Surry Detention Center Overview
The Surry County Detention Center is the county's only detention facility identified for local jail custody. It is operated by the Surry County Sheriff's Office and serves as the county jail and local confinement facility. The county detention page describes the facility as a detention division linked to the Office of Sheriff and as the place that provides confinement support for people lawfully detained, committed, or confined through statutory or judicial process.
The center should be described as a county jail, not a prison. It holds pretrial detainees, people serving county sentences, state-sentenced inmates held locally, and a small weekend-serving population documented in the county RFP. The 2024 Surry County inmate medical services RFP said the jail was not then housing federal inmates. That detail matters because federal, BOP, U.S. Marshals, and ICE custody use separate lookup paths even when an arrest began in Surry County.
The official detention page ties the jail to North Carolina sheriff standards, North Carolina statutes, and constitutional obligations. It also lists detention leadership roles through the jail phone: Chief Jail Administrator Tony Holyfield, Operations Lieutenant Randall Jenkins, and Transportation/Records Sergeant Mickey Estes.
The official facility page is shown in the project screenshot from Surry County's detention page.
The image matches the facility source used for address, operator, mission framing, and detention leadership contact details.
Address, Phone, Operator
The public arrival address for the jail is 219 Snow Street in Dobson. Do not confuse it with the county government address or the sheriff office's older Main Street contact listing. The detention number, 336-401-8975, is the best starting point for facility custody questions, jail records, transport records, visit issues, and inmate-account questions that the online pages do not answer.
Surry County Detention Center
219 Snow Street
Dobson, NC 27017
336-401-8975
County jail operated by the Surry County Sheriff's Office.
Surry County Sheriff's Office
218 N Main St
Dobson, NC
336-401-8900
General non-emergency sheriff contact and Citizen Connect public portal.
Surry Jail Capacity
The most specific new-facility population source is Surry County's 2024 inmate medical services RFP. It described the new Surry County Detention Center as having a maximum rated capacity of 360. The same RFP listed 10 housing units, split into 7 male units and 3 female units, with 288 male beds and 102 female beds. It gave an average population at RFP release of 260 inmates, including about 200 male and 60 female inmates.
There is a documented transition issue. Older or slower-updated directories may still point to 218 North Main Street or a 149-capacity listing. The current facility page and newer county records support 219 Snow Street and the 360-capacity RFP figure. A June 23, 2026 live roster inspection showed about 299 to 300 inmates, which should be treated as a dated live snapshot because the roster changes with bookings and releases.
New Facility History
Surry County's facility history explains why some online references conflict. County commissioner minutes from 2020 described a proposed 91,400-square-foot detention center tied to a magistrate's office, 911 call center, and emergency operations center. The proposed detention center was discussed as a 337 to 360 bed project with possible expansion to 450 to 500 beds.
Those same minutes recorded an old-jail pressure point: the former detention center averaged about 180 inmates against a capacity of 126, and a state inspector had warned that the situation violated state standards. Surry County's FY2024 audit later reported that the new Detention Center was placed in operation during FY24. The 2024 medical-services RFP then supplied current operational details for the new jail, including capacity, housing-unit mix, and custody categories.
Find Someone Held Here
The correct online lookup for this facility is the Surry County Sheriff's Office Inmate Confinements portal in Citizen Connect. It is the public roster for current Surry County Detention Center inmates and recent admits. It is not the NCDAC offender locator, and it is not a federal or ICE custody search.
- Open the Citizen Connect Inmate Confinements page for Surry County.
- Start with Current Confinements, then filter or sort the visible booking cards by name or agency if needed.
- Use Last 24 Hour Admits, Last 7 Days Admits, or Admits by Date Range if the person was recently booked or released.
- Try the Charges tab if the charge is known, or the Arresting Agency tab if the arresting department is known.
- Open View Full Details for booking card fields such as charges, bond, arresting agency, date of birth, and booked date.
If a person is not listed, call the detention center at 336-401-8975. If the person has been sentenced and moved to state prison, use the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction search. If federal or immigration custody is involved, use the BOP or ICE locator instead.
Booking Record Details
Surry County Detention Center booking cards can show the person's name, booking photo, age, race code, sex code, date of birth, booked date, arresting agency, arrest date and time, bond total when present, charge count, charge descriptions, and per-charge bond details when shown. The public sample did not show housing unit, cell, projected release date, court date, warrant number, address, medical details, or attorney information.
Booking is the jail intake event. It is not the final court case. A charge shown on the county roster can later be amended, reduced, dismissed, indicted, or resolved differently in the North Carolina court record. Use the roster for custody and jail status. Use the Surry County court channel for filed charges, case number, hearing date, and disposition.
