Middle River Regional Jail Inmate Lookup

Middle River Regional Jail Overview

Middle River Regional Jail, often shortened to MRRJ, is operated by the Middle River Regional Jail Authority. The facility is at 350 Technology Drive, Staunton, VA 24401, with the mailing city listed as Staunton even though the official history places the jail on 28 acres in Augusta County near the I-81 and I-64 interchange. Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith is listed as a member of the authority board, but the jail is not operated as a sheriff-only county jail.

The member jurisdictions are Augusta County, Staunton, Waynesboro, Rockingham County, and Harrisonburg. The jail holds men and women, local pretrial detainees, local sentenced inmates, and state-responsible inmates awaiting Virginia Department of Corrections transfer. The jail opened on April 1, 2006 after being built to relieve crowding at the former Augusta County Jail in Staunton and to return inmates who had been held in other facilities.

The official MRRJ inmate information hub is the starting point for jail services because it links to the inmate search, handbook, accounts, visitation, property, mail, telephones, tablet messages, programs, and intake material. The jail's command and service pages also separate business-hour questions from after-hours custody questions, which matters for families trying to confirm a booking outside regular office hours.

The MRRJ homepage shows the facility's role and contact block.

That facility-level source supports treating MRRJ as Augusta County's current jail destination for roster, visitation, lobby, and contact questions.

Middle River Regional Jail Capacity and Population

MRRJ's official history reports a rated capacity of 396 inmates, a 212,020-square-foot building, and approximately 196 employees. The same official source says the jail was designed with the possibility of holding up to 600 inmates per day at times and that average daily population exceeded 900 in recent years. A Virginia Jail Capacity Report 2023 search-result excerpt listed Middle River Regional Jail at 909 ADP against the same 396 rated capacity.

More recent news should be read as context rather than as an official population table. A June 2025 local report said MRRJ officials had no plans to revive an expansion proposal and reported 601 total inmates on May 27, 2025, including 493 men and 108 women. The same report compared that count with 740 in May 2024. Because the official jail pages do not publish a current daily population dashboard, the roster and a direct jail call remain the practical ways to confirm whether a specific person is in custody today.

How to Look Up an Inmate at Middle River Regional Jail

For an active Augusta County jail search, use the Middle River Regional Jail JailTracker public roster. The research file confirmed that the roster is free, public, and configured for current offenders. A sample public profile showed name, gender, status, offender ID, intake or book date, agency, mugshot availability, charge rows, bond, control number, demographics, arresting agency, and location details where publicly released.

1. Open the JailTracker roster for Middle River Regional Jail.
2. Search by first and last name, or browse the active-offender list if the name is uncertain.
3. Confirm that the listed agency or facility is Middle River Regional Jail before relying on the result.
4. Open the profile to review booking date, charges, bond, status, and any public booking photo or demographic fields.

The JailTracker public roster is for MRRJ custody, including Augusta County local jail inmates. It is not the right tool for a sentenced person already received into a VADOC prison, a federal BOP inmate, or someone in ICE custody. If a search involves a state prisoner, use the VADOC Inmate and Supervisee Locator. If the roster does not answer a same-day booking question, call the jail at (540) 245-5420 or use the 24-hour lobby.

The JailTracker roster page is the official public search screen for active MRRJ inmates.

The roster screenshot reinforces the key user path: search MRRJ first for local jail custody, then move to VADOC only when the person has entered state prison custody.

Middle River Regional Jail Address and Contact

MRRJ separates regular business contact from after-hours custody handling. Business hours are 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, Monday through Friday. Lobby hours are 24 hours daily. The research file identifies Amanda Lamb as the business-hours contact at extension 1242 and the Watch Commander as the after-hours point of contact at extension 1150.

For arrest reports created by the Augusta County Sheriff's Office rather than jail custody records, use the sheriff's separate records process. The Sheriff's Office is at 127 Lee Highway in Verona and is distinct from MRRJ. For court results after an arrest, use the Virginia court case systems or the Augusta County court clerk instead of the jail roster.

