The Sheriff's roster takes a minute to learn. Try this:

1. Open the roster landing page. It offers two links, one for the jail's current residents and one for anyone freed in the last two days.
2. Choose the list that fits your search.
3. Enter a last name in the search box. Tabs labeled Name, Date, Current and Released narrow things down, and you can order the list newest or oldest first.
4. Read the card under each name. It shows a photo, the full name, a booking number, the time of booking, the charges and the bond.
5. Click View Profile for the whole booking record.
6. Copy the booking number onto paper. Staff find a person quicker with it.

Long lists run over several pages, so keep clicking ahead. If the name has not appeared, phone 601-482-9801, which is answered around the clock.

An empty search can mean a few simple things:

• Just arrested. Booking is slow, and the list may lag.
• Still with the arresting agency. Meridian police or another agency may still be finishing forms before moving the person. Contact that agency.
• Already out. Someone may have paid a bond or met a judge. Try the recent-release list on the roster page.
• Moved. Look at jails in other counties, a regional jail, or a state or federal hold.
• A different spelling. Test short forms, middle names and married names.
• A minor. Youths are handled apart from adults. The youth answer below explains.

A phone call settles it fastest. Dial 601-482-9801, or reach Booking at 601-482-9805.

Adults picked up in this county usually go to the Lauderdale County Detention Facility, 2500 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9801. On the Sheriff's website, this one building is the county's adult jail. Booking, processing and testing happen inside it.

Inside are 12 housing pods and 144 holding cells, with 4 special-needs cells, 1 medical cell and 1 suicide-watch cell. A classification unit decides where each person lives. Staff can tell you the person's area, but the roster cannot.

Some Mississippi counties lean on a regional jail. JE's county listing also shows the Kemper/Neshoba County Regional Correctional Facility (call 601-743-5767), a drive away at Stennis Industrial Park Road, number 374, in DeKalb, MS 39328. To learn where your person is, phone the Sheriff's Office at 601-482-9806.

If officers elsewhere made the arrest, whether in a nearby county or in Alabama, the sheriff there runs that jail. JE's Mississippi jail list helps you find it.

Yes. Every person on the Sheriff's roster has a mugshot beside the name, booking number and charges. The Current tab lists people in custody today.

For a photo from a different agency, or one that has dropped off the list, contact whoever made the arrest. The Sheriff's Office is at 2500 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9806. Meridian Police Department is at 510 22nd Avenue, Meridian, MS, and its records line is 601-485-1836. Each agency chooses whether to hand out a photo, and no Mississippi law found requires it.

Police incident reports are open records under state law. Anyone taken in and charged shows up in that report, as set out in § 25-61-3 and Miss. Code § 25-61-12. An agency can charge a fee for copies (§ 25-61-7).

• ICE has its own photos. Ask for them through the ICE records form.
• As a rule, photos from federal arrests stay unreleased. The one exception is the U.S. Marshals Service, which may share a photo of someone being hunted.

VINE can. It is a free alert system, and in Mississippi the state corrections department runs it under the name SAVIN. Notices cover county and state offenders who are transferred, let go, escape or return to custody.

• Search a name and register on VINELink.
• Or phone 888-967-7284 at any hour, in English or Spanish.
• Callers who use a TTY dial 866-847-1298.

Alerts rely on the jail sharing its data, so a fresh booking may take time to show. Look at the roster daily, and ring 601-482-9801 before you drive over.

Someone kept in jail must see a judge promptly, and within two days at the outside (Rule 5.1, Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure). When deputies make the arrest, the case usually goes to Justice Court, 2600 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9879. Cases from city police go before the city's Municipal Court. The person may agree to appear by video.

There the judge names the charge, tells the person about lawyers and the choice to say nothing, and decides how the person may leave. The usual start is a promise to return or a bond, unless the judge fears flight or danger. Rules can add a curfew, travel limits, a no-contact order or drug tests. If no judge sees a bailable person in that time, a bond at the lowest scheduled amount lets the person walk out.

