Madera County Criminal Records

Criminal records in Madera County go through the Superior Court and the Sheriff's Office. Madera County is in the central San Joaquin Valley, with the city of Madera as the county seat. The county has about 157,000 residents. It stretches from the valley floor east into the Sierra Nevada, reaching the edge of Yosemite National Park. The Superior Court in Madera handles all criminal filings for the county. You can look up cases online through the court's eCourt portal or go to the courthouse in person. The sheriff runs the county jail and has a public inmate search tool that shows current bookings and custody status.

Madera County Court Case Lookup

The Madera County Superior Court runs a public eCourt portal at madera-prod-portal.ecourt.com. This portal is built by Journal Technologies and gives free access to case information. You can search by party name or case number. Criminal case results include the defendant's name, charges, case status, and a register of actions. The register of actions is a log of every hearing, motion, and filing in the case from start to finish.

The eCourt portal for Madera County is shown below. Use it to search criminal records online without visiting the courthouse.

The Madera County Superior Court is at 200 South G Street in Madera. Call (559) 416-5599 for the clerk's office. In-person visits are the fastest way to get full case file copies. Staff can pull documents while you wait. Copies are 50 cents per page. Certified copies cost $40. If you ask for a record search that takes more than 10 minutes, there is a $15 fee for that search. The court does not charge extra for online case lookups through the eCourt portal.

Note: Some older case records may not be available in the online system. For cases from before the court went digital, you may need to request files from the clerk's office directly.

Madera County Sheriff Inmate Search

The Madera County Sheriff's Office provides a public inmate search at inmatepublicview.maderacounty.com. Search by name to find people currently held in the Madera County jail. The results show the inmate's name, booking date, charges, bail amount, and projected release date if applicable. This tool updates regularly but there may be a delay of a few hours between an arrest and when the record shows up online.

The county jail is the Madera County Department of Corrections facility. It holds pre-trial detainees and people sentenced to county time. Anyone sentenced to state prison from Madera County gets transferred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Once transferred, they appear in the statewide CIRIS inmate search instead of the county system.

For phone inquiries about inmates in Madera County custody, contact the sheriff's office. Staff can look up booking information and confirm whether someone is currently being held at the jail.

State Criminal Resources for Madera County

The California DOJ keeps the master criminal history database for the state. It has records from all counties, including Madera. You can get your own RAP sheet by going to a Live Scan location and paying the $25 DOJ processing fee. The rolling fee charged by the Live Scan operator varies. Find a location near Madera through the DOJ Live Scan locator. The fingerprinting takes about 15 minutes. If no criminal history exists, the response comes in 48 to 72 hours.

Employers and licensing agencies in Madera County who need background checks go through the same DOJ system. They must have state authorization before running a check. You can track your background check status at applicantstatus.doj.ca.gov with your ATI number and date of birth. The DOJ handles roughly 2 million state-level background checks each year across California.

Check the sex offender registry at meganslaw.ca.gov to see registered offenders in the Madera County area. The DOJ runs this registry under Penal Code Section 290.46.

Record Clearing in Madera County

California offers several paths to clear or reduce a criminal record. In Madera County, the most common route is Penal Code Section 1203.4. After you complete probation, you can petition the Superior Court to dismiss the case. The judge reviews the petition and, if everything checks out, enters an order of dismissal. Your RAP sheet then shows the case as dismissed rather than convicted. This is not a full erasure, but it helps.

Penal Code Section 851.87 allows sealing of arrest records when no conviction came from the arrest. You do not have to prove factual innocence. Once sealed, the arrest will not show on most background checks. Proposition 47 can reduce certain felony drug and theft convictions to misdemeanors. Proposition 64 provides relief for prior marijuana offenses. Both options require filing a petition with the Madera County Superior Court. If you need help with the paperwork, legal aid organizations in the Central Valley may assist at no cost.

Getting Criminal Records in Madera County

How you get criminal records in Madera County depends on the type of record. Court files are held by the Superior Court. Jail and booking records are held by the sheriff. Police reports are held by the Madera Police Department or the Chowchilla Police Department, depending on where the incident happened. Each agency handles its own requests.

• Online case search through the Madera County eCourt portal
• In-person at the court clerk's office at 200 South G Street, Madera
• Court copies at 50 cents per page, certified at $40
• Inmate search at inmatepublicview.maderacounty.com
• Your own RAP sheet via Live Scan ($25 DOJ fee)

The court clerk can help with case file copies and certified documents. For booking records, go through the sheriff. If you need a police report, contact the police department that handled the original call. Court records and police records are separate. You may need both to get the full picture of a criminal case in Madera County.

Note: The clerk's office at the courthouse can also help you find your case number if all you have is a name and approximate date.

Nearby Counties

Madera County shares borders with several other counties. Each has its own court and sheriff systems for criminal records.