West Virginia Prison Releases
A felony commitment from Hancock Circuit Court can place a person in any suitable facility operated by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The prison location may change during the sentence. The lasting official route is therefore the statewide DCR prison offender record, not a roster tied to Hancock County and not the regional-jail search used for a pretrial detainee.
A person leaving state prison may enter parole, mandatory supervised release, interstate compact supervision, full discharge, or another authority's custody. Parole is conditional release from physical confinement while the sentence continues under supervision. Mandatory supervision also leaves an agency record. Discharge can mean that a defined custodial or supervision component has ended. A transfer to another authority is not release to the community. Read the event type, status, location, and receiving agency together.
The actual departure must be distinguished from a projected date or parole-eligibility date. A projected release date is an agency calculation based on the current sentence and credits. Eligibility means the person may be considered under the governing rules. Neither field proves that the person walked out of a facility. The Hancock County release search gives the full cross-system path when the original custody level is uncertain.
Confirm State Prison Release
The DCR offender-search hub separates Daily Incarcerations, jail search, prison search, and escapee information. Choose the prison route for a sentenced state offender. Daily Incarcerations is not a release list, and the regional-jail route is not the durable state-prison record. If the person began at Northern, a sentence or transfer can move the public record from the jail side to the prison side.
- Open the DCR hub and select Offender Search for prisons.
- Enter the most exact name available and compare the offender number, date of birth, descriptors, and court information before accepting a match.
- Open the detail and record the status, current or last location, intake and event dates, sentencing county, court-order entries, and any projected release field.
- If parole appears, separate the Board's decision from the actual DCR departure and the later Parole Services supervision record.
- If the result is blank, unclear, or no longer public, send DCR the offender number, Hancock case number, sentencing county, and order date in a focused request.
- Compare the DCR event with the Hancock commitment or amended sentencing order when dates or sentence terms seem inconsistent.
Do not match by a photograph alone. A public DCR image is an offender image and may not be the original Hancock arrest photograph. Not every former prisoner is guaranteed to remain searchable, and not every public detail contains the same fields. Use the identifier and court connection as the stable bridge between records.
A projected date, parole hearing, or eligibility date is not an actual release; confirm a DCR status or release event.
DCR Prison Release Search Fields
The public detail can supply several facts that help verify identity and status. A blank field should remain blank in any summary. Do not infer a date or release type from missing data. Where a field is unclear, use it to frame a records request rather than to announce a result.
| Field | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Offender ID | Identifies the DCR record and improves later records requests. |
| Name and public descriptors | Helps distinguish people with similar names. |
| Location or status | Shows current placement or the state represented by the public record. |
| Sentencing county and court entries | Connects the DCR record to the Hancock case and commitment. |
| Parole or hearing information | Provides a lead, not proof of actual departure. |
| Projected Release Date | Shows the current estimate when populated, not a guaranteed gate date. |
A past projected date is not proof that release happened. An amended order, corrected jail credit, consecutive or concurrent sentence ruling, disciplinary action, restoration of good time, new sentence, parole action, detainer, or data correction can alter the calculation. Confirm the final event with DCR and retain the date on which the public detail was reviewed.
Note: Use the exact label “Projected Release Date” when that field appears, and never turn it into a promise of release.
State Prison Release Outcomes
Outcome words describe different legal states. They should not be blended into a generic “released” label. A person can be outside a prison yet still under DCR supervision. Another person can leave one DCR facility and remain confined at another. The public detail, release event, supervision record, and receiving-agency entry resolve those differences.
| Outcome | What it means | Best confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Parole | Conditional release from prison with the sentence continuing under supervision | Board action, actual DCR release event, and Parole Services status |
| Mandatory supervision | Release under a qualifying statutory supervision plan | DCR status, plan, and release event |
| Discharge or expiration | Completion of the stated custody or supervision component in context | DCR discharge event and sentence computation |
| Interstate compact | Supervision accepted or administered across state lines | DCR and compact supervision confirmation |
| Transfer or detainer | Custody continues with another facility or authority | DCR movement record plus receiving-agency record |
A Parole Board grant is stronger evidence than a scheduled hearing, but a grant can carry conditions that must be satisfied before release. The Board makes the parole decision. DCR controls the custody record and supervises a person after release through Parole Services. The approved residence may be outside Hancock County, so the sentencing county does not determine the reporting office.