Ways a bond can be posted:

• Cash deposit: give the clerk $250, or a tenth of the bond when that comes to more. Some people with past convictions can't use this.
• Secured bond: the full sum goes to the clerk.
• Property: a sworn statement about Mississippi land or buildings worth the bond.
• Bondsman: the price is one tenth of the bond, with a $100 floor, plus a $50 processing charge. That money stays with the bondsman. To check a license, call the Mississippi Insurance Department, 601-359-3582.

After a domestic violence arrest, a bond cannot be posted before a judge sees the person. Capital charges and some repeat offenders may get no bail at all. Ask the jail about a bond amount at 601-482-9801. Our bail page digs deeper, and a short guide to Mississippi's bail laws is also available.

The roster prints the charges and the bond beside each booking. Jail staff at 601-482-9801 can double-check them.

Court files then fill in the story. For a misdemeanor, ring Justice Court at 2600 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9879. For a felony, ring the Circuit Clerk at that same address, 601-482-9738. Offer the full name and date of birth.

Mississippi Electronic Courts runs an online docket with a single login for courts that join. Some courts are not on it.

Prosecutors settle the final charges. The District Attorney of the Tenth Circuit Court District keeps an office at 2600 Courthouse Blvd, 2nd floor, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9757. Felony cases pass through a grand jury before they reach Circuit Court.

Whether the court will supply a lawyer is decided at the first appearance, if not sooner. Say that the family cannot pay, and ask. When the answer is yes, the court names the lawyer.

To ask how to make the request, phone Justice Court at 601-482-9879. The family may pay for a private lawyer at any stage, and a hired lawyer may ask the court for a smaller bond.

In Jackson, the state's Office of State Public Defender, 601-576-4290, handles most felony appeals and death-penalty work. For youths, call 601-576-4206.

The Sheriff schedules visits through CorrectPay, a service the jail points families to. Go to correctpay.com or open the CorrectPay app. Visits at the jail cost nothing, but you must choose on-site when booking a slot. The jail sets visit days and hours, so phone 601-482-9801 before planning a trip.

• People inside can begin a video chat with a visitor on that same site.
• Clergy may visit Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 to 2:30 p.m., once an approval process is done.
• The jail sits at 2500 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301.

For general tips, read our guide to jail visits.

Kimble's Commissary runs the jail store. Money can reach it three ways:

• Feed cash into the kiosks in the lobby of the detention facility, 2500 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301.
• Pay online at team3.inmatecanteen.com, the site where care packages are also ordered.
• Send a money order from the Postal Service (USPS). Other kinds of mailed payment are turned away.

Ring 601-482-9801 to learn where a money order goes. Never mail cash. Store money is not bond and will not free anyone. Phone funds are kept apart, as the calls answer explains. JE also has a page on deposits and a page on the jail store.

Ally Telecom Group handles the phones. Open an account at ALLYTG.com or phone 800-943-2189. Money placed there buys calls and nothing else. Calls are collect unless phone time was bought through the commissary or a prepaid account.

Messages run through CorrectPay. Sending one to the person costs nothing. If the person replies or starts a message, you are charged. That site also lets them begin a video chat with a visitor.

Staff may listen to jail calls. Save details of the case for your own lawyer. Find more in JE's jail phone help and email and text help.

The jail accepts letters that come through the U.S. Postal Service only. Use this form:

Lauderdale County Adult Detention
(Inmate's name)
2001 5th Street
Meridian, MS 39301

• The envelope needs your name and a full return address.
• Leave out stamps, photos and currency.
• A book has to ship from a bookstore. Once it arrives, it belongs to the jail. If a book is refused, the inmate can sign a Property Release Form to pass it to a named person.
• Clergy use the same address, with Lauderdale County Detention Facility as the top line.

The address form has no line for an inmate number. Our mail guide covers more.

Pickup rules are set by the jail. Ring 601-482-9801 and ask how a pickup works, when to come and what to bring. The detention facility is at 2500 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301.

A refused book can go to a named person when the inmate signs a Property Release Form. Staff can explain that form.

Phone the jail at 601-482-9801 and ask how to pass on a medical concern. Have the full name and birthday ready, plus the medicines and your doctor's contact if you know them.

