The Sheriff's website sends families to one statewide custody lookup. The steps are short:

1. Pull up the county jail search through your browser.
2. Type the surname. Add a first name just if the list runs long.
3. Tap the matching row and read where the person is held and why.
4. Swap in a nickname or another spelling when you get zero results.
5. Still nothing? Dial 731-645-1004 and have the birth date handy so staff can check the booking records themselves.

The Sheriff's Office sits at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375, and phones are answered Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

An empty search can have plain explanations:

• Still being processed. Fingerprints, paperwork and a health screening eat up hours.
• Held by city police first. The departments in Selmer, Adamsville and Bethel Springs can hold a person for a bit at the station, ahead of the jail's intake.
• Sent home with a ticket. An officer can write a citation with a court date.
• Already out. A paid bond, or a pledge to show up in court, may have let them leave.
• Somewhere else. A neighboring sheriff or the state corrections system might have custody.

Phone 731-645-1004 and have a clerk confirm whether the person is in the building. If the answer is no, find out who brought the person in.

The Sheriff's website describes a single adult lockup here: McNairy County Jail, 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-1004. It shares a justice complex with the Sheriff's Office and the court clerks. The site names no annex, farm or work release unit, so men, women and people waiting on trial all stay in this one building.

Someone picked up across the county line sits in that neighbor's jail instead. Federal agents or a state hold might move a person even farther. Lost the trail? Use the number above to learn which agency brought the person in, then phone that agency.

The online jail search is built around custody status, and the Sheriff's page does not promise mugshots. Photographs kept by the government can be requested under Tennessee's open-records statute (10-7-503), but that statute never lists booking photos. The arresting agency can say whether it will share one:

• Sheriff's Office, 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375: 731-645-1004
• Selmer Police Department, 144 N. 2nd St., Selmer, TN 38375: 731-645-7907

A photo held by ICE needs a request through ICE's records page. Federal booking photos do not go to the public. Only the U.S. Marshals Service may release one, such as a wanted poster for a runaway suspect.

Yes. VINE, a free state service, follows custody changes and can ring, text or email you.

1. Open VINELink, then choose the Tennessee option.
2. Find the person and sign up for notices.
3. Want a person instead? Call 888-868-4631. Operators pick up around the clock.

An alert is only as good as its data. Ring the Sheriff's Office at 731-645-1004 for a double check.

Bail comes from a magistrate, a judicial commissioner or the General Sessions judge. The decision weighs home, work, relatives and earlier cases. State law wants the amount kept low, just enough to guarantee a return to court and protect others (see Tenn. Code Ann. 40-11-118).

• Cash: a person may leave the full bond sum with the court clerk. Dial 731-645-1015 to learn which payment forms the office takes.
• Bondsman: the fee is often near one tenth of the bond. Since January 1, 2026, the state Commerce and Insurance office licenses these businesses. Judges here keep the final say on which bondsmen may work.
• Delay: stalking or domestic abuse arrests can carry a 12-hour hold, sometimes longer, so ask the jail before planning a pickup.

Deputies at the jail cannot alter a bond. Details sit on our bail page, plus a brief look at Tennessee bail laws. The clerk works at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375.

The General Sessions and Circuit Court Clerk keeps the case files. The office is at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-1015, open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Offer the staff a legal name and birth date to search.

Tennessee runs no single statewide search of trial court criminal cases, which makes the clerk your best source. The District Attorney General for the 25th Judicial District picks the charges that go forward. A Selmer office of that team is in the same building, 731-645-1030. For a felony, grand jurors review the case next, and Circuit Court follows.

When the first court date arrives, your loved one tells the bench that a lawyer is needed and the cost is out of reach. The judge studies income and rules on who gets one.

The 25th Judicial District's public defender serves McNairy from an office at 16600 Hwy. 64, Somerville, TN 38068, 901-465-7330. Relatives can phone to learn how to begin. A lawyer may bring pay stubs and family letters to argue for a smaller bond.

You can also pay a private attorney at any stage.

Every jail sets its own schedule, so phone 731-645-1004 before driving out. Good questions include:

• Which weekdays and hours welcome visitors?
• Are visits in the lobby, over video, or both?
• Who is allowed in, and which ID counts?
• How early should I arrive, and what should I wear?

The jail stands at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375. Expect to leave your phone and bag outside the secure area. Extra pointers sit in the visitor guide.