Visiting Someone at Middle River Regional Jail

MRRJ public visitation is video-based. The jail's visitation page says public face-to-face visits are no longer scheduled. Friends and family use on-site video visits, and each inmate receives one free 15-minute on-site video visit per week. Visits must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance through SmartJailMail. Visitors need government-issued identification and a matching selfie, and visitors under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

MRRJ bans cell phones, cameras, handbags, purses, backpacks, umbrellas, and similar personal items from the visitation area. Visitors are subject to search, intoxicated visitors may be denied or arrested, and the facility is tobacco-free. The dress code excludes see-through clothing, bathing suits, tank tops, halter tops, tube tops, crop tops, exposed midriff or shoulders, short skirts or dresses, obscene images or language, security-uniform lookalikes, inmate-clothing lookalikes, and other clothing deemed inappropriate by the shift supervisor.

The MRRJ visitation page shows the video-visit schedule and SmartJailMail registration rules.

Because the visitation model is video-based even for on-site visits, visitors should schedule first and confirm rules before driving to Technology Drive.

Mail, Phone, and Money at Middle River Regional Jail

MRRJ uses Smart Communications for personal mail. Personal letters are sent to a scanning address in Seminole, Florida, not to the jail's physical street address. The inmate's name and booking number must be included, and originals are destroyed after scanning. Money orders and cashier's checks are handled differently: they go to MRRJ Inmate Accounts at the physical jail address and must not be mixed with regular mail.

Subscriptions must come directly from a recognized publisher and should use the physical jail address with the inmate name and booking number. Tablet and debit-related subscriptions can only be purchased by the inmate from the trust account. MRRJ also notes that, effective August 12, 2025, tablet messaging accounts require proof of government-issued ID and a current photograph for approval.

The MRRJ mail page displays the Smart Communications scanning address and booking-number requirement.

That mail rule is one of the easiest places to make a costly mistake, because personal mail and inmate-account money orders use different addresses.

Booking and Intake at Middle River Regional Jail

MRRJ's intake process covers booking, search, a medical questionnaire, photographs, initial property handling, phone calls, arraignment, bond, and classification. New intake property is placed in a property bag, and the jail supplies white socks and underwear. The research file notes that no outside items are accepted after admission; the commissary system must be used for allowable items. Prescription medications must be current and valid, in a pharmacy container, and labeled with prescription date, patient name, dosage or dosing schedule, and amount dispensed.

Intake is also where a person's public JailTracker profile may begin to appear. Booking photos may appear on active JailTracker profiles, but MRRJ should not be treated as a general historical mugshot archive. If a booking has just occurred and no public profile appears yet, call the jail or check again after processing. If the person has moved into VADOC custody, switch to the VADOC locator rather than continuing to refresh the local roster.

Programs, FOIA, and Directions

MRRJ's programs page lists GED, identification documents, reentry workshops, chaplain visits, activities, work release, workforce crews, and volunteer requirements. The research file says programs were stopped during the COVID pandemic and that some had restarted, with hopes of resuming other classes on a rotational basis. Work release requires low-risk nonviolent status and excludes sex crimes, gang affiliations, and active protective orders. Workforce crews can perform landscaping, maintenance, snow removal, janitorial work, painting, trash pickup, and related work for member localities.

Records requests for MRRJ should go to FOIA Officer Amanda Lamb at the Technology Drive address, by phone at extension 1242, or by email. Virginia FOIA still allows exemptions and limits, especially for some law-enforcement and investigative records, so a request should identify the person, booking, date range, and record type as specifically as possible. County-level FOIA requests for Augusta County records can use the county's own public-records process, but MRRJ authority records are not the same as sheriff incident reports or court case files.

The official directions page routes drivers to Technology Drive in the Green Hills Industrial area near Route 11, Route 262, and I-81 Exit 225. From I-64 westbound, drivers are directed to I-81 North, Exit 225, SR 262 West, Route 11 North, then Technology Drive. From I-81 North or South, Exit 225 leads toward the same Route 11 and Technology Drive approach. Visitor parking details, transit routes, and a specific ADA visitor entrance were not published in the official pages reviewed, so those details should be confirmed with the jail before travel.

The MRRJ directions page gives the route into the facility from I-64 and I-81.

Those directions are most useful after a visitor has already confirmed custody, scheduled any required visit, and checked current lobby or entry restrictions.