Check Mercer County VINE Records

Mercer County VINE Coverage

West Virginia VINE began operating in December 2002. WVDCR says callers can use 1-866-WV4-VINE, also written as 1-866-984-8463, to obtain custody information about a WVDCR inmate or register for automated phone notice of status changes. Email registration is available through VINELink. The state says help for those functions is available around the clock.

WVDCR custody coverage is confirmed. Southern Regional Jail and Correctional Facility is operated by WVDCR and serves Mercer County, so its participation is a reasonable expectation. Still, the public state description does not list every regional or local data feed. The Mercer Sheriff's temporary holding facility was not separately confirmed as a direct VINE feed. Open the matching record or call VINE to verify the participating custodian.

Sam Perdue Juvenile Center is not an adult lookup route. Juvenile identity and case information is restricted, and the adult VINE process should not be repurposed to disclose a young person's record. Authorized family, counsel, the juvenile court, and the facility are the proper channels.

VINE

Victim Information and Notification Everyday, the custody information and alert service used by West Virginia.

VINELink

The online access point for searching participating records and registering available notifications.

Custody status

The current label supplied by the participating agency, not a certified discharge record.

Transfer

Movement to another custodian or facility, which is not the same as community release.

Search Mercer County VINE Records

Use VINE for one specific person, not as a list of everyone recently released. Have the person's full name, likely spelling variations, and offender identification number when known. Common names require extra care. Compare every available identity and location field before opening a record or registering a notice.

1. Open the West Virginia entry. Go to the official WV VINELink portal or call the state VINE number.
2. Select West Virginia. Confirm that the state and language shown are correct before entering a person's details.
3. Search by name. Add the offender number when known. Try a documented alias or spelling variant if the first search does not return a safe match.
4. Compare identity. Review the location, offender number, and other visible identifiers. Do not choose a common-name result on name alone.
5. Open the matching record. Read the exact custody status, location, and any scheduled-release or hearing information displayed.
6. Save the context. Record the source URL, retrieval time, and precise wording. Avoid saving or sharing personal data that is not needed for verification.

The official West Virginia VINE search entry shows where a one-person query begins.

This entry supports the search route, but it does not prove that every Mercer holding record appears or that any person was released.

Note: Save the exact VINE label and retrieval time because custody data may change after a release or transfer.

Mercer VINE Release Record Fields

West Virginia's official system description supports core identity, custody, location, and scheduled-event fields. The precise 2026 wording on a released result was not safely verified with a real person's record. Therefore, do not promise a particular word such as “released,” an actual date, or a reason unless the live result displays it.

A no-match result has several possible causes: spelling, incomplete feed coverage, transfer lag, data timing, or a record outside WVDCR. It may also reflect release, but VINE alone cannot resolve which explanation applies. Check the custodian, court case, and official movement record before reaching a conclusion.

Register Mercer County VINE Alerts

Registration begins inside the correct person's record. The live interface controls which phone, email, text, TTY, or app choices are offered. West Virginia's official system specification confirms a four-digit telephone PIN. The current email confirmation wording was not independently verified, so follow the prompts that appear during registration rather than relying on an old screen description.

1. Confirm the record first. Compare identity and custody details before choosing the notification or register action.
2. Select an offered channel. Choose phone, email, text, TTY, or app only when the live West Virginia record presents that choice.
3. Enter contact details. Supply the requested phone number, email, or other destination accurately and complete the current verification prompt.
4. Create the telephone PIN. For automated calls, choose the four-digit PIN described by West Virginia VINE and keep it available.
5. Acknowledge a call. Listen to the message and enter the PIN. That confirms receipt and stops repeat automated calls for that notice.
6. Keep the source record. An alert is a prompt to verify the event with the facility, WVDCR, and court when legal authority matters.

Registration does not change custody and does not guarantee that a message arrives before every real-world event. Contact information can be entered incorrectly, a feed can lag, or a transfer may not be announced until arrival. Keep the VINE registration current and maintain a direct agency route for time-sensitive confirmation.

Mercer Formal Notice Uses Two Letters

West Virginia has a formal notice process beyond ordinary web registration. Under §62-12-23d, a person seeking statutory victim notice must send written requests to two separate entities: WVDCR and the West Virginia Parole Board. The two agencies have distinct duties, so one letter does not replace the other.

WVDCR says a qualifying written-request recipient is automatically registered in VINE. That automatic step does not eliminate the separate letter to the Parole Board. Nor does a routine public VINELink signup replace both statutory requests. Keep copies, delivery dates, and any agency response for each notice channel.

The official WVDCR VINE page provides the state phone service and explains the distinction between ordinary VINE registration and written notice. Use the current agency instructions when preparing either request.

Note: Online registration, WVDCR written notice, and Parole Board written notice are related but legally separate notification routes.

Mercer VINE Transfer Timing

Two timing issues matter in Mercer County. WVDCR says a VINE transfer notification waits until the offender reaches the new facility for staff safety. A gap between departure and notice can therefore reflect movement in progress, not release. This is especially important when a person leaves the Mercer Sheriff's short-term holding facility for Southern Regional Jail or moves between WVDCR locations.

Parole timing can also mislead. A Board grant may be contingent, deferred, or rescinded before physical release. For a person in a regional jail, the Board's FAQ says the grantee may transfer to a DCR facility for intake and fingerprinting before actual parole release. The alert, Board decision, and gate movement should be recorded as separate events.

The official Parole Board calendar link appeared stale on August 8, 2026 and displayed April through June. A calendar date cannot prove a current hearing or decision. Call the Board at 304-558-6366 for current schedule information and use the decision record for the outcome. VINE may notify a later custody change, but it is not a public person-level decisions archive.

Mercer VINE Limits and Fallbacks

VINE does not replace every custody system. It is not the federal Bureau of Prisons locator and does not provide a complete historic federal release record. A Mercer defendant held in federal or immigration custody must be checked with the relevant federal source. BOP results can show a Release Date and Location, while ICE's locator addresses present detention and is not a historic release certificate.

A VINE record also does not prove why custody ended. For a Mercer short-term hold, contact the Sheriff and ask whether the event was community release, court return, or transfer. For Southern Regional Jail or a state prison, request WVDCR's final release or movement record. Read the Mercer court order for the legal basis. If parole is involved, add the Board decision and Princeton Parole Office confirmation.

The fallback should match the agency that last held the person. Mercer Sheriff records can address the Princeton holding event. WVDCR records can address Southern Regional Jail or state-prison movement. A Mercer court docket can show bond, dismissal, sentencing, probation, or another order, though it may not show the precise gate time. Use the BOP locator only for federal custody, and use ICE's locator only as a present-detention check. Each system answers a narrower question than a universal release search.

Current-custody and released-person searches serve different purposes. A person still held may appear in the WVDCR jail or prison search. A released person may no longer appear there. The durable evidence is the final movement record, court disposition, discharge certificate when applicable, and supervision record. The Mercer County released-inmate search path sets out these channels by custodian.

The West Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry is another distinct system. It covers only people legally required to register, not all released inmates. A listing may support community presence for a qualifying registrant, while absence says nothing reliable about everyone else. It must never be treated as a substitute for VINE or a universal release list.

When sources conflict, write down the exact wording and time from each one. Recheck the VINE match, ask the reporting custodian whether its feed has updated, and compare the physical movement with the court authority. A later, certified agency record should be described as the correction to an earlier alert, not silently substituted. That audit trail is especially useful when a transfer notice arrives after the person reached another WVDCR facility.