what is the trick to finding if a person is in a county jail or a state prison or has been in past online?

Question

If the jail doesn't have a link to put in a persons name to see if he's an inmate

Answer 1

Try googling their name, never know what might come up. Failing that you might have to hire someone (like a P.I.) to do the work for you.

Answer 2

Most counties have a court website that you can go on and check for inmates etc.

Answer 3

You could try, http://www.ussearch.com/consumer/index.jsp
It does cost $.