-visit schedule and visitor rules.
The schedule connects directly to the jail-log housing field, so confirm the housing label before planning a visit.
Ellis County Jail Contact Services
Mail, phone, and money options are separate from the inmate record search, but each can depend on accurate custody status. Ellis County mail is delivered Monday through Friday. Incoming and outgoing mail must include proper names and addresses, and mail is opened and inspected for contraband or rule violations. Legal mail must be marked as legal mail and is opened in the inmate's presence when it meets the jail's rule set.
The jail uses Crown Correctional Telephone and NCIC operator services for phone calls. Inmates do not receive incoming calls. Calls may be collect or prepaid and can be monitored or recorded. Money can be used for bond, candy, clothing, food, hygiene, and phone time. Deposits can be made through the Steller Teller kiosk in the Law Enforcement Center lobby during posted hours or online through JailATM.
Note: Confirm current custody and housing with the jail before sending money, mail, or scheduling a visit.
Ellis County Custody Differences
A county jail record is not the same as a state prison, federal prison, or immigration detention record. Ellis County Jail covers local custody, including pretrial detainees, sentenced local inmates, holds, and listed out-of-county placements. After a Kansas felony sentence to state prison, search the KDOC KASPER repository, not the county PDF. For federal sentences, use the BOP inmate locator. For immigration detention, use ICE Online Detainee Locator System.
| Custody Type | Best Lookup Channel | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Ellis County jail custody | Ellis County Jail Log PDF and jail phone | Current local jail housing, booking number, booking date, and placement label. |
| Kansas state prison | KDOC KASPER | Sentenced Kansas offenders, many supervision records, physical description, photo, case and movement data. |
| Federal prison | BOP Inmate Locator | Federal inmates from 1982 to present, using name or federal number fields. |
| Immigration custody | ICE ODLS | ICE detainees searched by A-number and country of birth or biographical details. |
| County custody alerts | Kansas VINE | Free confidential notifications for county-jail custody status, not a state prison locator. |
KDOC says KASPER is updated daily except weekends and can include the offender's KDOC number, description, conviction county, case number, anticipated release date, housing location, movement data, supervision level, parole office, and some disciplinary findings. BOP warns that release data can change due to recalculation, and that "not in BOP custody" does not prove a person is free. ICE ODLS is a locator, not a county booking database.
The KDOC KASPER entry point is the Kansas state-prison search channel for sentenced offenders.
KASPER should be used only when the person has moved from county jail tracking into Kansas Department of Corrections custody or supervision.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons locator is a separate tool for federal custody searches.
Federal lookup results do not replace Ellis County jail records, and the county jail log does not replace BOP federal custody data.
Ellis County VINE and App
Kansas VINE is available for county-jail custody notifications. It is useful after a person has been booked because it can send custody-status notice without requiring a user to keep rechecking the jail log. It is not the KDOC state-prison locator, and it is not the place to search for active warrants before an arrest. For sentenced Kansas prison records, use KASPER. For current Ellis County jail custody, use the jail log and jail phone.
The Ellis County Sheriff, KS mobile app was found on Google Play. Its listing advertises news and alerts, recruiting information, feedback, crime-tip submission, and social media posts. The listing did not advertise an inmate search, jail roster, warrant search, most-wanted list, records request tool, or app-only booking lookup. Treat it as a sheriff communication app rather than the source for Ellis County inmate records.
The Ellis County Sheriff, KS app listing describes communication features rather than inmate search.
Use the app for listed sheriff communications, while relying on the jail log, jail phone, KORA, VINE, KASPER, BOP, and ICE for custody lookup tasks.
Ellis County Jail Facility
Ellis County has one detention facility page in the local facility map: Ellis County Jail. The jail is operated by the Ellis County Sheriff's Office at the Hays law enforcement and courthouse complex. Official sources describe it as a sheriff-run county jail that holds pretrial detainees, sentenced local inmates, holds for other authorities, and out-of-county placements listed by the sheriff or court jail log.
No separate county annex, work-release center, regional jail, KDOC prison, BOP facility, or ICE detention center was located in official Ellis County sources. When the jail log places someone in an out-of-county section, that is a placement status within the custody record. It is not a separate Ellis County detention facility page.
- KORA
- Kansas Open Records Act, the process used to request public records that are not posted online.
- KASPER
- Kansas Department of Corrections offender search for sentenced prison and supervision records.
- Detainer
- A hold request from another agency that may affect release even when a local bond exists.
- Out of county
- A placement label showing the person is listed in Ellis County materials while housed elsewhere.