gov.inmate-locator

Search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator — federal inmates from 1982 to present, both currently incarcerated and released. Search by lastName (+ optional firstName/middleName, age, sex, race) or by exact BOP register number (inmateNumber, e.g. "12345-678"). Each match: full name, register number, sex, race, age, current facility (code/name/type), projected release date, actual release date (when released). KYC, due-diligence, journalism, and background-research staple. Federal public data.

price
$0.0024 USDC per call
method
GET/api/gov/inmate-locator
payment
x402 v2 · USDC on Base (EIP-3009) or Solana (SPL transfer)
auth
None. Sign the payment, retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE.

Overview

The inmate locator API is a pay-per-call gov endpoint built for AI agents and autonomous software. Search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator — federal inmates from 1982 to present, both currently incarcerated and released.

There is no signup and no API key. An agent (or any HTTP client) hits the endpoint, receives an x402 "402 Payment Required" challenge, signs a sub-cent USDC payment on Base or Solana, and retries — the data comes back on the paid request. That makes it a drop-in inmate locator data source for an agent tool-use loop, an MCP host, or a backend that needs gov data on demand without onboarding to yet another vendor portal.

Use cases

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
lastNamestring
min 2 chars · max 80 chars
firstNamestring
min 1 chars · max 80 chars
middleNamestring
min 1 chars · max 80 chars
inmateNumberstring
match ^\d{5}-\d{3}$
ageinteger
min 18 · max 120
sexstring
one of: Male | Female
racestring
max 40 chars

Code samples

cURLbash
# 1. Probe with no auth → 402 envelope with PaymentRequirements
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/gov/inmate-locator?lastName=xx&firstName=example&middleName=example&inmateNumber=12345&age=18&sex=Male&race=example'

# 2. Sign + retry with PAYMENT-SIGNATURE:
curl -sS 'https://2s.io/api/gov/inmate-locator?lastName=xx&firstName=example&middleName=example&inmateNumber=12345&age=18&sex=Male&race=example' \
  -H 'PAYMENT-SIGNATURE: <base64-json-payload>'

# Or use the canonical runner (handles probe → sign → retry):
#   EVM_PRIVATE_KEY=0x... node --env-file=.env.local \
#     --experimental-strip-types scripts/x402-pay.ts \
#     'https://2s.io/api/gov/inmate-locator?lastName=xx&firstName=example&middleName=example&inmateNumber=12345&age=18&sex=Male&race=example'
TypeScript / Node — @2sio/sdktypescript
import { TwoS } from '@2sio/sdk'

const client = new TwoS({
  privateKey: process.env.EVM_PRIVATE_KEY as `0x${string}`,
})

const result = await client.gov.inmateLocator({
  "lastName": "xx",
  "firstName": "example",
  "middleName": "example",
  "inmateNumber": "12345",
  "age": 18,
  "sex": "Male",
  "race": "example"
})

console.log('endpoint:', result.endpoint)
console.log('cost:', result.costUsd, 'USDC')
console.log('tx:', result.settlement?.txHash)
console.log('data:', result.data)
Python — 2siopython
import os
from twosio import TwoS

client = TwoS(private_key=os.environ["EVM_PRIVATE_KEY"])

result = client.gov.inmate_locator(lastName="xx", firstName="example", middleName="example", inmateNumber="12345", age=18, sex="Male", race="example")

print("endpoint:", result.endpoint)
print("cost:", result.cost_usd, "USDC")
print("tx:", (result.settlement or {}).get("tx_hash"))
print("data:", result.data)
MCP — Claude Desktop / AgentKit / any MCP hostjson
// 1. Add @2sio/mcp to your MCP host config (Claude Desktop example below).
//    EVM_PRIVATE_KEY funds x402 payments per call.

// claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "2sio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@2sio/mcp"],
      "env": { "EVM_PRIVATE_KEY": "0x..." }
    }
  }
}

// 2. Once the server is running, agents call this tool via standard MCP:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "gov.inmate-locator",
    "arguments": {
      "lastName": "xx",
      "firstName": "example",
      "middleName": "example",
      "inmateNumber": "12345",
      "age": 18,
      "sex": "Male",
      "race": "example"
    }
  }
}

Response

FieldTypeDescription
okboolean
one of: true
itemsarray
totalintegerTotal matching rows upstream; null when unknown.
sourceobject
metaobject
Example response datajson
{
  "ok": true,
  "items": [
    {
      "name": {
        "first": "example",
        "middle": "example",
        "last": "example",
        "suffix": "example"
      },
      "inmateNumber": "example",
      "sex": "example",
      "race": "example",
      "age": 1,
      "facility": {
        "code": "example",
        "name": "example",
        "type": "example"
      },
      "projectedReleaseDate": "example",
      "actualReleaseDate": "example",
      "releaseCode": "example"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "source": {
    "provider": "example",
    "url": "example",
    "license": "example"
  },
  "meta": {
    "capped": false
  }
}

FAQ

Do I need an API key to use the inmate locator API?
No. gov.inmate-locator is x402-native — there is no signup and no API key. Your client makes the call, receives a 402 with payment requirements, signs a USDC payment, and retries. Funds come from a wallet you control.
How much does the inmate locator API cost?
$0.0024 USDC per call, charged per request. There are no monthly fees, seats, or minimums — you pay only for the calls you make.
Can I try the inmate locator API for free first?
Yes. Add ?trial=1 (or the header X-2s-Trial: 1) to get a free real call per endpoint per hour, so you can verify the response shape before wiring payment.
Which networks and tokens are supported?
USDC on Base (via EIP-3009 transferWithAuthorization) or Solana (SPL transfer), using the open x402 payment protocol.
How do I call gov.inmate-locator from an AI agent or MCP host?
Use @2sio/sdk (TypeScript), 2sio (Python), or the @2sio/mcp server for any MCP host — each handles the probe → sign → retry loop for you. See the code samples on this page.

Discovery

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