Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility

1. Go to the jail lookup from a phone or a computer.
2. Type just the surname first. Clerks make spelling slips, so afterwards try a nickname or a short form of the given name.
3. Read across the row for the booking day, the offense and any bond figure.
4. Jot down every ID or case number shown. Quote it when you phone and staff can open the right file faster.
5. If nothing turns up, call 662-456-3319. Spell the surname slowly, add the birth date, and ask for Booking or Records if the first voice cannot assist.

The lookup gives a quick peek and nothing more. Only the jail can confirm the offense, the bond and when someone may leave. Keep trying until a staff member gives you a clear reply.

An empty screen does not prove the person is out. These are the usual causes:

• The intake paperwork is still being finished.
• A city officer is questioning the person at the station.
• Someone posted bond and the person has already gone home.
• Officers drove the person to another county's jail.
• The record carries a nickname or a different spelling.

Begin with the jail at 662-456-3319. Then try the Sheriff's Office at 662-456-2339 and ask who made the arrest. Call that agency next. Phone numbers for each police department are in the last answer.

The county's one adult facility is the Chickasaw County Regional Correctional Facility, 120 Lancaster Circle, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-3319. The Mississippi Department of Corrections counts it among its 15 regional facilities. It says the Sheriff's department runs the place and that the building holds state inmates through agreements with local governments. Classes, job training, treatment and faith programs run inside.

The Sheriff's Office is a separate address: 130 Lancaster Circle, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-2339. Staff there can steer you when the jail turns up nothing.

We found no annex, work center or city lockup in our research. Ask the jail whether women are held there and whether work release exists. Someone seized in the next county over is probably sitting in that county's jail, so contact its Sheriff.

Maybe. Pull up one result and look for a photo.

To request a mugshot, start with the department that booked the person. After a deputy's arrest, ring the Sheriff's Office at 662-456-2339. For Okolona police, dial 662-447-5427. Ask whether they hand out photos.

Under the state's open-records law, the first incident report is public and must name whoever was charged and arrested, along with when and where. That statute does not mention booking photos, so every department chooses for itself. For a picture of someone ICE holds, send a records request through ice.gov/foia/requestICErecords. Booking photos held by federal agencies mostly stay private. A fugitive hunt is the exception: the U.S. Marshals Service may put one out in that case.

Yes. A state service called VINE, run with the Department of Corrections, sends an alert whenever a person held by a county or the state is transferred, let out, on the run or back in custody. Look the person up or enroll at vinelink.com, or call 1-888-967-7284. The line stays open day and night, in English and Spanish.

The department never says which county jails send data to VINE. Enroll anyway and also confirm with the jail at 662-456-3319. Should the person land in a state prison later, your enrollment carries along.

A judge has to see anyone still in jail within 48 hours of the arrest. Video is allowed when the person agrees. Sheriff's deputies' cases usually land in Justice Court, and a city's cases land in that city's Municipal Court. There the judge reads out the accusation, covers rights and counsel, and rules on release.

Most people start out eligible for release, either on a signed promise to return or by posting a bond. Conditions can be added, like no contact with a certain person, a curfew or drug tests. Stricter terms follow when a judge worries about flight or danger. Almost everyone may ask for bail before trial. In a domestic violence case, nobody goes free until a judge has seen them, and the judge may keep the person as long as 24 more hours.

Ways to post bond include:

• Leave a deposit with the clerk: $250, or a tenth of the bond if that comes to more. Some people are not eligible.
• A sworn paper that pledges land in Mississippi.
• A licensed bail agent. Expect to pay 10 percent of the bond or $100, whichever is greater (the rate rises to 15 percent when the charge is capital, or when the person lives out of state), with a $50 processing charge on top. You never get it back. Look the agent up through the Mississippi Insurance Department, 601-359-3582, before signing.
• A secured bond filed with the clerk.

Get the amount and the payment spot from the jail at 662-456-3319. More detail sits on our bail page, and the statewide bail overview sums up state law.

The quickest source is the jail. Dial 662-456-3319 and ask which charge is listed, the size of the bond and when the next hearing is set.

The arresting agency can supply the incident report that names the person and the accusation.

Court records come from the clerks. Have the birthday and spelling of the name ready. Felony files are at the Circuit Clerk in Houston, 1 Pinson Square, Room 2, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-2331, and in Okolona, 234 W. Main Street, Room 203, Okolona, MS 38860, 662-447-2838. Misdemeanors are with Justice Court (see the court answer). A few dockets also show in Mississippi Electronic Courts, though a given court may not take part.

A judge decides about appointed counsel by the first appearance. The judge looks at the person's money, sometimes through a financial form or questions under oath. If the person cannot afford a lawyer, one gets named.

We located no county public defender office, so the judge selects the attorney. To ask who takes appointments, phone the Circuit Clerk in Houston, 662-456-2331, 1 Pinson Square, Room 2, Houston, MS 38851.

You may hire your own attorney instead. Starting early helps, since an attorney can petition to lower the bond. Warn the person that jail calls are often recorded and that case talk should wait.

Visiting rules belong to the jail, and they can change without notice. Call 662-456-3319 before driving over and bring these questions:

• When may visitors come?
• Does the person have to approve my name beforehand?
• What identification should I carry?
• Can children join, and does an adult need to stay with them?
• What clothing will keep me out of the visiting room?

