Donaldson State Prison Records
ADOC's Donaldson facility page identifies William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility as a maximum and close custody state correctional facility in Bessemer. It opened in October 1982 as West Jefferson Correctional Facility and later expanded to include a 300-inmate segregation unit, which ADOC describes as the largest unit in Alabama.
Donaldson is built for sentenced state prisoners, not pretrial county jail detainees. ADOC says the facility specializes in controlling repeat or multiple violent offenders with lengthy sentences who are behaviorally difficult to manage. It also houses several hundred people sentenced to life without parole and has a 24-bed death-row unit for inmates who need to be incarcerated in the Birmingham judicial area.
Donaldson Inmate Lookup
The correct search system for William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility is the Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search. Do not use the Jefferson County Inmate Inquiry for people already transferred to Donaldson. The county roster is for Birmingham and Bessemer jail custody, while ADOC tracks sentenced state prisoners by AIS number and name.
- Open the ADOC inmate search page.
- Enter the AIS number if known because ADOC says it takes precedence over name fields.
- Use first name, last name, or both when AIS is not known.
- Review results carefully because ADOC limits displayed name-search results to 50 at a time.
- Confirm Donaldson as the facility before planning mail, visitation, or money deposits.
| ADOC Field | Use | Research Note |
|---|---|---|
| AIS # | Six-digit ADOC identifier | If entered, first and last names are ignored. |
| First Name | Name search | Can be used alone or with last name. |
| Last Name | Name search | Open-ended searches may return many results. |
| Current custody | Result scope | ADOC says historical data is not available online. |
If a Jefferson County case is still pretrial, the person may still appear on the county jail roster. After sentencing and ADOC acceptance, the search path shifts to ADOC. Court records for the underlying case remain with the Jefferson County court division.
This handoff is where many searches fail. The Jefferson County sheriff roster can show the booking charge, bond, and housing facility while the person is waiting for trial or transfer. ADOC becomes the controlling custody source only after the state prison system accepts the sentenced person. If the ADOC locator does not show a match, check spelling, AIS number, youthful-offender limits, recent transfer timing, and the Jefferson County court record before assuming the person is not in custody.
Donaldson Facility Contact
Use the facility phone for visiting hours, mail rules, and facility-specific questions. For case records, use the Jefferson County court or clerk source connected to the conviction. For county jail custody before state transfer, use the sheriff roster instead.
William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, AL 35023-7299
(205) 436-3681
Operator: Alabama Department of Corrections
The official ADOC facility page is the source for Donaldson's address, phone, security level, population, and vendor links.
The ADOC page also anchors the distinction between Donaldson state-prison custody and Jefferson County sheriff jail custody.
Donaldson Prison Visitation
ADOC does not publish a detailed Donaldson day-by-day visitation table in the research record. The facility page says to contact the facility for visitation hours and information. State prison visitation is different from county jail visitation because ADOC approval, scheduling, identity rules, dress rules, and security review can apply before a person is allowed to visit.
| Visitation Item | Donaldson Direction | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | Call (205) 436-3681 | ADOC says contact facility for hours and information. |
| Approval | Confirm through ADOC/facility | State prison visits are not county jail walk-in visits. |
| Identity | Use current government ID | Facility security screening applies. |
| Scheduling | Confirm before travel | Maximum/close custody operations can affect access. |
Do not follow the Jefferson County Birmingham or Bessemer jail visitation schedule for Donaldson. Those rules apply to the sheriff's county jail facilities, not to ADOC state prison visits.
Donaldson Mail and Money
Donaldson uses ADOC state-prison mail and vendor systems. The facility page includes links for Send Money, Send Incentive Package, Send eMessage, Inmate Phone System, and Send Footwear Package. IC Solutions appears in the official ADOC eMessage and phone link targets in the inspected research. Use ADOC's inmate information pages and the Donaldson facility page before sending funds or mail.
| Service | Provider / Detail |
|---|---|
| ADOC inmate mail rules and facility-specific address requirements. | |
| Money | Use the Send Money link from the official ADOC facility page. |
| eMessage / Phone | ADOC links point to IC Solutions services. |
| Packages | Use official ADOC incentive or footwear package links where allowed. |
State-prison mail rules do not match Jefferson County jail rules. Include the incarcerated person's correct ADOC identity information and facility assignment, and verify restrictions before sending items.
Donaldson Prison Programs
ADOC says Donaldson offers vocational, educational, and rehabilitative programs for eligible inmates. Ingram State Technical College programs listed for Donaldson include Carpentry, Electrical, Barbering, and HVAC. These programs sit inside a maximum and close custody facility, so eligibility and access depend on ADOC classification, security status, conduct, and program capacity.
Donaldson also belongs in the Jefferson County facility list because it is physically in Bessemer, even though it is outside sheriff control. That distinction is useful for families who first search the Jefferson County jail roster after an arrest and later need to find the same person after sentencing. The sheriff's Corrections Division says the county jail houses people awaiting transfer to ADOC. Once the transfer occurs, the public county jail record is no longer the main custody source.
ADOC statewide population figures give added context for Donaldson's role. On the inspected ADOC inmate search page, statewide totals showed 27,601 inmates, including 25,007 males and 2,592 females. Donaldson's listed population of 1,440 is part of that state prison count, not part of Jefferson County's average jail population. Mixing those numbers would overstate the county jail population and would send searchers to the wrong roster.
Federal or immigration custody is separate again. A person with a federal case may appear in Jefferson County jail if held locally before trial, but BOP custody uses the federal locator after commitment. ICE ODLS is the researched path for immigration detention. Donaldson remains an ADOC facility, so its records should stay in the state-prison lane.
Donaldson also has security and program details that should not be generalized to every Jefferson County facility. ADOC's description of repeat or multiple violent offenders, lengthy sentences, life-without-parole prisoners, the segregation unit, and the Birmingham-area death-row unit is specific to this prison. Those facts explain why visitation, movement, mail review, and phone access can be stricter than at a county jail or a minimum-community work center. Families should confirm current classification and facility assignment before making plans.
- AIS
- The Alabama Institutional Serial number assigned by ADOC.
- Maximum custody
- ADOC security level for the highest classified prisoners.
- Close custody
- A high-security custody setting with strict supervision.
- County jail transfer
- Movement from sheriff custody to ADOC after sentencing and acceptance.
Note: Confirm ADOC custody, visiting approval, and current facility assignment before traveling to Donaldson.
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