Lewis County Jail Inmate Bail & Bonds

The Sheriff's Office is staffed 24 hours a day, every day, at 931-796-5096. Look at Lewis County Inmate Search first, because the screen may already answer your question, then call with the person's full name and date of birth.

Ask three things: is he booked, what is the charge, and is any bond set yet.

Sheriff Matt Tiller's office operates the Lewis County Jail, at 437 Swan Avenue, Hohenwald, TN 38462. The county holds its own pretrial inmates there rather than shipping them to a neighbor. Other officers in the Sheriff's Office handle patrol, warrants and courtroom security.

A judge or magistrate sets it after looking at the individual. Tennessee Code 40-11-105 means anyone arrested on a bailable offense is entitled to be admitted to bail. An officer can accept bail only after it exists (40-11-106), so the jail cannot release a person off a general price list.

The General Sessions judge's office is at 931-796-5547. The judge can change the amount at a hearing.

Cash bail means the entire amount. Section 40-11-118(a)(1) allows a deposit equal to the bail with the court clerk, and the clerk may accept a debit card or phone app and pass along the fee. The Circuit Court Clerk's office is on West Main Street in Hohenwald, with the courthouse at 110 North Park, and the clerk's phone is 931-796-3724.

The clerk's office keeps weekday hours from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For payment at other times, call the Sheriff's Office at 931-796-5096.

They do. The notice required by Tennessee Code 40-11-151 says a Tennessee resident should be charged about 10 percent of the bond. The bondsman may add a one-time $25 initiation fee and a $12 bail tax. The bondsman keeps that premium.

A receipt should list every charge. Extra collateral must be itemized in writing along with how to redeem it.

Two things. A license from the Board of Professional Bondsmen under 40-11-321 comes first. Then comes approval by the courts in the judicial district where the bond is written. Lewis County is in the Twenty-First Judicial District, along with Hickman, Perry and Williamson counties.

Without both, the agent cannot write a Lewis County bond for you.

Yes, provided it is in Tennessee. The law allows cash, real estate in the state, a pair of sufficient sureties who are not professional bondsmen or attorneys, or a professional bondsman.

Pledging a house means the court checks title and liens first, which takes longer than cash. Call the Circuit Court Clerk at 931-796-3724 to learn which forms to bring.

The list in 40-11-118(b): length of residence, employment and finances, family ties, character and mental condition, record and past court appearances, the charge itself, the likely sentence and any danger the record shows. A responsible community member may vouch for the defendant, but only for two people at a time.

In a small county where people know each other, a steady address and a letter from an employer carry weight.

Sometimes. The court must start by considering release on a promise or an unsecured bond (40-11-115(b)). If that is not enough, it must use the least onerous conditions (40-11-116). Money bail is meant for cases where those conditions would not do the job (40-11-117).

Capital charges are not bailable under Article I, section 15 of the state constitution. A hold from another county or agency also blocks release. And after some stalking or domestic arrests, release must wait 12 hours, or up to 24 for aggravated assault with strangulation or a weapon (40-11-150).

The Sheriff's Office at 931-796-5096 can tell you which reason applies.

They can be. Section 40-11-118(d) calls for an ignition interlock in DUI cases with a crash that damaged property, a child aboard, a prior suspension or a prior listed conviction. Third and later alcohol DUIs add transdermal monitoring at the defendant's expense.

Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 5 says the arrested person is brought before a magistrate without unnecessary delay. The magistrate states the charge and the rights to a lawyer and to silence. A felony preliminary hearing is set within 14 days if he is held and 30 days if he is released.

General Sessions Court can be reached at 931-796-5547.

Ask the judge for one at the first hearing. The Twenty-First Judicial District public defender, 615-790-5519, covers Lewis County.

Hohenwald is the county's incorporated town, and city officers as well as sheriff's deputies make arrests here. Whoever made the arrest, the booking should appear on Lewis County Inmate Search. Ask that agency for a report number if it does not.

Juvenile cases follow a separate path from adult ones. Begin with the General Sessions judge's office at 931-796-5547, which can explain who holds the child, where, and when the detention hearing is. A child's name will not be on the adult search.

No. Money placed on his account for calls or commissary is his to spend inside and has no connection to the court. Bail has to go to the clerk, a licensed bondsman or a property bond. Be wary of anyone who messages you offering to post bail for a fee.

A missed court date lets the judge forfeit the bond (40-11-139 and 40-11-201) and order his arrest. A surety can surrender him (40-11-132).

A cash deposit is returned after discharge (40-11-119), but fines and court costs are taken from it first (40-11-121). Fines, costs and restitution are not a surety's burden unless the bond says so and the surety agrees (40-11-118(c)).

• Jail: Lewis County Jail, run by the Sheriff's Office, 437 Swan Avenue, Hohenwald, TN 38462; 931-796-5096, staffed 24 hours
• Custody lookup: Lewis County Inmate Search
• Courthouse: 110 North Park, Hohenwald, TN 38462
• Circuit Court Clerk: 931-796-3724
• General Sessions: 931-796-5547
• Public defender: Twenty-First Judicial District, 615-790-5519
• Bond help: Lewis County bail and bond instructions

Every case is different, and a judge may set terms that this page does not describe. Hours and phone lines can change, so call first. This guide is general information, not legal advice.