Preston County Released Inmate Records
Most people arrested on Preston County matters are not held at a county-run jail in Kingwood. The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or WVDCR, operates Tygart Valley Regional Jail and Correctional Facility in Randolph County and lists Preston among the seven counties it serves. The Preston County Sheriff's Office may hold an arrest report or a photograph it created, but it does not operate Tygart Valley. For that reason, the physical departure record usually belongs with WVDCR or the regional facility.
“Released” describes the end of one agency's custody event. It does not always mean the person entered the community. Bond, dismissal, time served, sentence expiration, parole, and transfer can all close a jail entry. A move from Tygart Valley to a WVDCR prison is a transfer. Delivery to ICE, the U.S. Marshals Service, or another jail is also a transfer. The useful question is precise: what ended the custody, when did the person physically leave, and who received the person?
Preston County Release Types
Each release type points to different proof. A court order can establish legal authority, while a WVDCR transaction establishes what the facility did. Parole and probation also differ. Parole is conditional release from a sentence under WVDCR supervision. Probation is court-ordered supervision that may follow a jail term or may be imposed without a prison release.
| Release or movement | What it means | Best next record |
|---|---|---|
| Bond | A pretrial hold ends after required terms are met; the case continues. | Bond order, posting entry, and facility departure event |
| Dismissal or acquittal | A charge ends, though another hold may remain. | Signed court order plus WVDCR confirmation |
| Time served or discharge | The applicable custodial term ends. | Judgment, time sheet, discharge certificate, or release record |
| Parole | The person leaves custody under sentence-based supervision. | Parole decision, out-processing record, and actual departure event |
| Probation | The court places the person under judicial supervision. | Sentencing or probation order |
| Transfer | One agency closes custody because another takes control. | Movement record and receiving-agency result |
| Death | Custody closes without a community release. | Formal agency record |
These labels should not be merged. A parole grant may still require intake and release processing. A bond order may precede physical departure. “Released to ICE” means immigration custody followed, not that the person went home.
Preston County Release Record Fields
A strong Preston County release record has identity, event, and authority fields. Public search screens may show only part of that set, so a focused records request should name the missing fields. Confidence should be stated field by field. If the court proves only that a judge authorized release, describe it that way until the facility supplies its departure transaction.
| Field | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Full name and date of birth | Connects the event to the correct person instead of a similar name. |
| OID or booking number | Links WVDCR or booking entries across searches and requests. |
| Facility and admission time | Identifies the agency and start of the custody event. |
| Legal release-authority time | Shows when a court or agency authorized release. |
| Physical departure time | Shows when the person actually left the facility. |
| Release code and reason | Distinguishes bond, discharge, parole, or another basis. |
| Court, case, or agency | Identifies the authority behind the event. |
| Destination or receiving agency | Separates community release from transfer. |
| Detainer disposition | Shows how another agency's hold affected departure. |
| Discharge certificate | Documents a qualifying state-prison discharge when applicable. |
A booking photograph can be requested with the identified admission, but it does not prove the later release. WVDCR also lists separate policies for discharge certificates, inmate or resident release, mandatory post-release supervision, and parole out-processing. There is no single generic release certificate for every Preston County case.
Request Preston County Release Records
For a Tygart Valley event, direct the request to WVDCR or TVRJCF, not to the Sheriff's Office as though it ran the jail. West Virginia FOIA requires a reasonably specific request to the record custodian. Under West Virginia Code §29B-1-3, the custodian must respond as soon as practicable and no later than five days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, by producing records, arranging inspection, or giving a written denial. The limit governs the response, not necessarily final delivery of a large set.
- Identify the person with full name, date of birth, OID or booking number if known, facility, and a narrow date range.
- Ask for admission, authorization, physical departure, release reason, authority, destination, receiving agency, and detainer fields.
- Request existing electronic records in electronic form and ask for segregable, nonexempt portions.
- If a state-prison discharge is involved, add the discharge certificate, time sheet, minimum-discharge statement, and out-processing record.
- If a field is withheld, ask for the exact legal basis. If no record exists, ask for the record series and retention schedule.
TVRJCF is at 400 Abbey Road, Belington, WV 26250. Its telephone is 304-637-0382 and fax is 304-637-0289. WVDCR's central routing number is 304-558-2110. The law allows fees based on actual reproduction cost but bars search, retrieval, or staff-time charges as reproduction costs. No standard TVRJCF release-record fee was verified.