Once staff agree, head to 120 Lancaster Circle, Houston, MS 38851. Our visitation page offers more.

A balance lets the person buy commissary extras and pay for calls. The money page lists deposit options, and the commissary page lists the items you can buy.

Each jail picks its own deposit methods. Ask at 662-456-3319 which ones work and what each charges. Skip mailing cash unless staff say it is fine. Save all receipts.

Most jails let detainees place outgoing calls only. Plan on recordings. An account usually needs money before a call connects.

Check the phone page along with the email and text page. After that, check with the jail at 662-456-3319 for the phone provider, per-call cost and message options.

Use our mail page for the layout. List the person's legal name, then an ID number if you have one, then the facility name and 120 Lancaster Circle, Houston, MS 38851.

Before you post anything, phone 662-456-3319 and confirm the format, whether an ID number must appear, and what the envelope may hold. Stick to a plain letter. Hold back cash, stamps and pictures unless the jail approves them.

Staff take wallets, phones, keys and clothes during booking. Ask at 662-456-3319 how a friend can pick items up, what ID that friend needs and what the pickup hours are. Also ask whether the person must sign for the release.

Belongings usually come back the day the person leaves. Evidence stays with police, so ask the arresting agency about those pieces.

Ring the jail at 662-456-3319 and ask for the nurse. State the legal name, the condition and any medications, and say if it is urgent.

Suggest the person submit a written sick-call request and keep a copy. When the person seems in immediate danger, call 911 first and the jail after.

The Sheriff's deputies carry out warrants. Ring 662-456-2339 and ask. No single public warrant search covers Mississippi, but anyone can read the state's Mississippi's Most Wanted page.

To ask a court, read a clerk the person's whole name and birthday. The Circuit Clerk is at 1 Pinson Square, Room 2, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-2331. Justice Court, Post 1, is at 1 Pinson Square, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-3941.

When a warrant turns up, consult an attorney before surrendering. After that, find out from the court that issued it how to turn yourself in.

The court page explains each stage. Two districts exist: Houston (First) and Okolona (Second).

• Justice Court Post 1: 1 Pinson Square, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-3941. Post 2: 234 W. Main Street, Room 207, Okolona, MS 38860, 662-447-3402. They hear misdemeanors, set bond and run early felony hearings.
• Circuit Court handles felonies, and only after a grand jury indicts. The Houston clerk answers at 662-456-2331, the Okolona clerk at 662-447-2838. Addresses are in the charges answer.
• Municipal Court: Houston City Hall, 120 East Madison Street, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-2328. Okolona City Hall, 215 W. Main Street, Okolona, MS 38860, 662-447-5461.

Choose the clerk named on your paperwork. Ask for the next hearing and the room. Courts aim to try a felony within 270 days of arraignment, barring a good reason for delay.

Cases from this area go to the federal Northern District of Mississippi, Aberdeen Division, at the Thomas G. Abernethy Federal Building, 301 West Commerce Street, Aberdeen, MS 39730, 662-234-1971.

Ahead of trial, a hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142 lets a federal judge choose between letting the person go and holding them. Ask the U.S. Marshals Service in Aberdeen, at that same address, 662-369-4892, if it has the person. Once the person has been sentenced, the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator will show the housing site.

ICE can send a jail Form I-247A, a detainer. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released, while ICE makes up its mind about custody.

The ICE Online Detainee Locator can search by name and country of birth. Mississippi falls under the ICE office in New Orleans. ICE lists the Adams County Correctional Center, 20 Hobo Forks Road, Natchez, MS 39120, among its sites, with a detainee information line at 601-304-3003 around the clock.

Find out from the jail, at 662-456-3319, if ICE sent a detainer. Consider an immigration lawyer for advice.

Following a prison sentence, deputies transport the person to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. New arrivals are sorted and tested at one of three intake prisons, serving the north, middle or south of the state. Expect anywhere from 14 to 45 days there; no one may visit and phone use is sharply limited.

The MDOC inmate search shows state prisoners only. Our Mississippi state prison page adds detail. The Mississippi State Parole Board makes parole decisions.

Young people normally appear in Youth Court, not adult court. Only a judge's order can keep a child beyond one day, and a detention hearing must be held before two days pass.

A child who is 13 or older and accused of a very serious crime may start in adult court. Ask the judge or an attorney. Prosecutors have 10 days from the petition to ask for a move to adult court.

Research for this county shows no juvenile detention center. Phone the Circuit Clerk in Houston, 662-456-2331, at 1 Pinson Square, Room 2, Houston, MS 38851, and ask which office handles Youth Court. For a young person's defense, the state youth defense office takes calls at 601-576-4206. Youth records stay private.

The Sheriff's Office patrols the areas outside town limits at 130 Lancaster Circle, Houston, MS 38851, 662-456-2339. Unsure which agency did it? Jail staff, at 662-456-3319, can usually tell you.

• Houston Police Department, 120 East Madison Street, Houston, MS 38851: the city's contact page lists 662-456-2554, and the police page lists 662-456-5065. Try the first, then the second.
• Okolona Police Department, 106 W Main Street, Okolona, MS 38860: 662-447-5427.
• Mississippi Highway Patrol Troop G serves this county from 1280 East Lee Blvd., Starkville, MS 39759: 662-498-1054.

For an arrest by another small town or a school's officers, ask Sheriff's dispatch which agency it was.