This lookup comes straight from the Sheriff's jail records. Here is the routine:

1. Load the Sheriff's Inmate Lookup page.
2. Type the last name. A common surname? Put in the first name as well.
3. Click the row that matches and read the charges and any bond amount listed.
4. Jot those details on paper, because the jail and the clerks will ask for them.

If the person you want is absent, ring 865-273-5245. The jail lobby never closes, so someone is always in the building.

Here are the usual explanations:

• Paperwork under way. Fresh arrests are entered a little at a time.
• Spelling trouble. Try a nickname, another surname or a hyphenated name.
• Back on the street. A bond, a citation or a promise to come to court can end custody within hours.
• Waiting at a police station. A city or town station can keep someone briefly before the jail.
• Somewhere else. A neighbor county's jail or a state facility may have them.
• A minor. Children are handled apart from grown-ups.

Jail staff can sort it out at 865-273-5245. Give the whole name and the birth date.

The county's grown-up jail is the Blount County Adult Detention Facility, 940 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804, 865-273-5245. It is part of the Sheriff's Justice Center and has room for 350, per the Sheriff's website.

Alongside local cases, the building also houses some Tennessee Department of Correction inmates and some who are in U.S. Marshals custody. A person held on a Blount charge usually stays here.

Did the arrest happen across the county line? That jail may have the person. Use its own roster or phone it. Children go to a different place, covered in the answer about under-18 arrests.

Open the lookup and see what the record offers. The Sheriff's phone app talks about mugshots, but the lookup page itself does not promise a photo for each person, so ask the jail.

If no picture appears, remember that Tennessee's Public Records Act reaches government photographs (Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-503) without naming booking photos. Phone the Sheriff's Office at 865-273-5000 and ask whether a booking photo can go to you. For a city police arrest, make the call to that department.

• For a photo ICE holds, use the agency's records request form.
• Federal booking photos stay private, though the U.S. Marshals Service can make an exception, such as a fugitive case.

Tennessee's VINE service pushes notices by phone, text or email at no charge. Visit VINELink, pick Tennessee, and register the person. A live operator can help at 888-868-4631 any hour.

The state points to VINE for its prisons. Coverage of this county jail can vary, so double-check by phoning 865-273-5245 before you count on a release time. Peek at the lookup from time to time as well.

Judicial commissioners set bail. Our bail page says they work at the Justice Center around the clock. Deputies and jail staff cannot change the figure; a commissioner or a judge must.

• Cash means the entire bond. A bondsman's fee is typically near one tenth of the bond.
• Take photo ID and the exact amount shown in the lookup. Phone 865-273-5245 before you leave home.
• For stalking, domestic abuse and a few other charges, Tennessee law can delay release by half a day or more. The jail can tell you if that applies.

For a short overview, see Tennessee bail laws.

The lookup lists the charges the jail holds. For more, phone the office running the case with the name and birthday in hand.

• General Sessions Clerk: 865-273-5450
• Circuit Court Clerk, 926 E Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804: 865-273-5400. Felony files arrive here once a grand jury indicts.
• District Attorney General, 5th Judicial District, 942 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804: 865-273-5600. Prosecutors here choose which charges go forward.

In front of the judge for the first time, the person can say: "I want a lawyer and I can't afford one." The court then reviews whether a free lawyer is warranted. The District Public Defender's office for the 5th Judicial District answers at 865-981-2395.

A paid attorney is another route and can be hired anytime. Collect the name, the charges and the next hearing date first, so the call goes fast.

Visits take place on screen through City Tele Coin. Each inmate gets four sessions per seven days, 30 minutes at most. The jail records them.

• Use one of eight stations in the jail's visitors lobby.
• Or log in from home through the vendor's website.
• Ring 865-273-5245 to learn how to book and which ID to carry.

Our visiting guide adds tips for newcomers.

The Sheriff lists three ways. Feed cash or a card into the kiosk in the jail lobby, which is open all day and night. Pay on the web at correctpay.com. Or phone Correct Pay at 855-836-3364. The lobby window has stopped accepting cash and money orders.

Have the full name ready. Our deposit page describes common methods, while the commissary page lists purchases. Do not post cash in an envelope.

