Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Overview
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution is an Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction prison in Lima. It is a state prison, not a county jail. That distinction controls the inmate search. The Allen County Sheriff's Office Inmate Inquiry is for local jail bookings and current county jail custody. Allen-Oakwood custody is searched through ODRC Offender Search because the people housed there are sentenced Ohio prison inmates or otherwise under state corrections authority.
Allen-Oakwood is physically in Allen County, but an inmate housed there may have been committed from another Ohio county. Likewise, a person sentenced from Allen County might be housed at another ODRC institution after reception and classification. County of commitment in ODRC records means the sentencing county. It does not always mean current residence or current prison location. That detail matters when a last-name search returns many people or when a court record shows Allen County but the institution is different.
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Capacity
The research file identified Allen-Oakwood as a mixed-custody adult male state prison and listed capacity context from ODRC PREA/source material. The original design capacity was 1,636, while public summaries commonly list about 1,645. Because the ODRC facility image row failed in the manifest and the research note says to use the official ODRC facility page first at build time, these numbers should be presented as capacity context rather than a current daily population count.
No current official Allen-Oakwood daily population count was captured in the research sections assigned to this page. Do not replace that gap with the Allen County Jail inspection count. The jail count and capacity belong to the sheriff-run county jail. Allen-Oakwood population and custody records are prison records under ODRC.
Search Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Inmates
The correct lookup for Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution is ODRC Offender Search. ODRC states that its search displays data on offenders currently incarcerated in an Ohio prison, currently under Department supervision, or judicially released. It also includes options for released status, APA supervision, and violators at large. The county jail roster is not the right tool for a sentenced prison inmate unless the question is about an earlier Allen County booking before transfer.
- Open ODRC Offender Search and start with the last name. ODRC advises that too little search criteria may work better than too much.
- Add first name, offender number, status, or County of Commitment when those details are known.
- Use County of Commitment carefully. Allen means sentenced from Allen County, not necessarily housed in Allen County.
- Open the matching result and compare name, number, status, institution, and supervision details with the court case record.
For a person whose case began with a Lima or Allen County arrest, court records may show the conviction and sentence. ODRC shows prison custody and supervision after commitment. For county jail booking details before prison transfer, use Allen County jail inmate records as the local jail source.
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Locator
ODRC search fields are broader than a county jail roster because the database covers prison custody, supervision, release status, county of commitment, residential county for certain supervision searches, and parole violators at large. A precise offender number is useful when known, but a last-name search can be enough when spelling is clear and the result set is small.
| Field | Type | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Last Name / First Name | Text | Name search, with last-name-only searching allowed |
| County of Commitment | Dropdown | Sentencing county, such as Allen, not necessarily current location |
| Residential County / Zip Code | Dropdown / text | Mainly relevant to APA supervision and violators at large |
| Status | Radio options | All, Incarcerated, Released, APA Supervision, or Violators at Large |
| Next Parole Board Hearing Date | Text | YYYYMM format, such as 202606 for June 2026 |
| Number | Prefix and number | A/R prefixes for male inmates, W for female inmates; no spaces or hyphens |
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Contact
Facility contact should be used for Allen-Oakwood prison operations, visiting questions, prison mail directions, and institutional routing. It should not be used to ask the Allen County Sheriff's Office to verify a sentenced prison inmate. ODRC is the operator, and ODRC records are the custody source.
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution
2338 North West Street
Lima, OH 45801
419-224-8000
Fax: 419-224-5828
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
State prison operator
Use ODRC Offender Search for inmate status
ODRC locator: online
Use facility instructions for visit, mail, and money procedures.
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Visits
State prison visits are different from Allen County Jail visits. ODRC prison visitation generally requires approval and scheduling through the prison system, while county jail video visits use the sheriff's jail rules. The assigned research confirms that Allen-Oakwood is the ODRC facility page for prison-specific visitation information, but it does not capture a complete day-by-day schedule table. The accurate public instruction is to confirm current visitation status, approval, dress, ID, and scheduling requirements with ODRC and the facility before travel.
Do not use Allen County Jail's InmateCanteen video schedule for Allen-Oakwood. The jail's on-site and off-site video windows apply to sheriff jail housing units, not ODRC prison visiting. Prison rules may also change for security, staffing, health, disciplinary, or institutional reasons.
| Visit Topic | State Prison Rule Path | What to Confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Visitor approval | ODRC / Allen-Oakwood | Application status and approved visitor list |
| Scheduling | ODRC facility instructions | Available days, times, and whether a visit is confirmed |
| Entry rules | Allen-Oakwood front entrance procedures | ID, dress code, property limits, and security screening |
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Mail
The research sections assigned to Allen-Oakwood confirm the facility address and ODRC operator, but they do not document a complete prison mail format, money-deposit vendor, commissary fee table, or phone rate table for this facility. Because those details were not captured, the page should not copy Allen County Jail's mailing P.O. Box, Securus account note, or InmateCanteen deposit rules into a state prison context.
Use ODRC and Allen-Oakwood instructions for current prison mail, phone, electronic messaging, and money rules. Include the inmate's ODRC number when the facility requires it. Confirm whether mail processing, approved-vendor rules, or deposit methods have changed before sending funds or packages.
| Service | Documented Detail | Fee Status |
|---|---|---|
| Facility address | 2338 North West Street, Lima, OH 45801 | No mailing fee documented |
| Money deposits | Use ODRC facility instructions | No fee table captured in assigned research |
| Phone / messaging | Use ODRC facility instructions | No rate table captured in assigned research |
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Intake
Allen-Oakwood intake should be described as state prison reception, classification, and assignment after sentencing, not street-arrest booking. A person arrested by Lima Police, the Allen County Sheriff's Office, or another local agency may first go to the county jail. The court then handles the criminal case. If the person receives a prison sentence, the commitment moves into ODRC custody. ODRC reception and classification decide housing and institution placement based on custody level, needs, sentence, and available beds.
That process explains why the Allen County jail roster can stop being useful after transfer. The roster may still show past booking details if public retention allows, but prison location, offender number, status, and supervision details belong in ODRC Offender Search. VINELink can supplement custody notification, but ODRC is the main state prison record channel.
- County of commitment
- The Ohio county from which the person was sentenced to ODRC, not proof of the current prison location.
- Classification
- The state process that reviews custody level, security, medical, mental-health, and programming needs after prison commitment.
- APA supervision
- Adult Parole Authority supervision, including parole or post-release control status outside prison walls.
Allen-Oakwood Correctional Institution Search
If ODRC Offender Search does not show the person, first reduce search filters and try a last-name-only search. Check spelling and possible hyphenation. If a court case says the person was sentenced from Allen County but no prison result appears, the person may not yet have been processed into the public ODRC record, may be under a different name spelling, or may be in a status not found with the filters used.
Use the federal BOP locator only for federal sentenced inmates. Use ICE ODLS for immigration detainees. No official BOP or ICE detention facility was located in Allen County, but federal or immigration custody can still matter after a transfer or detainer. The Allen County Jail roster may show local custody before transfer, while ODRC, BOP, and ICE each cover different custody systems.
Note: Confirm visit approval and prison status with ODRC or Allen-Oakwood before travel because county jail data does not control state prison custody.