The Sumter County Jail sits beside the sheriff's office at 118 Hospital Drive, Livingston, AL 35470. Call the sheriff's office at 205-652-2841 for the jail. Because it is small, long or high-security holds are sometimes moved to a larger jail in another county.

• Sumter County Sheriff's Office: 205-652-2841

After a city arrest, call that department and ask whether the person is in a city cell, was sent to Hospital Drive, or already went home. A city officer may have set a separate bond for a city charge.

No Sumter roster is posted online, so check Sumter County on VINELink first and call Sumter jail staff to be sure.

Search a last name at Sumter County on VINELink and write down the Sumter booking number.

Small jails can be slow to post names after prints, photos and a warrant check. Call 205-652-2841 with the full name and ask three things: is the person at Hospital Drive, what is the bail, and is there a hold from Greene, Choctaw, Marengo or a Mississippi county? Also ask if they were released or moved to another jail for space.

Livingston police may cite minor offenses into city court. Livingston Municipal Court answers at 205-652-2505. York Municipal Court meets at York City Hall, 607 2nd Avenue, 205-392-5231, which can give its dates. A missed Sumter court date means a warrant.

A Livingston judge reviews warrantless arrests within 48 hours or the lowest bond applies. Sumter warrant prisoners who can't post appear within three days; on domestic violence charges, bail in Livingston can be postponed a day.

A judge sets the amount, from Alabama's statewide schedule. If Hospital Drive says "no bond," a judge must act, which may follow a prosecutor's Aniah's Law motion in a Livingston violent-crime case. Amendment 1, in effect as of May 19, 2026, also allows judges to deny bail in attempted murder and for shooting into an occupied building, home or car. Cash, bondsmen, property and signature bonds work, with Alabama's 3.5% and $35 on top. See the Sumter bail guide.

Court bond money goes through the circuit clerk in the courthouse, 115 Franklin Street, Livingston, 205-652-2291, weekdays 8:00 to 5:00. At night, ask the jail at 205-652-2841 how a bond can be posted.

District and Circuit Court sit in Livingston. The 17th Circuit district attorney's office, based in Demopolis, answers 334-289-2149. See the Sumter court guide.

A Livingston judge can order a free lawyer. Ask at the first hearing. Calls from Hospital Drive are recorded.

The jail or the Franklin Street clerk can tell you each charge and the case number. Felonies can mean prison; Sumter misdemeanors run up to a year in jail. Franklin Street lets the public read Sumter files at no cost; Alacourt online charges.

Call 205-652-2841 for the supervisor. Explain conditions, medications and the pharmacy. Medical decisions belong to jail staff, and serious emergencies go to a hospital. Raise any self-harm worry at once.

Video visits last 20 minutes. Hours change, so phone 205-652-2841 or check online for the current Sumter times, and ask whether video works from home. See Sumter visitation and remote visits.

Register online to add funds; commissary is a separate account from calls. Sumter guides: money, Livingston calls, messages, tablets, Hospital Drive commissary.

Put the booking number and name on letters, and never send cash. Sumter jail mail: our Sumter County guide. Property returns at release.

Prison sentences of more than a year are served under the state prison system. They usually wait in the Livingston jail for a state transfer. Next, they go to an intake unit where they are processed. During classification, ADOC check gang ties, physical and mental health, and security level. The final stop is the prison that matches those results.

To find them, try the state inmate search. For visits and mail, read Alabama state prisons.

Hospital Drive deputies, 205-652-2841, can check; an attorney can set up the surrender.

Sumter children go to juvenile court and are never housed with grown inmates, so the adult search won't list them. Call the circuit clerk at 205-652-2291 and ask which detention center holds Sumter youth and when the hearing is. Parents should expect to be contacted.

Most federal arrests usually involve the ATF, the Marshals and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The Tuscaloosa courthouse takes Sumter County matters for the Northern District, Western Division: Richard Shelby Federal Building and Courthouse, 2005 University Boulevard, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, 205-561-1670. Staff aren't there every day, so questions go to the Birmingham clerk, 205-278-1700. Usually the next court day, they go before a U.S. magistrate judge for the first hearing. The federal system skips the bail price list. The judge chooses detention or release at a detention hearing applying the Bail Reform Act. The judge also reads a report from pretrial services.

Try Sumter County on VINELink; there a Marshals hold may be noted. Until sentencing, U.S. Marshals can house the person in the Livingston jail by contract. This district's Marshals staff in Birmingham can say where a federal prisoner is held: 205-829-6611, 1729 5th Avenue North, Room 240, Birmingham, AL 35203. After sentencing to prison, a prisoner is sent to a BOP prison, often weeks later. Follow the person with the BOP inmate locator by name.

• Booking prints get run through federal databases that ICE uses. ICE sometimes issues a detainer (Form I-247A).
• That form asks jail staff to detain the inmate up to 48 hours past their release time. Once those 48 hours end, the detainer expires.
• Making the bond doesn't end the detainer. The hold simply begins then.
• ICE officers may come for them at the Livingston jail during the hold. If ICE doesn't show up, that means the person goes free.
• ICE itself sets the detention center.
• To learn their location, contact ICE's New Orleans field office: 181 James Drive W, St. Rose, LA 70087, 504-318-2360.
• ICE's detainee locator searches for people using an A-number and birth country. If the A-number is unknown, enter first and last name, home country and birth date.

For an ICE mugshot, file a FOIA request to ICE. ICE must approve it. For a request for a booking photo that isn't public, reporters can phone the sheriff's office at 205-652-2841. U.S. mugshots are not made public. The exceptions are limited. The U.S. Marshals may share a booking photo to find a fugitive or escapee, when the community must be kept safe quickly or if posting it helps find them or warn people.

Gift-card bail is a scam. Sumter bonds go through the Franklin Street clerk, the jail or a licensed bondsman. Call 205-652-2841 directly.

Ring the Sumter County Jail, 205-652-2841, and check custody plus the Sumter bail figure; the clerk is 205-652-2291.