Do this:

1. Open the Sheriff's booking reports.
2. If a box asks for a code, type the letters or numbers it shows.
3. Find the surname. Then compare first name and birth date.
4. Save the booking number, the offense listed and any bond.

You can also try VINE, the statewide lookup. Still nothing? Dial 423-728-7367 and ask the booking desk to check by hand.

An empty screen can still mean the person is inside. Here are the usual causes:

• Intake still running. Prints, photos and forms eat up hours.
• City station first. Town officers may keep a person at their own station for a short stretch before the drive to the jail.
• Out already. A ticket, a paid bond or a written pledge to return may have ended the stay.
• A different holder. Another county's jail or a state office may have custody.
• Spelling. Type the name other ways: with a middle name, as a nickname, or with an older surname.

The jail line is 423-728-7367. The Sheriff's information desk answers at 423-728-7300 on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The main place is the Bradley County Jail, 2290 Blythe Avenue SE, Cleveland, TN 37311. The Sheriff also has a Workhouse. Its street and the kind of inmates it holds were not in our sources, so ask the jail desk at 423-728-7367 if the person might be there.

These jails sit near the county line and may hold someone picked up elsewhere:

• McMinn County Jail, 1319 White Street, Athens, TN 37303, 423-252-5115
• Hamilton County Jail & Detention Center, 601 Justice Way, Chattanooga, TN 37421, 423-209-7050
• Polk County Detention Center, 164 Industrial Access Circle, Benton, TN 37307, 423-338-8215
• Meigs County Jail, 410 River Road, Decatur, TN 37322, 423-334-3163
• Monroe County Jail, 4500 New Hwy 68, Madisonville, TN 37354, 423-442-3911

Federal, immigration and state custody have their own answers below.

To find out about mugshots, ask the Sheriff's Office at 423-728-7300 whether a booking photo can be handed out for your person. Each agency makes that call.

State open records law reaches photographs made by government (Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-503), but booking photos are not spelled out. So the arresting agency chooses whether to hand one over.

• For pictures that ICE holds, use the ICE records request form.
• Federal booking pictures are off limits to the public. The U.S. Marshals Service alone may release one, say to help find a suspect on the run.

Register with Tennessee VINE, choosing Tennessee. A live operator is also on the line all day and night at 888-868-4631. The state points VINE users to people in state custody, so for a county jail, call 423-728-7367 and confirm.

Checking the Sheriff's reports once a day helps too. Keep your own phone close, since the person may call you after release.

The amount comes from a magistrate or a General Sessions judge. Jail deputies just follow the order. First hearings happen in General Sessions Court, and the judges' offices are at 423-728-7092 and 423-728-7091. The judge studies job, family ties and record, and picks the lowest amount that should bring the person back.

• Full cash. Pay the entire sum to a court clerk. A clerk who takes a card or app may add a processing charge.
• Bondsman. Plan on roughly one tenth of the bond as the premium. Get a receipt for every dollar.
• Signed promise. Some judges let a person leave on a written pledge to return.
• Safety holds. Certain stalking and domestic cases may mean a wait of 12 hours or more. The jail can tell you.

Our bail page walks through each choice, and JE also keeps a Tennessee bail laws page.

The booking report and the jail desk show the charge. After filing, the court clerk for Circuit and Criminal cases can find it. Call 423-728-7218. That office sits in the Judicial Complex, 2230 Blythe Avenue, Cleveland, TN 37311. For a misdemeanor, try General Sessions Criminal at 423-728-7050. Have the name and birth date nearby.

Prosecutors for the 10th Judicial District choose the final charges. The District Attorney General's Cleveland office is at 3855 N. Ocoee Street, 3rd Floor, Cleveland, TN 37364, 423-472-2179.

The judge talks about legal help at the very first appearance. Anyone who cannot afford counsel should tell the judge in plain words. Income is reviewed, and the judge rules on who gets help.

• 10th Judicial District public defender: 423-478-0348 (district office for this county).
• A private lawyer is always an option. Compare prices before signing.

Recorded calls can be used later, so share case facts with the attorney only.

All visits run through Securus video, including visits made on site. The basics:

• Visits at the jail. Two 30-minute slots a week, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon, in the area behind the Judicial Complex. Book at the kiosk, on securustech.net or with the SecurusTech app.
• Visits from home. Internet visits run seven days a week. They need a Securus account, an ID and a fee.
• Phones may not enter the visit area.

Rules can change, so call 423-728-7367 before you plan a trip. See our visiting guide as well.