The facility has a medical area and a cell for people at risk of self-harm. If you fear for a life, say that at the start of the call. For an emergency away from the jail, dial 911.

The Sheriff's Office serves warrants through its Courthouse Security and Civil Process unit, 601-482-4037. Browse the Sheriff's Most Wanted list and the statewide Most Wanted list, or ask in person at a law enforcement office. Then ask the Circuit Clerk or the Justice Court clerk if a case is open. To clear a warrant, see an attorney. Then phone the court that wrote the warrant and set up a time to surrender. Justice Court is at 2600 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9879.

The court that owns the case gives the date. Most sit in the courthouse, 2600 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301:

• Justice Court: misdemeanors and early felony hearings, 601-482-9879. Confirm the room before you go.
• County Court: the clerk answers at 601-482-9715.
• Circuit Court: felonies after a grand jury indicts. Phone the Circuit Clerk, 601-482-9738. Mail goes to PO Box 1005, Meridian, MS 39302.
• Meridian Municipal Court: city charges. Start at City Hall, 601 23rd Avenue, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-485-1926.

Courts in Mississippi try to get a case in front of a jury 270 days from the arraignment, though a good reason can push that back. Our court page walks through each stage.

Federal cases from here are heard in Mississippi's Southern District, Northern Division, seated in Jackson. The clerk works in the United States Courthouse at 501 East Court Street, Jackson, MS 39201, 601-608-4000.

1. Staying locked up or going home before trial is a federal judge's decision, made at a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Until trial, the U.S. Marshals Service decides where the person sleeps. Phone its Jackson office in the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse, 501 East Court Street, Jackson, MS 39201, 601-608-6800.
3. Follow the case on PACER.
4. After sentencing, you can find the person in the federal prison locator.

These are the usual steps in an ICE hold:

1. Step one is the detainer, a paper called Form I-247A that ICE gives to the jail.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. ICE then takes custody. Mississippi cases fall to ICE's New Orleans Field Office.
4. Search the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Type an alien registration number, or type the complete name plus the land of birth.

No result? Then contact the field office or an attorney.

A prison sentence starts at a reception site run by the state corrections department. Staff test and sort new arrivals there before choosing a long-term home. That step takes 14 to 45 days. No one may visit meanwhile, and phone use is limited. Sheriff's deputies make the drive.

• Enter a name or ID in the MDOC inmate search. It covers state inmates. A person in a county jail will not show up in it.
• JE's Mississippi state prisons page lists the rules at each prison.
• The Mississippi State Parole Board decides on parole.

A person under 18 is handled by Youth Court, which is separate from adult court. With a County Court in place here, youth cases are heard there. The county's Youth Justice Center, listed at 5400 20th Street Extension, Meridian, MS 39307, answers at 601-482-9825. Ring first, because county web pages show two street names for it.

• After 24 hours, a judge must order a child to stay in custody. After 48 hours, a detention hearing must have taken place.
• Children are placed in a youth facility, not an adult jail, as a general rule.
• A child of 13 or more accused of an offense carrying life or death, or where a deadly weapon was used, is sent to adult court.
• Youth Court may also transfer a case. The motion is due within 10 days of the petition.
• Some committed youths are sent to the Oakley Youth Development Center, 2375 Oakley Road, Raymond, MS 39154.

A youth defense line at the state public defender's office is 601-576-4206.

The booking record shows the agency. If it does not, the jail can tell you at 601-482-9801.

• Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office, 2500 Courthouse Blvd, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-482-9806, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Deputies cover the unincorporated areas. The patrol line is 601-482-9804, and county dispatch is 601-486-4952.
• Meridian Police Department, 510 22nd Avenue, Meridian, MS. Non-emergency 601-484-6845; main line 601-485-1893.
• Highway Patrol, Troop H (Mississippi), serving the county from 910 Highway 11 and 80 East, Meridian, MS 39301, 601-512-0508.

If a small town made the arrest, such as Marion, Collinsville, Toomsuba, Lauderdale or Bailey, the jail line above can say which agency booked the person.