Access Custody Alternative Facility Records

Custody Alternative Facility Overview

The Custody Alternative Facility is operated by the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff at 1011 Las Juntas Street in Martinez. It is not a conventional jail-bed facility. The sheriff page says it administers alternatives to traditional incarceration while maintaining public safety and judicial confidence. That distinction matters because an eligible person may be under custody supervision without appearing as a person housed in Martinez, West County, WRTH, or Marsh Creek.

The program serves court-ordered Work Alternative Program participants with 1 to 30 day sentences and Electronic Home Detention participants with 31 to 365 day sentences. The page links English and Spanish applications for WAP and EHD and a Custody Alternative Facility Handbook. The facility should be described as a work-release or custody-alternative office, not as a jail block with ordinary visiting, mail, and commissary.

Custody Alternative Facility Population

The research did not locate a traditional bed capacity for the Custody Alternative Facility because it is not a standard jail housing facility. Sheriff oversight reporting does list Custody Alternative Facility average daily population as a category: 495 in 2024 and 651 in 2025. Those figures show the scale of program supervision, not the number of beds. The home page and statistics sections should separate CAF from physical jail ADP.

The increase from 495 to 651 is important because custody alternatives are part of population management. A person on electronic home detention or assigned to work alternative remains under court and sheriff rules, but the public search path may involve program documents, court records, and sheriff program staff rather than a housing-unit field on an inmate detail page.

Custody Alternative Program Lookup

Start with the court order or sentence paperwork if available. Then use the sheriff program office for program-specific questions and the Contra Costa In-Custody Locator if the question is whether the person is currently housed in jail. If a person does not appear in the current custody locator, that absence does not prove they are in CAF. It may mean release, program placement, transfer, an aged-off record, a name mismatch, or another custody system.

1. Check the court order for Work Alternative Program or Electronic Home Detention language.
2. Call the Custody Alternative Facility for program questions.
3. Search the In-Custody Locator if current jail housing is uncertain.
4. Use Records & ID for older sheriff records or out-of-custody inmate inquiries.
5. Use Superior Court for dispositions, warrants, court dates, and official case records.

Custody Alternative Facility Contact

The Custody Alternative Facility is open during weekday business hours listed by the sheriff. Because this is a program facility, callers should distinguish between program reporting, application questions, and jail custody questions. Jail custody status still belongs with the locator or inmate information line, while formal court requirements belong with the court order and clerk records.

Work Alternative and Home Detention

The Work Alternative Program is for court-ordered sentences of 1 to 30 days. Electronic Home Detention is for court-ordered sentences of 31 to 365 days. The research file identifies both as sheriff-administered alternatives, with application links and a handbook on the official page. These programs are not shortcuts around a sentence. They are supervised custody alternatives that depend on court authorization, program approval, and rule compliance.

Custody Alternative Facility Visits

CAF is not a visiting-room jail facility. The research does not document ordinary social visiting, mail delivery, commissary packages, or jail-bed deposit rules for CAF participants. Those rules belong to Martinez, West County, WRTH, and Marsh Creek when a person is physically housed in jail. For CAF, the key public details are address, hours, program eligibility, applications, reporting duties, and court compliance.

Custody Alternative Records Routing

Records routing depends on the question. The Custody Alternative Facility can answer program-related questions. Records & ID handles sheriff records and out-of-custody inmate inquiries, with valid ID and a ten-day response period. The Superior Court handles dispositions, court dates, warrants, and case records. The District Attorney handles formal charges. A person who fails to comply with a custody-alternative program may face court or jail consequences, so the public record can involve both sheriff and court systems.

The Custody Alternative Facility is also important for interpreting Contra Costa population statistics. Sheriff oversight reports list CAF as an average daily population category, but that category is not the same as a head count in a jail housing unit. It reflects people managed through court-approved alternatives. For public search purposes, that means a reader should avoid treating CAF like Martinez, West County, WRTH, or Marsh Creek. A program participant may have reporting rules, monitoring conditions, or work requirements without having a jail visiting schedule or commissary account at the CAF office.

If the public question is whether a person is locked in a cell tonight, the official In-Custody Locator and inmate information line are the right starting points. If the question is whether a sentence is being served through WAP or EHD, the program office and court paperwork matter more. If the question is why a person is in a custody alternative, the Superior Court record and sentencing order will usually explain more than a sheriff roster result. These separate channels keep county jail housing, program supervision, and court disposition from being blurred together.

The CAF page also fits with the county's broader reentry and conditions material. Contra Costa uses custody alternatives alongside jail programs, WRTH treatment space, and facility classification to manage people at different risk and sentence levels. That makes CAF a population-management page as much as a contact page.