The Etowah County Detention Center is at 827 Forrest Avenue, Gadsden, AL 35901, sharing the address with the sheriff's office, non-emergency 256-546-2825.

For one inmate's status, bond or holds, the booking line at 256-549-5408 is the quickest route. Keep a birth date and spelling of the legal name nearby.

Gadsden is the county's biggest city, and its police non-emergency number is 256-549-4500.

Other city police lines:

That dispatch line is also the best call for Boaz (partly in Etowah) and any town without its own listed number. Deputies cover the rural roads. Troopers patrol Interstate 59. A city may hold someone at its own station for a short time, but adults are booked on Forrest Avenue.

If you can't tell which agency made the arrest, the sheriff's non-emergency line, 256-546-2825, can check the booking.

Etowah County Inmate Search shows status and charges. Keep the booking number. Searching in Etowah?

Fresh Gadsden bookings may take a few hours to post while fingerprints and photos are done. If nobody turns up, call booking, then the city police department. Free VINELink texts can flag a Gadsden release.

Get Etowah sheriff alerts with the Etowah app for iPhone or the Etowah app for Android.

Minor charges often get a ticket and a court date instead of booking. The paper names the court, and Gadsden city tickets go to the municipal court. Skipping that date can turn into a warrant.

A no-warrant arrest has a 48-hour limit for judicial review, after which the minimum bond applies. Warrant prisoners get court within three days. Domestic bail can wait 24 hours.

At the circuit clerk's office in the Judicial Building, 801 Forrest Avenue, Suite 202, Gadsden, a short walk from the jail. It's open 8:00 to 5:00 weekdays. The clerk takes cash, money orders, cashier's checks and cards in person, but no personal checks. Phones: main 256-549-2150, circuit criminal 256-549-5437, district criminal 256-549-5441. Bondsmen and property bonds are also used. Judges may hold a few violent defendants without bail once a hearing ends. The state adds 3.5% and $35. See our Etowah bond guide. Under Aniah's Law, a circuit judge can refuse bail for listed violent crimes following a hearing. From May 19, 2026, Alabama's Amendment 1 also lets judges deny bail in attempted murder plus for firing into an occupied vehicle or dwelling.

District and Circuit Court are in the Judicial Building. Gadsden and other cities run municipal courts for city charges. See the Etowah court page. District Court takes misdemeanors and early felony hearings, while Circuit Court handles felony trials.

Available if the judge finds they can't pay. The judge asks about money at the first hearing. Families can hire a private lawyer instead.

A felony risks prison; a misdemeanor tops out at twelve months. The clerk can show the filing. Alacourt sells online case access too.

Call 256-549-5408 and explain the need to the supervisor. Name the medicines, the doctor and the pharmacy, and write down who you talked to.

Video visits last 20 minutes, with remote time at $0.20 per minute. See remote visits. Register an account and wait for approval before booking. Also see our Etowah visiting guide.

Money for the trust and commissary account goes on through the jail's online deposit service. See sending money. The balance pays for commissary items and calls; see phones. Calls are prepaid and outgoing only.

Address letters with the booking number. The bag of belongings goes back when they walk out. Etowah jail mail: our Etowah County guide. After bond posts, Etowah staff clear holds and paperwork over several hours, so call before driving to Forrest Avenue.

Terms over a year fall to ADOC, not the county. The person often waits in the Gadsden jail until the state has a bed. Their first ADOC stop is an intake center for processing. During classification, ADOC review gang links, security risk, and health and mental health care. Then, they transfer to the prison that suits them best.

Use the ADOC online search by name. The Alabama prison page covers prison addresses.

Call the sheriff at 256-546-2825. Counsel can arrange surrender. City warrants may sit with Gadsden or another town's police instead.

Minors go through juvenile court and are held apart from adults, with a detention hearing inside 72 hours. Some 16- and 17-year-olds facing major felonies are sent to adult court.

Federal arrests are made by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and the DEA, sometimes backed by the sheriff's office. Cases filed here are heard by the Eastern Division of Alabama's Northern District, at 1100 Gurnee Avenue, Anniston, AL 36201, 256-741-1533. Clerks are not in Anniston full time; questions go to the Birmingham clerk, 205-278-1700. Federal court no longer meets in Gadsden in December 2024, so Etowah County cases now go to Anniston. Often the next weekday, the defendant faces a federal magistrate judge who reads the charges. Release isn't based on a schedule in U.S. court. Using the 1984 Bail Reform Act, the magistrate runs a short hearing and decides the release terms. The judge reads a report from a pretrial officer.

Search for them with Etowah County Inmate Search; the listing may name the Marshals. While it's open, the Marshals Service may hold them in the Gadsden jail. The district's Marshals office can tell you where they are: 205-829-6611, 1729 5th Avenue North, Room 240, Birmingham, AL 35203. Once there is a prison sentence, the person goes to a BOP prison. Follow them on the federal inmate locator by register number.

• As part of booking, their prints are shared with Homeland Security. ICE sometimes issues a detainer.
• A paid bond won't lift the detainer — the clock starts then.
• ICE asks the jail to hold on to them for no more than 48 hours once they are cleared to leave. Once those 48 hours pass, the detainer expires.
• Within those hours, ICE can arrive to pick them up. If the window passes, the sheriff is supposed to free them on the local case.
• Alabama is covered by ICE's New Orleans enforcement office, at 181 James Drive W, St. Rose, LA 70087, 504-318-2360.
• Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator using an A-number and home country. Missing the A-number? Enter the exact name, date of birth, and the country they were born in instead.
• Their next facility is up to ICE.

Yes. The Etowah jail search puts Etowah mugshots beside each person held.

Media that want a mugshot not shown online can call the sheriff's office, 256-546-2825. Immigration officials release mugshots only through ICE's FOIA form, if approved. Federal agencies do not share mugshots with reporters or families. Only in narrow cases, the Marshals Service shares one: to find a wanted fugitive, to aid an arrest or warn the public or for urgent public safety.

Gift card or app requests are fraud. Call the detention center. Hang up and dial 256-549-5408 yourself.

The Etowah County Detention Center booking line, 256-549-5408. Court: 256-549-2150.