PayTel Video Visitation
Surry County Detention Center uses video visitation through the county visitation process and PayTel Connect. All visits must be scheduled 24 hours in advance. Visitors should log in 5 minutes before the visit starts. On-site lobby monitor visits are free, but they still require 24-hour scheduling. Remote family video visits cost $0.30 per minute and need a stable internet connection.
The county page says professional visitors may visit Monday through Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Professional visitors include law enforcement officers, detectives, probation officers, attorneys, paralegals, and interpreters. Religious leaders are not treated as professional visitors under the county note.
| Visitor Type | Hours or Rule | Cost | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Remote family/social visit | Schedule 24 hours ahead; log in 5 minutes early. | $0.30 per minute | PayTel Connect |
| On-site lobby visit | Schedule 24 hours ahead; use jail lobby monitors. | Free | PayTel Connect |
| Professional visitor | Monday through Sunday, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. | Not stated | Facility professional visit process |
| Religious leader | Not considered a professional visit. | Not stated | Follow social visit rules unless jail approves otherwise. |
Mail and Facility ID 5188
Surry County's non-legal mail system is unusually specific. Non-legal mail is not sent to the Snow Street jail. It goes to a Greensboro processing address and must include Facility ID Number 5188. If the facility name, inmate name, inmate ID number, or Facility ID is missing, the mail will not be scanned. The sender must include a complete, legible return address with first and last name.
Legal mail, privileged mail, and money orders do not go to the Greensboro processing center. They go directly to the Dobson P.O. Box. Legal mail must be marked Legal Mail and is opened in the inmate's presence. Softback books or magazines must be mailed directly from a vendor to the Dobson P.O. Box address, not the Greensboro scanned-mail address.
| Mail Type | Address / Rule |
|---|---|
| Non-legal mail | Surry County Detention Center, inmate name and ID number, Facility ID Number 5188, P.O. Box 18247, Greensboro, NC 27419. |
| Legal mail | Surry County Detention Center, inmate name and ID number, P.O. Box 827, Dobson, NC 27017. Mark as Legal Mail. |
| Money orders | Mail directly to the Dobson P.O. Box, not the Greensboro scanning address. |
| Scanned mail result | Approved non-legal mail is scanned to the inmate tablet, and physical mail is destroyed. |
Phone, Money, Commissary
The facility uses PayTel Communications for inmate phone services. Each housing area has two phones. Inmates can place collect calls, or they can call through a PayTel account. Most cell phone providers do not allow collect calls because of billing issues, so a PayTel account is usually needed for cell phone contact.
Commissary services are provided by McDaniel Supply Company. Deposits can be made by mailed money order, personal delivery of a money order, a lobby kiosk, or online through JailPackStore. Money-order funds are held 10 days. The official property page says the maximum amount an inmate may have is $200. It also says once money is placed in an inmate account, it is the inmate's money and the jail will not refund a mistaken outside deposit.
| Method | Provider / Rule |
|---|---|
| Phone account | PayTel Communications; collect calls or PayTel account calls. |
| Mailed money order | Mail to Surry County Detention Center for the inmate account; funds held 10 days. |
| Personal delivery | Officer may accept a money order, no cash, for the inmate account. |
| Lobby kiosk | Kiosk accepts deposits like an ATM; machine-owner fee may apply. |
| Online deposit | JailPackStore / McDaniel Supply Company online deposit channel. |
| Account limit | Maximum inmate account amount is $200. |
Property and Weekend Rules
The official property rule is strict: Surry County Detention Center does not allow the public to bring inmate property. The only item an officer may accept is a money order, not cash, to place into the inmate's account. All other personal items must come through commissary or approved channels.
Weekend-serving rules are separate. When someone enters to serve weekends, booking begins and personal property is inventoried and stored. The person is issued jail flip-flops and a jumpsuit. Allowed personal clothing is limited to specified white items such as socks, T-shirts, underwear, and wireless bras. Books, newspapers, electronic devices, paper, pencils, tobacco products, and unlisted items are not allowed under the county's weekend-serving guidance.
Note: Confirm custody, visit scheduling, and money rules with the detention center before traveling or depositing funds.
Other Custody Locators
Surry County Detention Center is the correct facility for many recent local arrests, but not every Surry County case remains there. NCDAC's offender search covers state prison offenders, probationers, parolees, and inactive state records. NCDAC says it does not maintain local county jail records. VINELink / NC SAVAN is available for custody-status notification and covers several North Carolina custody categories.
Federal and immigration custody use different systems. The BOP Inmate Locator searches federal inmates from 1982 forward. ICE's locator searches adult immigration detainees by A-number or biographical information. Those tools are custody locators, not county jail roster pages, and they should not be expected to show county-style booking photos.