The nature of the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority is such that visitors to the site can access mugshots of inmates who are in the correctional facilities that are managed by the authority. The mugshots in question can be useful when, for instance, one is carrying out a search on an inmate they have an interest in, and when that inmate happens to share a name with another inmate. To be sure though, even before getting to a point of differentiating the inmates using mugshots, one does have other differentiating factors: like date of birth and so on. Still, there are situations where one does need the help of mugshots, to differentiate inmates. In any event, the nature of the law seems to be such that inmates’ mugshots are considered to be part of public information: hence their availability on the site.
Accessing www.wvrja.com mugshots
Before we even get to talk about how to access www.wvrja.com mugshots, we do have to point out that the canonical website address for West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facilities Authority changed from www.wvrja.com to www.rja.wv.gov. Still, the authority does own the www.wvrja.com domain: and upon entering it, you are redirected to www.wvrja.com.
Past that hurdle, accessing the mugshots of inmates at www.wvrja.com is a matter of searching for them. The first approach, for inmates who have been in for some time, is the one where you use the ‘inmate search’ feature: one where, ultimately, you get to search for the inmate using the first name and last name, after agreeing to the site’s terms and conditions.
The second approach, assuming that you are searching for mugshots of inmates admitted within the same day, is that of using the ‘daily incarcerations’ feature. You go to the daily incarcerations page, and you will find a list of the inmates admitted to the various facilities. Then you need to click on the name of the inmate you are interested in, and you will be served with, among other things, a mugshot of that particular inmate.
About the misuse of www.wvrja.com mugshots
There having been incidences of people misusing and abusing the mugshots of inmates provided at www.wvrja.com, the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority does (unequivocally) warn against such. From the tone of the warning, it is clear that the authority is determined to stamp out the vice. Thus, anyone accessing the www.wvrja.com mugshots with the intention of abusing them (say, for commercial gain) risks having legal action taken against them. Otherwise the mugshots are available for legitimate use that they were intended for.
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