Funds cover snacks, soap, stamps and phone time. Dial 731-645-1004 to learn how deposits work, the dollar limits and the payment service the jail relies on. Have the legal name ready, plus a booking number if you can get one.

Our deposit guide lists popular ways to send funds. Our commissary guide shows the shopping list. Never slip cash into an envelope.

The jail controls its own telephone setup. Ring 731-645-1004 to learn how your relative gets through to you, the cost per minute, and whether messaging or a tablet is part of the setup. Assume someone is listening and recording.

Save details about the charge for the attorney. For more, try the jail phone guide or the guide to messages sent to inmates.

Phone 731-645-1004 first. Staff can give the precise address line, tell you if a booking number is needed, and name banned items. The jail is at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375.

Begin with the legal name of the inmate. Your return address goes on the front, top left. Cash stays out of every envelope. Basics are in the mail guide.

Whatever staff took from the person at the front desk gets bagged and held until the day of release. To hand in items or collect some, call 731-645-1004 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a weekday. Learn if a signed form is required, which photo ID you need and if a friend may pick things up.

The jail's street address is 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375.

Everyone locked up here is the Sheriff's Office's responsibility, including their health. For a sick or injured relative, phone 731-645-1004. Tell them which pill the person takes, the amount, and how to phone the doctor. The inmate can submit a paper request for a nurse visit as well.

Call 911 for an emergency that cannot wait. Fear that someone may hurt themselves? Say so right away when staff answer.

Deputies handle warrants across the farm and open country of the county. Inside Selmer and the smaller towns, local police handle them. Phone the Sheriff's Office, 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-1004, or Selmer Police, 144 N. 2nd St., Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-7907, to hear whether one is on file. Court cases can be checked with the General Sessions and Circuit Court Clerk at 731-645-1015, who works at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375. Consult an attorney before turning yourself in. After that, reach the court that issued the paper and ask about resetting a date.

The county's courts share one building, the justice complex at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375:

• General Sessions Court covers first appearances, lesser charges and early felony hearings. The judge's office is 731-645-7222.
• Circuit Court sits for felony trials, which start only after grand jurors vote an indictment. The clerk for both courts is 731-645-1015.

Offer the clerk a legal name plus birth date. To follow a case from first hearing to verdict, use the court guide.

Federal charges from Selmer are heard by the Western District of Tennessee, in the courtroom division housed within Jackson's James D. Todd U.S. Courthouse, 111 South Highland Avenue, Jackson, TN 38301, clerk's line 731-421-9200.

1. A detention hearing early in the case picks jail or home until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. Between arrest and trial, the U.S. Marshals choose a holding site. Their room is 214 in that same courthouse, and the line is 731-427-4661.
3. Once a federal sentence exists, use the federal prisons inmate locator and a name or a register number.

Expect these steps, in this order:

1. ICE mails or emails the jail a paper called Form I-247A. It is the detainer.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the jail may keep the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. Agents then take the person. ICE's New Orleans office oversees cases from this state.
4. Check the ICE Online Detainee Locator, entering a name and country of birth.

Tennessee's safety department page names this county as a 287(g) participant. That is a federal program linking local police with ICE. An immigration lawyer can explain it.

After a felony sentence, the Tennessee Department of Correction brings the person to a reception center that picks a prison. Before that move, they may remain in the county jail, so phone 731-645-1004 to check.

• Try the state offender search for photo, status, location and offense details.
• Department headquarters: 320 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243, 615-741-1000.
• Browse the Tennessee state prisons guide for prison details.

Minors do not appear in the adult courtroom. Juvenile Court takes those cases. The court is at 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-1020, open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call to learn where the child is staying, the hearing time and how to request a lawyer. Files on children are kept private, so the online search may skip them.

Whoever arrested the person can explain the charge. These departments serve the county:

• Sheriff's Office, 300 Industrial Drive, Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-1004. Handles the rural areas.
• Selmer Police, 144 N. 2nd St., Selmer, TN 38375, 731-645-7907
• Adamsville Police, 231 E. Main St., Adamsville, TN 38310, 731-632-3094
• Bethel Springs Police, 4066 Main St., Bethel Springs, TN 38315, 731-934-7266
• Tennessee Highway Patrol covers state roads. Its district contact list shows which district serves the county.