Is there any way to access someones jail records online for free?
I want to know why a friend went to jail ten years ago.
State of Louisiana
Nope. I can’t even access my own record for free. It costs $15 – $40 depending upon the state, AND it requires a signed release for anyone other than the person on the record.
People mistakenly believe that ‘public’ records means unfettered access to those records. But they’re only public in the sense that it’s the government which holds the records, not a private company or those classified as Secret. Transcripts of court cases, which do happen to contain the names of the involved parties, are publicly accessible records, so if you know the case number and jurisdiction, you can buy a copy of that transcript. I guess they figure if it’s not important enough for you to pay for it, it’s also not important enough for them to go through all the work of digging through archives and printing up the copies.