JACKSON, Wyo. — Technically, the inmate list hosted on the Teton County Sheriff’s Office website has been hidden for months. But Google helped keep it alive until just this week. The search engine had indexed the URL such that users could still find it if they just googled “Teton County inmate list”, however the link was not available from the Sheriff’s Office website navigation.
Google’s version of the inmate list didn’t include mugshots, but it was a current list of incarcerated individuals.
The Sheriff’s Office has now fixed that glitch. The inmate list is no longer available on Teton County Sheriff’s website or from a Google search.
The decision was made months ago to remove the inmate list to prevent “public shaming” and using the list for entertainment, says Sheriff Matt Carr.
The public can still search for specific people believed to be incarcerated if you know their name. A hard copy is also posted in the lobby of the jail. “Public safety is still being taken care of,” Carr says.
