This is a small rural jail, certified by the state for 90 people, so a name is easy to spot once it is in the system. Try this:

1. Go to the inmate search.
2. Begin with the family name only. If many people show up, add the given name to cut the list.
3. Nothing came up? Try a nickname, a double-barreled name or another spelling.
4. Read the status and location on the record.
5. Save the legal name and birthday on paper; staff and clerks need both to pick the right person.

The listing runs on VINE, the state's custody tracker. Still blank? Phone 423-733-2249 and have a deputy look at the booking list.

Blank results are normal during the opening hours after an arrest. Some likely causes:

• Paperwork in progress. Booking takes a few hours, and the record may lag behind.
• Cited and sent home. Officers sometimes hand out a ticket to appear, and the person walks free. Others leave on their own signature or on bond.
• Taken elsewhere. Another county's cells or a state site could hold them.
• Name trouble. Try middle names and married or maiden names.
• Too young. Teens under 18 are kept out of adult lists.

Call the jail on 423-733-2250 and read them the name and birth date. A person at the desk can confirm in a minute.

Only one adult lockup is known here: the county jail at 265 New Jail Street, Sneedville, TN 37869. It takes men and women, people awaiting a hearing and people doing short county time. For work release, a trusty program or any other unit, ask the Sheriff's Office at 423-733-2250.

Someone stopped right by the border could have been driven to a neighbor's lockup. Look at the Hawkins County Detention Center in Rogersville or the Claiborne County Jail in Tazewell. Each of those pages shows a street address and phone.

Some records carry a photo, mainly for people in the state's hands. For someone in the county cells, call the Sheriff's Office on 423-733-2249 and ask if a booking picture can be shared.

A Tennessee public records statute reaches photographs agencies keep (Tenn. Code Ann. 10-7-503), but the text says nothing about mugshots in particular. So the answer is up to the agency. A mugshot proves an arrest took place, not that the person did anything wrong.

• Photos held by ICE: ask through the ICE records request form.
• Pictures of people in federal custody are not handed out, with one exception: the U.S. Marshals Service has discretion to put out a photo, such as for a fugitive.

VINE is the tool. Open VINELink, choose Tennessee, look up the person, and register for a phone, text or email notice. Rather talk to someone? The VINE line is 888-868-4631, and real operators pick up at any hour.

County releases are sometimes logged late, so also phone the jail at 423-733-2250. People who fear the accused should say so to the jail and the court so that staff know to warn them.

A judge or magistrate sets the terms. The goal is the lowest amount that still brings the person back and keeps others safe, weighing home, job, family and record (Tenn. Code Ann. 40-11-118). Certain defendants are let go on their own signature and pay nothing.

• Cash deposit: the whole amount goes to the Circuit Court Clerk at 1237 Main Street, Sneedville, TN 37869, 423-733-2954. Paying by bank card or phone app can be allowed, but expect an added charge.
• Bail bondsman: the fee usually lands close to a tenth of the bond. A license from the state's insurance and commerce regulators is required, and local courts approve who writes bonds in this area.
• Safety hold: a stalking or domestic abuse arrest may mean at least 12 hours inside before anyone is freed. Check with the jail.

Our county bail guide goes further, and Tennessee's bail rules give the wider law.

The jail knows what was written at booking, so call 423-733-2249. After a case is opened, the Circuit Court Clerk holds the file. Call 423-733-2954 and offer the full name and birth date.

Prosecutors come from the District Attorney General for the 3rd Judicial District, which has no desk in Sneedville. Choose whichever office is nearer:

• Greeneville, 124 Austin Street, Suite 3, Greeneville, TN 37745, 423-787-1450
• Rogersville, 1568 East Main Street, Rogersville, TN 37857, 423-921-0567

Ask when the first hearing happens. The accused says out loud to the judge that a lawyer is needed and that money for one is short. The judge reviews income and then decides. You can help by collecting pay stubs and any papers the court gave.

• General Sessions judge's office, 423-733-2274: ask how appointed counsel is arranged
• District Public Defender, 3rd Judicial District, 423-587-7053

Keep the charge and hearing date nearby for those calls. A paid lawyer is another path, and can push the judge toward a smaller bail or no bail.

Only the jail sets when visitors may come and what they may wear, and that can change, so dial the Sheriff's Office at 423-733-2249 first. Good questions:

• Which weekdays and hours is the visiting room open?
• Do I reserve a time first?
• What identification and what minimum age apply to guests?
• Are video visits possible, at home or in the lobby?
• What counts as unacceptable clothing?

Leave extra items in the car. Our visitation guide gives more general advice.

Money in an inmate account buys commissary goods such as chips and toothpaste. The county tells families to ask the Sheriff's Office about money and commissary, so dial 423-733-2250. Learn which deposit methods work, the limit, and how to write the name.

