Anything with a screen will do.

1. Open the jail lookup.
2. Type a surname alone first. Add a given name later, but only when the list runs long.
3. Compare every hit with the age or birth date you have, because many families share a surname.
4. A booking or ID number, when one appears, is worth writing down for later calls.
5. Still nothing? Try other spellings, plus any nickname, middle name or maiden name.

What you see answers one question: is the person in custody. Details such as charges, bond amount and release time come from the jail itself.

Blank results happen often in the first few hours. These are the likely reasons:

• Booking in progress. Paperwork, fingerprints and photos take hours, so the online list can run late.
• A town officer still has them. Some arrests start at a city police station before moving to the county.
• Bond already paid. They may be home by now.
• Sent elsewhere. A regional facility or another county's jail may hold them.
• Under 18. Youth go through a separate system.

Phone the jail at 601-587-4995 and ask for the booking desk. Name the agency that made the arrest if you know it.

Grown-ups who get arrested in Lawrence land, most of the time, in the Lawrence County Jail, 1565 F E Sellers Hwy, Monticello, MS 39654, 601-587-4995. The Sheriff runs it, so check there first.

Sometimes a person is housed somewhere else. The state corrections department lists 15 regional facilities, and small counties may rent beds in a neighbor's jail. Jail staff in Monticello can say whether your person went to one of those, joined a work program or waits at a town police station.

Were they picked up near the border of another county? That county's own jail may have them. Our Mississippi jail directory helps you find the right one, and each listing has a phone number.

Open the county lookup and view a single record. Some jail systems display mugshots and others show text. If your result has no photo, ask whichever agency made the arrest if it will share one. For a Sheriff's arrest, that is the jail, 601-587-4995.

Mississippi's open-records act begins at Miss. Code § 25-61-1. Under it, anyone can read a police incident report, which lists each arrestee and the charge. Agencies may charge for copies. We know of no Mississippi statute that makes an agency release the booking photo itself, so that choice stays local.

• Asking for an ICE photo means filing through the agency's online records form.
• The U.S. Marshals Service alone may choose to share a federal booking photo, say during a manhunt; as a general matter such photos stay unreleased.

VINE is a victim-notice service. The Mississippi Department of Corrections operates the state's version, and it covers offenders held by counties and by the state. You will be told if the person is transferred, set free, runs off or is taken back in.

1. Look up the name on VINELink.
2. Choose phone, text or email alerts, whichever suits you.
3. Prefer talking to a person? Call 888-967-7284. Help is available at all hours, with English and Spanish speakers.

Because not every jail may report into VINE, keep asking the jail too. A sign-up carries over if the person moves to state prison.

A judge decides release terms, and a person held after arrest is due before one inside two days. Cases from deputies' arrests normally begin in Justice Court, while city police cases begin in that city's Municipal Court. If the two days pass and the offense is bailable, the person is freed on an appearance bond, using the smallest figure on the state schedule (Criminal Procedure Rule 5.1(b)).

The judge begins with the mildest choices: a written vow to return, or an appearance bond. Stricter terms, such as no contact, travel limits, a curfew or testing, are added only if the court sees a need. Money can be posted in three usual ways:

• Bail agent. The agent keeps a fee of one tenth of the bail, with a $100 floor, plus a $50 processing charge. That money is gone for good. Before you pay, verify the agent through the Mississippi Insurance Department, 601-359-3582.
• Cash deposit. The clerk accepts a deposit equal to one tenth of the bond, but never less than $250. Some people do not qualify.
• Property. The owner signs a sworn statement about land or buildings in Mississippi.

In a domestic violence case, nobody is bailed out before a judge has taken a look at the person. Our bail page adds detail, and Mississippi bail laws gives the statewide view.

The jail knows the charge. When you phone 601-587-4995, ask whether it is a misdemeanor or a felony, since that picks the court.

Once a case is filed, the papers move to a clerk. For felonies that is the Circuit Clerk, who works in the courthouse at 517 East Broad Street, Monticello, MS 39654, 601-587-4791. For misdemeanors, that office can send you to the Justice Court clerk. Online dockets exist through Mississippi Electronic Courts in the courts that join. See the state courts site. Be ready to spell the name and share a birth year.

The first hearing is where a judge tells the person they can have counsel, and rules on a court-paid lawyer. The person should speak up and say they have no money for an attorney. The court must settle this question by the end of that first hearing.

To find out who was appointed, ask the Circuit Clerk at 601-587-4791. Families may hire their own attorney whenever they like.

The statewide Office of State Public Defender, 601-576-4290, mostly takes felony appeals and death penalty matters. Never pay a caller who promises to make the charges disappear.

The jail alone decides visiting days, hours and dress rules, and it can change them. Phone 601-587-4995 before the drive to Monticello and get answers to four things:

• Open visiting days and times
• Whether you sit face to face or on a screen
• Photo ID and any age minimum
• Clothing and items that are allowed

Expect to lock up phones, bags and keys before you go in. Our visiting guide has more advice. Lawyers meet clients under separate rules.

Funds on an account pay for commissary goods such as snacks and toiletries, and they may help with call costs. Ask the jail, 601-587-4995, how to add funds, whether that is online, at a kiosk or at the front counter, and what fees or limits apply. Have both the exact name and the booking number ready.