DCR Release Records Contact
This Facility Map entry represents the statewide prison system, not one building. The supplied research does not establish a central DCR records-office street address, public counter hours, or a single records phone number. Do not invent one. Use the official offender-search gateway for the public record and the agency's published FOIA policy for the custodian workflow.
West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Official offender-search hub
Policy Directive 108.01, FOIA Requests
Policy Directive 142.00, release of offender information
Follow the current official policy for the DCR records custodian and submission method. No central address or office schedule is stated here because none was verified in the supplied research.
DCR policy identifies public release-related information that can include release date and time, projected minimum discharge information, good-time and jail-credit data, method of discharge, release destination, mandatory-release information where applicable, and probation or parole action showing actual release. Public availability remains subject to the current record, legal restrictions, exemptions, and redaction.
Request State Prison Release Records
Ask DCR for existing records, not a new calculation or legal opinion. A release-focused request can seek the public portions of the offender face sheet, sentence computation or time sheet, release or discharge event, parole release certificate where applicable, and the DCR offender photograph. Include the full name, offender number, Hancock sentencing county, case number, court-order date, and a practical date range.
Identify the fields needed. These may include the release date and time, method of discharge, destination, receiving authority, mandatory-release date where applicable, jail credit, good-time entries, and parole action that shows actual departure. If a code appears, ask for the code legend. A request for the whole file is likely to sweep in far more protected material and can be less useful than a precise request.
West Virginia FOIA gives the custodian a maximum period to take one of the required response actions, excluding weekends and legal holidays. The agency may charge actual reproduction costs but may not charge man-hour search and retrieval fees. Security-sensitive, medical, victim, presentence, juvenile, personal, and law-enforcement material may be redacted or withheld under applicable law. Ask for all segregable public portions and the statutory ground for each withholding.
Note: Keep the public offender detail and court order with the response so each date can be tied to its record source.
Hancock Prison Release Authority
The DCR calculation begins with the sentence and credits reflected in official records. A Hancock Circuit Court commitment can state an indeterminate or definite term, concurrent or consecutive treatment, presentence credit, and other terms that affect the prison record. Later amended orders can change an input. If DCR and the court appear to differ, obtain the signed order and ask DCR to review the specific computation rather than attempting an independent correction.
West Virginia's general good-time law awards eligible credit under its own terms and exclusions. It should not be reduced to a flat percentage formula. Sentence type, mandatory minimums, offense-specific provisions, credit for qualifying presentence jail time, disciplinary loss or restoration, parole rules, and supervised-release provisions can all affect the practical date. The DCR calculation controls the agency record.
A Hancock court sentence also explains why a person who disappeared from the regional-jail search may appear in the prison search. That change is a custody transition, not evidence of community release. The Northern Regional Jail page covers the earlier jail-side event and the movement record that links the two systems.
Past State Prison Releases
For an older state-prison episode, start with durable records instead of reconstructing a former live roster. Search the DCR prison system, locate the Hancock court sentence, and identify any Parole Board action. Then request the release or discharge event and sentence computation from DCR. VINE can assist with custody-status changes, but its notification record should not replace the agency file for a past event.
If no public prison result appears, absence is not proof that DCR lacks an internal record or that release occurred on a guessed date. Public display practices and fields can change. Give DCR the offender number and court data, and ask whether the requested public portions are retained. When the answer shows a transfer, follow the receiving authority. When it shows parole, verify supervision. When it shows discharge, read which sentence or supervision component the word describes.