When I was doing a federal inmates search for my uncle, I wish I had known these tips. It would have made my search much easier. Whether you are looking for a loved one to write to in prison, or verifying a dangerous person is still behind bars or finding out when an inmate will be released or paroled, these tips will help you perform your search quickly and with success.

Tip #1: Have the correct information about the inmate. You will not need a lot of information when you do your federal inmates search, but the information you do need MUST be accurate. You will basically only need the inmate's proper name, no nicknames. When I was searching for my uncle, we always called him Uncle Paulie. I had no idea that wasn't his proper name. It was his middle name because he didn't like using his first name. So make sure you have the proper name of the inmate you are looking for. In addition, if you have the inmate's date of birth, that will help you make sure you have the correct inmate. This will be especially true if the inmate has a common name.

Tip #2: Know where the inmate is located. Now I know that sounds dumb. If you knew where the inmate was located, you wouldn't be doing this search. But what I mean is you will need to know if the inmate is in federal, state or county prison. When you are searching free resources on the internet, all of these pools of information are separate. And if you know the inmate is in state prison, you must know which state.

To perform a federal inmates search, you will need to go to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. The inmate will only be on this website if they have committed a federal crime and been convicted of that crime. If they have been charged with a federal crime but not yet convicted and are awaiting trial, they will not be in a federal prison.

Tip #3: What to look for with paid federal inmates search services. There are paid services that combine information in one place for federal, state and county inmates. In addition, they have a huge amount of information and make available to you data from private sources, criminal files, federal court dockets, and arrest records. This is only a sampling of the information that is included in many of these services. The services charge a small fee to gain access to their information. The fee is usually between $20 and $50. When you sign up for one of these sites, make sure they only require a one-time fee, not repeat billing. Paid sites will allow you to put in the name of the inmate, but won't give you any information until you pay.

There are many legitimate services available, but there are also many rip off sites…so beware! These questionable sites may charge you a large fee and only allow you one search. They also may not have a very large or complete information database. The trusted sites will allow you to make multiple searches over a period of time, like a year. They will have customer service available to answer questions and they keep their information up-to-date, normally daily. These sites also allow you to do other searches on information that is not related to inmates. For example, reverse phone lookups and unclaimed property.