For a sheriff-created arrest report or photograph, use the official Preston County Sheriff department page and its report-request form. That office is at 103 W Main Street, Kingwood, WV 26537, with telephone 304-329-1611 and fax 304-329-2794. A sheriff record can document arrest or transfer, but it does not establish the later gate-out from Tygart Valley.
Note: No fixed public-display or agency-retention period was verified for Tygart Valley release records, photographs, or WVDCR offender-search results.
Sealed Preston County Release Records
West Virginia has separate expungement routes for certain dismissed or acquitted matters and for some qualifying convictions. Expungement is a legal process that removes or seals records as the governing statute directs. Under §§61-11-25 and 61-11-26, eligibility, exclusions, filing location, and waiting periods depend on the case. Public researchers should not treat a missing older result as proof of a database fault.
For qualifying convictions, waiting clocks can run from the latest applicable conviction, incarceration, or supervision-completion event. That makes accurate completion proof important. A granted order can remove electronic court information and reach specified arrest records, photographs, fingerprints, and indexes. Once a record is sealed, do not rebuild it from stale copies. An authorized person should use the court process or counsel.
West Virginia FOIA also contains exemptions for personal or medical data, qualifying investigative material, confidential information, and correctional security content. Requesting the narrow release event and segregable public fields helps keep protected material from obscuring the central custody fact.
Find Preston County Released Inmates
The most reliable search follows the last known custody. The official WVDCR Offender Search hub separates regional jails from state prisons and also links Daily Incarcerations. That daily view concerns admissions or current incarceration, not releases. Record the date and time of every query because agency status can change.
- Search the WVDCR jail system for the exact name. Compare middle name, birth date, OID, facility, and case data.
- If no current jail result appears, search the WVDCR prison system for a commitment or transfer.
- Check West Virginia VINE or VINELink for the last reported custody event and agency.
- Search both magistrate and circuit cases for bond, dismissal, judgment, sentence, time served, probation, or release orders.
- Call TVRJCF, then request the departure time, reason, authority, destination, and any receiving agency.
- Follow any named receiver through the BOP locator, ICE locator, the federal docket, USMS, another jail, or the proper state system.
- Verify parole through WVDCR Parole Services and probation through the Preston County circuit probation office.
Use the State Police sex-offender registry only when the person is legally required to register. It is not a general list of former inmates, and an absent name says nothing about most released people.
The screenshot below comes from the official WVDCR search hub.
Its separate jail and prison choices reflect the first branch a Preston County search must make.
Preston Release Orders and Gate-Outs
Preston County release research often crosses two public court systems. Magistrate records commonly show initial charges, misdemeanor proceedings, and bond chronology. Circuit records commonly show felony disposition, sentencing, sentence changes, probation, and expungement. The Judiciary's court-record gateway directs readers to each system.
A signed order answers what the court authorized. It does not show when jail staff completed processing or whether another hold applied. Pair the order with a TVRJCF transaction or VINE event. The Magistrate Clerk and Circuit Clerk can provide the signed document when a short docket label is unclear. “Bond released” may refer to the surety's obligation, not to a person's departure.
The official gateway is shown below.
Using both doors avoids losing a case that began in magistrate court and continued in circuit court.
Why Preston Releases Leave County
Tygart Valley opened in June 2005 in Randolph County and serves Preston, Barbour, Pocahontas, Randolph, Taylor, Tucker, and Upshur Counties. This regional structure explains why Preston's sheriff site lacks the county jail roster and release feed found in some counties. The Sheriff's Office is an arresting and records agency, while WVDCR controls the serving facility's departure record.
The geography also affects search terms. A record carrying a Preston charge can show a Belington facility. That is not a mismatch. For a state felony sentence, a person may later move from the jail side into a WVDCR prison elsewhere in West Virginia. The facility location, sentencing county, and custody type should all be recorded before two results are treated as the same event.
Picking Up Preston Released Inmates
Families planning a pickup should confirm the actual release site and time with TVRJCF before driving. The facility is roughly seven miles west of Elkins, not in Kingwood or another Preston community. No official public gate schedule, exit point, waiting area, bus arrangement, or standard release hour was found. A court date or estimated release does not settle those details.
