Look Up Inmates at Lawtey Correctional Institution

Lawtey Correctional Institution Overview

Lawtey Correctional Institution is operated by the Florida Department of Corrections as a male state prison in Bradford County. It holds sentenced adult male prisoners, not Bradford County pre-trial detainees. FDC and PREA materials describe Lawtey as a Level 3 facility with community, minimum, and medium custody populations, organized into living units with a small segregation unit. This is a state prison, so its inmates have already been convicted and sentenced rather than recently arrested.

The facility's history sets it apart. Older PREA materials say Lawtey was established in 1973 as a Community Vocational Center for work-release offenders, changed missions over the years, and in 2004 was dedicated as the country's first faith- and character-based prison. That program identity is documented enough to mention here, while day-to-day operations still follow standard FDC rules.

Lawtey Correctional Institution Capacity and Population

Capacity figures for Lawtey come from dated PREA audit materials, not the current FDC directory, so they should be read as point-in-time audit data. One older PREA snapshot lists a rated capacity of 832 with an average daily population near 830. A later audit snippet lists a designed capacity of 552 with a current population of 779 and an average daily population of 791. These do not agree with each other because they reflect different audit years and measures. The stats below show the dated audit figures, not a current official capacity.

Because these numbers are dated, the current FDC locator and FDC reporting are the better sources for a live count. The figures here are useful for context, not as today's headcount.

The gap between a designed capacity near 552 and a population near 791 in the same audit hints at a facility operating above its design, which is common across state prison systems. Even so, presenting a single firm capacity number would overstate what the records support. The safe reading is that Lawtey is a mid-size state prison whose audited population has run higher than its designed beds, and that only FDC can confirm the current count and bed total.

County Jail vs. Lawtey: Why the Search Differs

Lawtey does not book new Bradford County arrestees. A person arrested locally starts at the county jail, and only after a state sentence and FDC classification could they end up at a state prison like Lawtey. The county roster and the state locator are separate tools.

How to Look Up a Lawtey Inmate

Use the Florida Department of Corrections inmate population search, the statewide locator for sentenced prisoners. The FDC offender search menu, shown below, describes the population, release, escape, and supervised-population databases.

The menu confirms that the population search is the right database for a sentenced inmate. Follow these steps.

1. Open the FDC inmate population search.
2. Search by last name, first name, or the six-character DC number.
3. Confirm the result lists Lawtey Correctional Institution as the current facility.
4. Open the record for the offense, sentence, and status details.

The database covers felony offenders sentenced to state prison or state supervision, and it excludes county-jail detainees and county probation. The population search refreshes weekly, with release dates and location changes updated nightly. A DC number is six characters, either all numeric or one letter plus five numbers. If you only have a name, beginning letters are enough to start, and the detail record then shows the offense, sentence, and current institution.

Lawtey Correctional Institution Address and Contact

The facility's official FDC contact details are below. Use FDC central channels for classification and records questions the locator does not answer.

The mailing address is P.O. Box 2000, Lawtey, FL 32058, and the facility fax is 904.782.2005. FDC central classification and records can be reached at 850.488.9859.

Visiting Someone at Lawtey Correctional Institution

State prison visitation runs under FDC rules, not county jail video visits. Visitors generally must be on an approved list, and visits are scheduled under statewide procedures rather than the HomeWAV setup the Bradford County Jail uses. The schedule and approval steps come from the FDC visiting-information page. The table points to the right state resources rather than listing county-style hours.

Confirm the current schedule and approval status through the FDC visiting information page before traveling.

Mail, Phone, and Money at Lawtey Correctional Institution

Mail, phone, tablets, and deposits at Lawtey follow FDC institutional rules and state vendors, not the county jail's CommissaryDeposit or HomeWAV services. The table points to the correct state channels.

See the FDC send an inmate funds and contact an inmate pages for current rules.

How Inmates Arrive at Lawtey Correctional Institution

Lawtey receives inmates through the FDC system after sentencing, not through street-arrest booking. A person is convicted, sentenced to state prison, and classified by FDC before placement, which may bring them to a Level 3 facility like Lawtey. The faith- and character-based mission can factor into placement for inmates who choose to participate.

For a Bradford County case, the county jail comes first and the state prison comes later. Once a person is in FDC custody, the Bradford roster no longer tracks them, and the FDC offender search is the correct tool. Transfer timing varies, so this page does not promise an exact window.

Lawtey Custody Levels and Faith-Based Mission

FDC and PREA materials describe Lawtey as a Level 3 facility holding community, minimum, and medium custody male inmates. Older audit text lists multiple living units and a small segregation unit. That custody mix matters for a searcher, because it signals a facility for sentenced inmates rather than a high-security maximum prison, and it differs from the Maximum, Medium, and Minimum classifications used at the county jail.

Lawtey's faith- and character-based identity is its most documented feature. The 2004 dedication built on a much older history as a 1973 work-release vocational center. Statewide, FDC offers chaplaincy, education, workforce development, substance-abuse treatment, and re-entry programming, which fit a character-based mission. Still, the research does not confirm which specific programs run at Lawtey today, so a family member should verify program availability directly with FDC rather than assume every statewide offering is present here.

Federal and Other Custody Questions

Lawtey is a state facility and does not cover federal or immigration custody. If a person may be in federal hands instead, the Federal Bureau of Prisons locator covers federal inmates from 1982 to the present, and the ICE detainee locator covers immigration detention. Federal pretrial detainees are often held under the U.S. Marshals Service in the Middle District of Florida.

None of these federal systems publishes booking photos the way the county jail roster does. Match the lookup to the custody type before assuming a record is missing, because a state prison search will not surface a federal inmate and a federal locator will not show a Florida state prisoner.

About Lawtey Correctional Institution

Lawtey is one of three FDC facilities tied to Bradford County addresses, alongside Florida State Prison and New River Correctional Institution. Its 2004 dedication as the nation's first faith- and character-based prison is the detail that makes it stand out, building on a history that began in 1973 as a work-release vocational center. FDC statewide program pages cover education, workforce development, substance-abuse treatment, re-entry, and chaplaincy, which provide context for a faith-based facility, though specific programs should be confirmed with FDC. The Lawtey and Raiford cluster sits close to the county jail search topic but uses a completely different locator, so a relative who hears "Lawtey" should check the state system, not the Bradford County roster, unless the case is a brand-new local arrest.