Deputies maintain the list. Walk through it this way:

1. Visit the Sheriff's inmate roster using whatever device you have.
2. Type the surname. A common one calls for a first name as well.
3. Click the best match and read the booking, charges and bond, whichever are shown.
4. Jot those details on paper. Quoting them helps staff find the right person.
5. If the arrest was very recent, search again after several hours.

Nothing came up? Phone the jail desk at 931-648-0611 and have an officer check the name by hand.

An empty screen usually has a plain explanation:

• Booking in progress. Fingerprints, searches and forms can eat up many hours.
• City lockup first. Officers may keep a person at a station before driving to the jail.
• Cited and released. Some people leave with a ticket that lists a court date.
• Bonded out. A quick bond, or release on a signed pledge, may already have ended the stay.
• Housed elsewhere. The person may be in a neighboring jail, with a federal agency or with the state.
• Spelling. Try other forms of the name, like an alias or a married name.

The Jail Administrator takes calls at 931-648-0615. The Sheriff's main line is in the next answer.

The county has two adult facilities, and each has its own job:

• Montgomery County Jail, 120 Commerce Street, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-0611. Every new arrest comes through here. Staff process more than 11,000 people a year.
• Montgomery County Workhouse. This building has space for up to 144 men serving sentences for nonviolent misdemeanors. Use the Sheriff's number above to get its street address and rules.

Hunting for a woman? Ask the Sheriff's Office which building houses her.

Officers elsewhere may have driven the person to their own county's lockup. Our Tennessee jail pages will lead you there. Federal, ICE and state custody are covered further down.

Whether the roster carries mugshots is something to confirm with deputies. Call 931-648-0611 and say which person you mean. Then ask about getting the booking photo.

State code section 10-7-503, part of the Public Records Act, treats government photographs as public records. The text never says "booking photo," so each agency picks its own approach. Ask the one that arrested the person.

• Pictures taken by ICE come only through a records request, filed at ICE's request page.
• Other federal mugshots stay sealed. Only the U.S. Marshals Service may let a photo out, such as during a manhunt for a fugitive.

Pair these two tools:

• VINE. A free service that reports custody status and location and sends alerts by phone, text or email. Go to VINELink and choose Tennessee, or dial 888-868-4631 any hour. Tennessee names VINE for state custody. For the county jail, search it, then phone the jail to double-check.
• The roster. Look at the inmate roster every morning. A vanished name hints at a release or a move.

Jail staff can verify a release at 931-648-0611.

A magistrate-level official sets bail soon after booking. The Judicial Commissioner has an office upstairs in the Public Safety Complex, 120 Commerce Street, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-542-5196. Tennessee law aims at the lowest amount that still secures a court appearance and keeps people safe. Jail staff have no power to change it.

The Sheriff's Office names three ways to post bond:

• Bondsman. Budget for a fee of roughly 10 percent of the bond. You will not see it again.
• Cash. Hand the clerk the entire amount. After the case, it comes back minus fines and costs.
• Property. Two people who own two different properties bring proof of ownership to the clerk.

The clerk is at 2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 115, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-5700, open weekdays from 8 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. Some stalking and domestic abuse arrests include a waiting period before release, which may last 12 hours or longer. Ask the jail how it applies.

Read more on our bail page, or see Tennessee's bail laws for the statewide rules.

The roster lists charges after booking. A prosecutor can change them later on.

• Circuit and General Sessions Clerk: 2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 115, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-5700. Bring the person's full name plus a birth date.
• District Attorney General: 200 Commerce Street, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-5574. Prosecutors there decide which charges to file.

Hold on to any case number someone gives you, because it speeds up every later call.

On the first court date, the defendant can tell the judge that money is short and request appointed counsel. The judge checks income first.

The District Public Defender's office for the 19th Judicial District covers Montgomery and Robertson counties. It sits at 112 S. Second Street, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-5538. Families who prefer their own lawyer can hire one.

Visiting hours shift, and the jail and workhouse may differ. Call 931-648-0611 before you make the trip. Find out who may visit, what ID to carry, how to dress and whether video visits are offered.

Skip bringing bags or gifts, because inmates cannot receive outside items. Our visiting guide has general advice.

Account money covers snacks, stamps and soap. Phone 931-648-0611 to learn which deposit choices are open and how much you may add. Before calling, gather the legal name and any booking number.