Stick to the way the jail names. Never put cash in an envelope. Read about money options and what commissary sells. Funds on an account cannot buy a person out of jail.

Inmates can normally place calls but not receive them. The jail, 601-587-4995, will explain how families add call credit, what a minute costs and if text, email or video are on offer.

Assume a staff member may listen to or record each call, and save case talk for your attorney. Find more on our inmate calling guide and inmate messaging guide.

Phone 601-587-4995 to confirm the jail's present mailing address before anything goes in the post. Ask what must be written on the envelope, such as a booking number, and what the jail lets through, since photos and books are often limited.

Write the person's legal name at the top and your own address as the return. Skip cash, stickers and scents. Our mail guide covers typical limits.

Items taken at booking, like clothing, a wallet, a phone and keys, stay in the jail's storage. Staff usually return them when the person leaves. To collect things on someone's behalf, phone 601-587-4995 and ask about pickup hours, the identification you must show, and any signed form from the inmate. Go to 1565 F E Sellers Hwy, Monticello, MS 39654.

The jail has to look after the health of those it holds. Report any illness, injury or regular medication to staff at 601-587-4995. Give the drug name, how strong it is and the prescribing doctor's name. Your loved one should also fill out a medical request form inside.

Dial 911 when someone's life is at risk. Tell the jail first if you worry the person may harm themselves.

Sheriff's deputies serve the warrants. The jail line, 601-587-4995, connects you, so ask whether one is on file under the name you give. The state's Mississippi Most Wanted page, kept by the state's public safety department, covers the whole state. Clerks can search too: the Circuit Clerk for felonies, at the courthouse at 517 East Broad Street, Monticello, MS 39654, 601-587-4791, and the Justice Court clerk for misdemeanors, whom that office can point you to. Should a warrant exist, hire or request a lawyer first. Next, ask that court for a date to surrender.

Each court sets its own dates. Misdemeanors outside city limits start in Justice Court, and city ones in Municipal Court. A felony goes before a grand jury, then moves up to Circuit Court. A handful of counties add a County Court, so ask the clerk which applies.

• The courthouse and Circuit Clerk, 517 East Broad Street, Monticello, MS 39654, 601-587-4791. Ask here for the Justice Court clerk's number.
• Release papers or a summons name the court and the day.
• The jail, 601-587-4995, may also know the first hearing date.

Court rules set a target of 270 days from arraignment to trial, and good cause can stretch it. Our court overview explains each stage in order.

Federal cases from here are heard in Hattiesburg, at the William M. Colmer Federal Building, 701 North Main Street, Suite 200, Hattiesburg, MS 39401, 601-255-6400. Judges there belong to the Eastern Division of Mississippi's southern federal district.

1. A detention hearing, held early, decides whether the person is released or kept in custody before trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals Service office at 701 North Main Street, Suite 331, Hattiesburg, MS 39401, 601-582-8464, can say where a pretrial federal prisoner sits.
3. Once the sentence is imposed, the BOP inmate locator shows where the person went.

Immigration officers sometimes request that a jail keep a person until they arrive. The usual order of events:

1. ICE sends the detainer paperwork on Form I-247A.
2. Holding time is capped: up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Officers then pick the person up. Mississippi sits in the New Orleans Field Office area of ICE.
4. Check the ICE Online Detainee Locator. It lets you search by A-number, or by first name, last name and birth country.

Empty result? Try later, since new entries can take a while.

Weeks of sorting come first after a prison sentence. In the state's words, that stage is reception and classification. That stage can run anywhere from two weeks to 45 days, with visits suspended and calls restricted. Deputies from the sentencing county transport the person, and the intake site depends on the county.

• Look up state prisoners on the Mississippi corrections inmate search, using a name or ID number. People in county jails never appear there.
• Our Mississippi state prisons guide covers the facilities.
• Parole calls belong to the State Parole Board.

Most people under 18 land in Youth Court. State law (section 43-21-303(4)) lets staff keep a child over one day only with a judge's order. The law also demands a detention hearing within 48 hours (§ 43-21-307). Children belong in a detention or shelter site picked by Youth Court, not an adult jail (§ 43-21-315). To locate a child, call the courthouse at 517 East Broad Street, Monticello, MS 39654, 601-587-4791, and ask who handles Youth Court.

Some cases skip Youth Court. Adult court handles a teen of 13 or more if the crime is punishable by life or death, or if a deadly weapon was involved (§ 43-21-151). The state's Youth Defense line, 601-576-4206, provides legal defense for children. Oakley Youth Development Center, 2375 Oakley Road, Raymond, MS 39154, takes some committed youth.

Ask the jail, 601-587-4995, which agency brought your person in. These agencies work in the area:

• Sheriff's Office. Runs the jail at 1565 F E Sellers Hwy, Monticello, MS 39654. Use the jail line above.
• Town and city police. Ask the jail which department made the arrest and how to reach it.
• Mississippi Highway Patrol, Troop M. 160 Highway 84 East, Brookhaven, MS 39601, 601-515-1989.

For an incident report, contact the agency that made the arrest. Reports are public, and copies may cost a small fee.