Ask the jail at 865-273-5245 which company runs the phones, the price per call and how an account gets started. Ask about tablets and messages too. Assume calls are recorded. Leave the details of the charge for the lawyer.

Common calling plans are explained in the phone guide, and texts or email in the messaging guide.

Put this on the envelope: the person's name, Blount County Adult Detention Center, 920 E Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804-5002. The number 920 differs from the jail's street number, and that is how the mail line is written, so copy it exactly.

• Leave out photos, cards and stickers.
• Staff scan every letter into a kiosk or tablet for the inmate to read.
• Add your own return address on the front.

Confirm current rules at 865-273-5245. More general help is in our mail guide.

Whatever the person carried in stays with the jail. Phone 865-273-5245 to learn what the jail is storing, who may pick it up and which ID counts. The lobby at 940 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804, is open day and night, but check first so the trip is not wasted.

Ring 865-273-5245 and request the nurses or medical unit. Share each medicine, the amount taken and the prescribing doctor. Your loved one can also put a written health request in at the jail.

Someone in immediate danger? Use 911. A fear that the person may self-harm belongs at the front of your call.

Deputies carry out warrants countywide; town police handle those inside town lines. Phone the Sheriff at 865-273-5000 or Maryville Police at 865-273-3700 and ask whether one exists. A court clerk can look up a case, so call the General Sessions Clerk at 865-273-5450 giving the complete name plus a birthday. If one is real, see an attorney first, then deal with the court behind the paper. For a visit in person, the Circuit Court Clerk is at 926 E Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804.

Only the clerk holding the file can give the date:

• General Sessions Clerk, 865-273-5450. First appearances, misdemeanor trials and felony preliminary hearings start in General Sessions Court.
• Circuit Court Clerk, 926 E Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804, 865-273-5400, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Felony records sit here after an indictment.

Keep each paper the person is handed. Our court page walks through every stage.

Blount sits in the Eastern District of Tennessee's Northern Division. That court meets at 800 Market Street, Knoxville, TN 37902 (the Howard H. Baker Jr. courthouse). Its clerk answers at 865-545-4228.

1. Soon after arrest comes a detention hearing (18 U.S.C. 3142), where a magistrate rules on custody until the trial.
2. Until trial, deputies of the U.S. Marshals keep custody. Their Knoxville office is at 800 Market Street, Suite 320, Knoxville, TN 37902, 865-824-3801.
3. For a court-appointed lawyer, the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee sits at 800 South Gay Street, Suite 2400, Knoxville, TN 37929, 865-637-7979.
4. Search the Bureau of Prisons locator by name once a sentence exists.

1. ICE can ask the jail, using Form I-247A (a detainer), to keep a person.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the hold may last up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. ICE officers then pick the person up.
4. Find them with the ICE Online Detainee Locator, using the name and country of birth. The agency's New Orleans Field Office oversees Tennessee.

Tennessee's immigration enforcement page lists Blount among counties in the 287(g) program. To ask about a hold, phone the jail at 865-273-5245.

Someone sentenced to state time can stay in the county jail for some days until the state's prison system, the Tennessee Department of Correction, arranges transport. Phone the jail to ask. After that, use the state's offender lookup, which can list a photo, current status, place held, offense and term.

The agency is at 320 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243, 615-741-1000. Rules on visits and mail for the prisons are on our state prisons guide.

A child under 18 is not booked with the adults. Ring the Blount County Juvenile Detention Center, 329 Court Street, Maryville, TN 37804, 865-273-5959, to learn if a child is inside.

Juvenile Court takes calls at 865-273-5945, and its clerk at 865-273-5935. Ask about the hearing and about a lawyer. The adult lookup may show nothing for a child.

The Sheriff's Office patrols outside the towns. It sits at 940 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway, Maryville, TN 37804. Call 865-273-5000 for the main desk or 865-983-3620 for non-emergency dispatch.

• Maryville Police: administration, 865-273-3700.
• Alcoa, Friendsville, Louisville, Rockford and Townsend: phone the Sheriff's main desk and ask which agency covers that town.
• Tennessee Highway Patrol: find phone numbers for each district on the THP contacts page and ask for the one serving this area.