Learn what funds can buy in our money guide and commissary guide. Cash should never travel through the mail.

In most jails the inmate dials out and you answer. Ring 931-648-0611 to ask how call accounts are funded, the price per minute, and any tablet or text options. Assume every call may be recorded.

Discuss the case with the attorney alone. More help is in our guide to jail phone systems and our inmate email and texting page.

Call 931-648-0611 ahead of time. Ask for the precise mailing address and whether a booking number is part of it. Also ask what may be tucked inside. Officers search all mail for contraband, so keep envelopes plain.

Write the inmate's complete legal name and list your return address. Stamps for the inmate come through commissary. Our mail guide adds tips.

Clothes and items a person wore at booking are stored until the day of release. It does not accept outside items for inmates, and it hands out its own clothing. To pick up property for another person, call 931-648-0611 and ask what forms and ID staff will require.

The jail has nurses on duty at every hour. Explain the problem by phone at 931-648-0611. If pills are involved, name the drug and the dose and say who prescribed it. Home pills must stay in the original labeled bottle with the person's name.

The inmate should also turn in a medical request form. In an emergency, dial 911.

County deputies under the Sheriff serve county warrants, while Clarksville Police Department officers serve city ones. Call 931-648-0611 and ask the Sheriff's Office whether a name has one, since warrant checks are best done by phone. For case status, the Circuit and General Sessions Clerk answers at 931-648-5700. Hoping to resolve one? Talk to an attorney before doing anything, and then contact the judge's court. Clerk's office: 2 Millennium Plaza, Suite 115, Clarksville, TN 37040, where staff can name that court.

The court with the file gives out the dates. For the whole path of a case, use our court page.

• General Sessions Court. Early appearances, misdemeanor trials and felony preliminary hearings are handled here. The judges' office answers at 931-648-5766.
• Circuit Court. A felony lands here after a grand jury indictment. Phone the clerk at 931-648-5700.

Both courts are in the Courts Center, 2 Millennium Plaza, Clarksville, TN 37040. For felonies, expect a preliminary hearing in about two weeks when the person is held, or about a month when free.

People charged by federal prosecutors from here appear in Nashville, in the Middle District's Nashville Division. The Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse is at 719 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37203. Its clerk takes calls at 615-736-5498.

1. In a detention hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142, the magistrate rules on release terms before trial.
2. Through the trial, the Marshals Service is the agency in charge of the person. Its local contact is at 719 Church Street, Suite 2500, Nashville, TN 37203, 615-750-1434.
3. A free federal lawyer is available from the Federal Public Defender, 164 Rosa L Parks Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37203, 615-736-5047.
4. With a sentence in place, search the BOP inmate locator.

These steps tend to follow one another:

1. The jail first gets a hold request from ICE. The paper is Form I-247A, and the request is called a detainer.
2. The person may be kept for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Next, ICE takes the person. Tennessee belongs to its New Orleans Field Office, and the ICE office locator gives its details.
4. The ICE Online Detainee Locator works with an A-number. A name needs the birth country alongside it.

On its immigration enforcement page, Montgomery County shows up on the state's roster of 287(g) partners working with ICE. The state division there can be reached at 615-532-9736.

A sentence to state prison starts at an intake unit of the Tennessee Department of Correction. Staff there choose the final prison. Until that move, the person might remain in the county jail, so call the jail first.

• The state's FOIL offender search may list a picture, the current status, the prison, the offense and the sentence length.
• Headquarters of the department: 320 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243, 615-741-1000.
• Our state prison guide describes visits and mail.

Youths below age 18 appear before Juvenile Court, away from adult inmates. The court is in the Courts Center, 2 Millennium Plaza, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-5766. Files on children are private, so a young person may be missing from the roster.

To learn where a child is staying, call the Sheriff's Office at 931-648-0611 and ask about the hearing date. The court can explain how a child gets a lawyer.

Around 231,000 people live here (2024 state estimate). These agencies matter most after an arrest:

• Sheriff's Office: 120 Commerce Street, Clarksville, TN 37040, 931-648-0611. Ask which agency booked a person and where that person is now.
• Clarksville Police Department: contact details sit on the city police page.
• Tennessee Highway Patrol: troopers cover state roads. Troopers work in districts, so pick the right one on the THP contact list.

Still guessing? The Sheriff's number listed first can sort it out.