Deposit online with Access Corrections at accesscorrections.com, by phone at 866-394-0490, or at the kiosk in the jail visitation lobby. Questions about a balance go to 423-728-7309. The Sheriff's page also names a deposit option for Workhouse inmates.

Have the booking number and the exact name. Learn about deposits and the commissary store. Never slip cash into a letter.

The phone vendor is Securus. Its number, 800-844-6591, handles accounts and rates. Ask the jail desk at 423-728-7367 if tablets or messages are in use. Assume calls are taped.

Related help: phone call basics and e-messaging basics.

Letters go to a digital mail center, which scans them for the person. Use this format:

Inmate's full name and ID number, then Securus Digital Mail Center, Tampa, FL 33622, Post Office Box 21105.

Write your return address on the outside. Call 423-728-7367 to ask what items are allowed. Our mail guide lists general rules.

Items taken in at booking stay in storage until release. Phone 423-728-7367 to learn the rules for dropping off or collecting property. The jail sits at 2290 Blythe Avenue SE, Cleveland, TN 37311. Bring photo ID.

Ring 423-728-7367 and ask to reach the nurses. Give each medicine, the dose and the prescriber. Your loved one can turn in a sick-call slip too.

Use 911 for anything life-threatening. Say right away if the problem is a mental health crisis.

Deputies handle county warrants. Cleveland officers handle city ones. The Sheriff's office is at 2290 Blythe Avenue SE, Cleveland, TN 37311; its non-emergency line is 423-728-7311, or Cleveland police are at 100 Church Street NE, Cleveland, TN 37311, 423-476-1121. Phone one of them and ask if a warrant exists. For a case check, the Circuit and Criminal Court Clerk answers at 423-728-7218. The way to resolve a warrant is to see an attorney, then write or call the court behind the warrant. Clerk office: Judicial Complex, 2230 Blythe Avenue, Cleveland, TN 37311.

Which clerk to call depends on the court:

• General Sessions Criminal, 2230 Blythe Avenue, Cleveland, TN 37311, 423-728-7050. First hearings and misdemeanor cases.
• Circuit Criminal Court, same Judicial Complex, 423-728-7057. Felonies arrive here after a grand jury votes to indict.
• For criminal records overall, the clerk's office answers at 423-728-7218.

Give the clerk the legal name plus birth date. Our court guide shows each stage of a case.

Chattanooga hosts the federal trial court for Bradley, part of the Eastern District of Tennessee, Southern Division. Its home is the Joel W. Solomon Federal Building, 900 Georgia Avenue, Chattanooga, TN 37402. The clerk's line is 423-752-5200.

1. The first federal hearing often covers detention. A judge weighs release against jail until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Marshals supervise federal prisoners before trial. Their office: 900 Georgia Avenue, Room 340, Chattanooga, TN 37402, 423-752-5115.
3. Federal Defender Services may supply a free lawyer: 800 South Gay Street, Suite 2400, Knoxville, TN 37929, 865-637-7979.
4. Once there is a sentence, find the inmate with the Bureau of Prisons locator.

Form I-247A is the ICE detainer. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail may hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.

1. Enter the name plus birth country at the ICE Online Detainee Locator.
2. ICE handles Tennessee from its New Orleans Field Office. Should the locator show no match, ask jail staff which number to dial.
3. Tennessee's list of 287(g) partners includes this county (state page). The state immigration division is at 615-532-9736.

Someone handed a prison sentence can sit in county custody until the Tennessee Department of Correction arrives. Ask the jail at 423-728-7367.

• The TDOC offender search can list status, location, offense and sentence.
• The department's office is 320 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243, 615-741-1000.
• Our Tennessee state prisons page has more.

Children are kept apart from adults. Juvenile Court criminal offices are at 1620 Johnson Blvd SE, Cleveland, TN 37311, 423-728-7287. A child kept in custody goes to the Bradley County Juvenile Detention site at the same street, 423-728-7098. Phone the court first for the hearing date, or the detention line for the child's location.

Census numbers put the population near 112,767. Agencies that make arrests here:

• Bradley County Sheriff's Office, 2290 Blythe Avenue SE, Cleveland, TN 37311, information desk 423-728-7300. It covers land outside city limits.
• Cleveland Police Department, 100 Church Street NE, Cleveland, TN 37311, 423-476-1121.
• Tennessee Highway Patrol: open the district phone list. Choose the district that serves Bradley.

Other small towns here are served through the Sheriff's non-emergency line, 423-728-7311.