Butte County SWAP Records

Releases to Butte County SWAP

The Butte County Sheriff's Work Alternative Program, usually shortened to SWAP, is identified in the jail handbook as an alternative custody program offered to eligible people and granted at the Sheriff's discretion. A person in SWAP may be serving a local sentence outside continuous jail housing. That makes the release question more specific: the person may be physically out of the Butte County Jail building, but still subject to sheriff-administered program requirements or court-ordered terms.

SWAP should not be treated as a jail roster, a recent-release feed, or a statewide parole database. It is connected to a local criminal case and local sentence. If someone was booked into Butte County Jail and then approved for SWAP, the jail booking may appear in the weekly BCSO booking logs, VINE may show a custody-status change, and Butte Superior Court may show the sentence or order that made the alternative program possible. The SWAP office is the facility-specific contact for program participation questions.

The most important distinction is between physical release and the end of custody obligations. A person can leave the jail building for SWAP and still have program duties. Conversely, completing SWAP may close the jail-sentence portion but not necessarily end probation, fines, restitution, no-contact orders, warrants in other cases, or another agency's hold. Those later questions belong with Butte Superior Court, Butte County Probation, the Sheriff's Records Office, or the receiving agency.

How to Confirm SWAP Status

Because SWAP is not a public released-inmate roster, confirmation should start with the source that created or supervises the program placement. A court minute order can show whether a jail sentence, alternative custody term, or program condition was imposed. The Sheriff's SWAP phone line can answer program-specific process questions within what the agency can release. The Sheriff's Records Office can handle a written request for booking and release records when the request is about the jail event connected to SWAP.

1. Search the BCSO Booking Logs page if the person was originally booked into Butte County Jail and you need the booking week, inmate number, arresting agency, charge status, or case type.
2. Check California VINE for any custody-status change from the jail source. Use VINE as status confirmation, not as a full SWAP history.
3. Search Butte Superior Court's public case portal for the criminal case, sentencing entry, alternative custody order, probation terms, or later warrant action.
4. Call the Sheriff's SWAP contact at 530-538-7819 for program routing and current public-facing instructions.
5. Use the Sheriff's Records Office or the county Public Records Act portal if a written booking/release record, release date, or release type is needed.

If the person does not appear in the jail booking log for the expected week, broaden the search. The person may have a different booking date, an alias, a different arresting agency, a court-only sentence entry, a confidential or sealed matter, or no jail booking connected to the specific SWAP issue being researched. The court case number is often the best anchor for this page because SWAP depends on the sentence or court outcome.

SWAP Records and Contact

The Sheriff contact page lists a direct SWAP phone number. Use that number for program routing, but use the records office for written jail records. If the question is whether the person is on probation or PRCS after release, use Butte County Probation. If the question is whether the person was released from state prison, use CDCR and the Chico parole or PRCS path instead of SWAP.

When requesting records, describe the requested record rather than asking for a generic background search. Useful details include full name, date of birth, booking date, inmate number if known, court case number, sentence date, and whether the request is for the jail release date, SWAP placement, completion documentation, or the underlying booking record. Public agencies may redact or withhold information under public-records exemptions, sealed-case rules, juvenile confidentiality, or other law.

About Butte County SWAP

SWAP is part of the local adult custody alternatives described by the Butte County jail handbook. It exists in the same release ecosystem as the Butte County Jail, Alternative Custody Supervision, Butte County Probation, and the court. It should not be confused with CDCR parole, the Butte County Male Community Reentry Program, BOP custody, ICE custody, or Juvenile Hall.

For released-inmate research, SWAP's value is that it explains why a person may not be in the jail even though the criminal case and sentence are not fully over. The public booking log can show the jail intake event; the court record can show the disposition and sentence; the SWAP contact can route program questions; probation records can show supervision after sentencing; and the Sheriff's Records Office can respond to written requests for releasable booking or release records.

The Court Order Matters

Butte Superior Court's case-information page says public searches cover non-confidential, non-sealed criminal cases after 1988, with South County Municipal cases after 1989. No account is required for public case or hearing searches. That court portal is especially important for SWAP because the program is tied to the legal sentence, not merely to the date someone left the jail lobby.

The court record may explain whether a person was sentenced to jail with an alternative custody component, released on probation terms, ordered to complete a program, remanded, given time served, or made subject to a warrant. It may also show whether later violations, failures to appear, or new orders changed the person's status. Pair the court record with VINE and the Sheriff's office because court release orders and physical jail release can be separated by paper processing, holds, or alternative custody placement.

SWAP Compared with ACS

Butte County research identifies both SWAP and Alternative Custody Supervision as sheriff-administered alternatives, but they are not the same public record path. ACS is associated with a Day Reporting Center where people released to the program meet with correctional deputies and programming staff for evidence-based classes. SWAP is separately identified by the jail handbook and has its own Sheriff contact number. If a note says ACS, use the ACS page and phone line; if it says SWAP, use the SWAP contact and the court order that authorized the placement.

Both programs require careful wording. Do not describe a person as fully discharged just because they are not housed in the jail. The better phrasing is that the person may be physically released from jail to an alternative custody program, with obligations that continue until the program, sentence, or court terms end. For formal proof, request the specific record from the Sheriff's Records Office or court rather than relying on a general online name search.

Holds and Other Agencies

SWAP is generally a local sentence alternative, but the same person may have other cases or holds that change the release path. If a jail record shows a warrant, parole hold, PRCS hold, or out-of-county issue, SWAP may not answer the entire custody question. Check Butte Superior Court first, then Butte County Probation, CDCR parole or PRCS, another county, BOP, ICE, or USMS depending on what the record shows.

The immigration and federal paths should be used only where the facts point that way. Section 19 research notes a local ICE/detainer angle for facility pages, but it does not mean ordinary SWAP participants have immigration custody. If ICE involvement is indicated, use ICE ODLS and ICE records channels. If a federal criminal case is indicated, use the federal court docket, USMS FOIA where appropriate, and BOP records after a federal sentence.