A historical West Virginia transportation directory lists service within Preston communities, but it does not establish a ride from Tygart Valley in Randolph County. It should not be used as proof of jail-release transport. Ask facility staff whether the person will leave from TVRJCF or another WVDCR location, then verify any current transport provider directly.
Note: Call 304-637-0382 before travel because release processing, another hold, or a receiving-agency transfer can change the pickup plan.
Preston Release Reentry Contacts
WVDCR publishes a Tygart Valley Regional Jail Resource Guide tied to the facility that serves Preston. It can help identify purpose-neutral contacts for documents, transport, and community support after release. Each listing still needs a current check. A directory entry is not a promise of eligibility, an open appointment, or immediate help.
Use the guide as a starting point after custody is confirmed. Verify the provider's phone, area served, hours, and intake rules before relying on it. The person may also leave from a different WVDCR site after a prison transfer or parole intake, so facility-specific planning should follow the final movement record.
Preston State and Federal Releases
Preston has an unusual custody split. County detainees travel outside Preston to Tygart Valley, while USP Hazelton and FCI Hazelton are federal prisons physically inside the county. A search based only on “Preston County jail” can therefore mix unrelated systems. Begin with the arresting or sentencing authority, not just the place name.
| Situation | Correct source | What a result means |
|---|---|---|
| Regional-jail custody | WVDCR jail search, TVRJCF, and VINE | A current result supports present WVDCR jail custody. |
| State-prison custody | WVDCR prison search and records | A prison result concerns a state-sentenced placement. |
| Federal sentenced custody | BOP Inmate Locator and federal docket | A released BOP result ends BOP custody only. |
| Federal pretrial or transport custody | Federal docket, USMS contact, or focused FOIA | USMS has no public former-detainee locator like BOP. |
| Immigration detention | ICE Online Detainee Locator and DRIL | Release to ICE is transfer; ICE release ends ICE detention only. |
For BOP searches, use a register, DCDC, FBI, or INS number when available, or compare the name and demographic fields carefully. For ICE, use the A-number route or the biographical search. A no-result can be inconclusive because of scope, spelling, update lag, or elapsed time.
Preston County Release Follow-Up
West Virginia VINE and VINELink can report custody changes supplied by participating agencies. Search the exact person, compare the available identifiers, facility, and reporting agency, and read the event as that agency's status. A released result does not identify a community destination unless the underlying event says so. WVDCR also warns that it does not make a notification call during a transfer and calls after arrival, so a quiet phone during movement is not proof that custody stayed the same.
After release, supervision must be checked in the correct system. WVDCR Parole Services handles parole and mandatory post-release supervision, while Preston County probation belongs to the Twenty-Second Judicial Circuit. No verified public directory lists every parolee. Preston falls within Parole Services Region 6, but the official Elkins and Clarksburg pages do not assign every Preston person to one office. Confirm the assigned office instead of guessing from geography.
Federal supervised release is separate again and follows a federal judgment after BOP custody. A BOP locator release date does not describe state parole, county probation, or the absence of another agency's custody. Read the sentencing court and facility records together.
Preston County Release Facilities
Nine facility or custody-system pages keep Preston County release paths separate. Tygart Valley handles ordinary regional-jail custody. WVDCR state facilities handle sentenced state placements. The Sheriff and courts create supporting records, while the Hazelton institutions, BOP, USMS, and ICE cover distinct federal or immigration events.
- Tygart Valley Regional Jail and Correctional Facility: confirm regional-jail departure or transfer.
- West Virginia state correctional facilities: confirm state-prison status and discharge.
- Preston County Sheriff's Office: request sheriff-created arrest records or photographs.
- Preston County Courthouse - Circuit and Magistrate Courts: obtain signed legal authority.
- USP Hazelton: verify the correct federal institution and BOP event.
- FCI Hazelton: distinguish this BOP component from USP Hazelton.
- Federal Bureau of Prisons system: search federal sentenced custody.
- U.S. Marshals Service / contracted detention: follow federal pretrial, transport, or designation records.
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: follow a documented immigration transfer.
Match identity by more than a name. Date of birth, OID, booking or register number, case number, sentencing county, and facility help prevent false joins across these systems.