Remember that a deposit is not bail; bail is paid at the clerk's office. Please never put cash in an envelope. Details on sending funds are in our money page, and on what funds buy in our commissary page.

Inmate phones normally dial out only. Ask the jail at 423-733-2249 how your loved one can dial you, what a minute costs, and whether any text, email or tablet service exists. Also ask whether recordings are made.

Treat every regular call as overheard, and save any talk about the charge for your lawyer. Our jail phone page and email and text page have the basics.

Phone 423-733-2250 before posting a letter. Ask exactly how to address it and what the first line should hold, and find out whether pictures, cards or books may be sent.

On the envelope, show the inmate's legal name in full, and place your address at the top left. Skip cash entirely. See the mail guide for common rules.

Whatever a person had when arrested stays in storage at the jail. Ring 423-733-2249 and learn how a handoff works, whether the inmate signs a form, when staff are free, and which ID you must show.

Deliveries go to the Sheriff's Office, 265 New Jail Street, Sneedville, TN 37869. Someone leaving custody may be able to take their own things right then, so ask about that too.

Dial 423-733-2250 at once and request the nurse or the shift lead. Share the name, the problem, every medicine and its dose, and your loved one's doctor if you know who.

Have your loved one write up a health request for the housing officers as well. In a true emergency, call 911. When the person seems close to hurting themselves, state that clearly.

Warrants for any address in the county are served by Sheriff's Office deputies. Their number is 423-733-2250. No county wanted list is on the Sheriff's page, so phone and ask. After that, call the Circuit Court Clerk at 423-733-2954 with a name and birth date to check whether a case exists. Settling a warrant starts with legal advice; afterward, call the judge's court that signed it. Find the clerk at 1237 Main Street, Sneedville, TN 37869.

The court with the case can tell you. Start here:

• Circuit Court Clerk, 1237 Main Street, Sneedville, TN 37869, 423-733-2954: criminal files and hearing notices.
• General Sessions Court: the first appearance, misdemeanor cases and felony probable-cause hearings. Contact the judge's office, 423-733-2274.
• Felony trials are held in Circuit Court after a grand jury votes to indict.
• Clerk and Master, 1237 Main Street, Suite 104, Sneedville, TN 37869, 423-733-4524: civil matters only.

Want the whole path from arrest to verdict? See our court page.

Federal charges from Hancock land in the federal court in Greeneville (Eastern District of Tennessee, Northeastern Division), the James H. Quillen U.S. Courthouse, 220 West Depot Street, Greeneville, TN 37743. Reach the clerk at 423-639-3105.

1. A detention hearing early on decides if the person stays free or stays locked up while the case proceeds (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Until trial the U.S. Marshals Service is in charge, often placing prisoners in a contract county jail. Its office is in Suite 101 of the courthouse, 423-823-3660.
3. Federal Defender Services keeps an office at 219 West Depot Street, Suite 2, Greeneville, TN 37743, 423-636-1301.
4. Following a sentence, look up the person in the federal Bureau of Prisons locator.

The usual path:

1. The first step is a detainer sent to the jail, on ICE Form I-247A.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail can hold them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. Tennessee's state safety agency names Hancock as a county taking part in 287(g), a federal partnership, (state program page). The state's immigration enforcement office answers at 615-532-9736.
4. Next, ICE can transfer the person to a facility it picks. For Tennessee, the New Orleans Field Office of ICE is in charge.
5. On the ICE Online Detainee Locator you can enter the A-number, or the whole name and the birth country.

When the sentence is state time, the inmate begins at intake with the Tennessee Department of Correction, 320 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243, 615-741-1000. Staff size up health and risk, then assign a prison. A stay in the local jail can come first, so ask at 423-733-2249.

• The state's offender search can display a photo, location, offense and sentence.
• For prison visiting and mailing rules, open the Tennessee prisons page on this site.

Minors are sent to Juvenile Court, and they are left off the adult list. Contact the Circuit Court Clerk at 423-733-2954, 1237 Main Street, Sneedville, TN 37869. Ask where the teen is held, the time of the hearing, and whether a parent has to attend.

At that hearing, ask for a free lawyer if you cannot pay for one. The jail, 423-733-2249, can say whether the teen was brought there first.

The Sheriff's Office patrols all of Hancock, Sneedville included, and is the main agency to call. The numbers below are for routine calls; call 911 when someone is in danger.

• Hancock County Sheriff's Office, 265 New Jail Street, Sneedville, TN 37869, 423-733-2249
• Tennessee Highway Patrol: troopers work the state roads. The district phone list shows the numbers; ask for the district that serves Hancock.

Not sure who made the arrest? The county's main office, P.O. Box 347, Sneedville, TN 37869, answers at 423-733-4341.