A recent reader posed the following question: "Do you know how I can find out whether my grandfather served time in a federal prision? There are some years none of us can account for in the 1920s-30s, and we have reason to believe he may have been in jail. Is this a matter of public record? How can we access the information, if so?
Access to records found in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is limited to law enforcement agencies. However, your ancestor pre-dates that agency. For Federal Prisions, you should contact the Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St. N.W., Washington, DC 20534. Be sure to state your relationship and interest in the individual as well as his birth and death dates. If that agency is unable to assist you, consider contacting the agency specific to the region where your ancestor lived. For the Western Region, the address is 7950 Dublin Blvd., 3rd floor, Dublin, CA 94568.
Local criminal case files are available to the public. They may be found on the state or county level. Check with the state archives of the appropriate state--you may be able to do this on-line. You should also consider searching the local newspaper archives for information.
For additional Federal Prision regional address, consult your local public library or Family History Center for a copy of "The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy," edited by Loretto Dennis Szucs and Sandra Hargreaves Luebking. This valuable resource book includes addresses for federal agencies and institutions, military agencies, and state and local agencies. (All of this information comes from "The Source" as cited above.)
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