Any phone, tablet or laptop can do this:

1. Go to the Sheriff's roster.
2. Search by last name only at first. A full name can miss people whose records carry a short or old spelling.
3. Click the matching entry for the booking details.
4. Then open the ten-day booking log, which lists people taken in lately.
5. Screenshot or jot down what you see, and phone the jail to double check.

Jail staff can be reached at 931-232-3114.

A blank result worries everyone, but it often has a simple cause:

• Booking is unfinished. Fingerprints and paperwork take time.
• A police station came first. Town officers sometimes hold a person briefly before a jail transfer.
• A quick release. A ticket to appear in court or a signed promise can send someone home within hours.
• Another jail has them. Some other county's jail, or a state office, could be keeping them.
• The name is typed differently. Next, swap in a nickname or a previous surname.

Phone 931-232-3114 and ask for Booking. The Sheriff's main line, 931-232-4053, is another way in.

For adults, the Sheriff's pages show one building: the Stewart County Detention Center, 314 Cedar Street, Dover, TN 37058, 931-232-3114. See our detention center page for more. The Sheriff's pages say nothing about a separate workhouse, annex, work release unit or city lockup, so ask staff whether men, women or lower-risk inmates are housed apart.

Was the person picked up outside the county? Then they may be in that other county's cells. Browse the Tennessee jail directory to locate it. People can also be moved to federal, immigration or state custody; later answers show how to follow them.

Staff should be asked, since we cannot say that the roster displays mugshots. Phone the Sheriff's Office at 931-232-4053 and learn whether the office will give you a booking photo. Photographs kept by agencies fall under Tennessee's public records statute (Title 10, Chapter 7, Section 503 of the state code), but that law is silent on booking photos, so the agency with the picture decides.

• A photo that ICE may hold has to be requested on the ICE FOIA page.
• No one outside government gets federal mugshots, with a single exception: the U.S. Marshals Service can release one, for example to find a runaway suspect.

VINE costs nothing and reports whether a person is still in custody and where. Register at VINELink, picking Tennessee, or phone 888-868-4631; real people answer all day and night.

The state names VINE for people in its own custody. For this county's cells, ask the jail at 931-232-3114 whether VINE tracks them, and keep refreshing the roster as a backup.

Soon after booking, the amount is fixed by a magistrate, or by a General Sessions judge at the first hearing. State law says it should be no higher than needed to make the person return and to protect others, so the judge weighs home, job, family and record.

• Cash. The full amount can be deposited with the court clerk (Tenn. Code Ann. 40-11-118). Card or app payments may add a fee.
• Bondsman. Expect a nonrefundable charge near 10 percent of the bond. Tennessee's insurance regulator, the Department of Commerce and Insurance, now licenses bondsmen, though a local court still approves who writes bonds in its area.
• Waiting period. After certain stalking or domestic abuse arrests, a hold of 12 hours or more may come before release (Tenn. Code Ann. 40-11-150).

Ask the jail, 931-232-3114, for the amount and posting hours. More help is in our bail walkthrough and Tennessee bail laws overview.

Jail staff can read the booking charge aloud at 931-232-3114. Once the court takes the case, the clerk holds the file: the Circuit and General Sessions Court Clerk, Stewart County Courthouse, 225 Donelson Parkway, Second Floor, Dover, TN 37058, 931-232-7042, open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Bring a full name and birthday. Prosecutors decide which charges go to court. For this area that is the District Attorney General for the 23rd Judicial District, and the clerk's staff can point you to that office.

Say it to the judge at the first court date: a lawyer is wanted, and paying for one is not possible. Income and bills help the judge pick who qualifies.

This county sits in the 23rd Judicial District. Call the public defender serving that district at 615-792-1308; that number comes from an older state list, so verify it. You may hire a private attorney too. Keep the facts of the case between the person and the lawyer, and away from jail phones.

The Sheriff's inmate page describes video visits, with the rules explained when you book. The service it names is inmatesales.com. Start at the Sheriff's inmate information page.

• Call 931-232-3114 for hours, ID, who may come and what to wear.
• Ask if any in-person visit exists and, if so, where it takes place.
• Log in early, because lateness can cost your slot.

Our visitation guide adds general advice.

For deposits, the Sheriff's inmate page lists smartdeposit.com. Type the person's full name and, when known, the booking number from the roster. Read any fee shown before you confirm.

Funds buy snacks, toiletries and phone minutes. The page also names mycarepack.com for care packs. If a deposit goes missing, call 931-232-3114. Details on deposits are in the money page, and what the funds buy is in the commissary page. Do not mail cash.

The phones work for outgoing calls only, so family cannot dial in. Calls are collect unless the account has money. The Sheriff's page names CPC (cpcjail.com) as the phone company, and says cells have small texting units called Chirpers.

• Open an account with CPC so your number accepts calls.
• Ask 931-232-3114 what calls and messages cost.
• Treat every call as one that might be taped.

Our inmate phone guide and email and texting guide go further.

The Sheriff's mail rules are an image we cannot read as text, so phone 931-232-3114 first. Ask what name and address go on the envelope, if a booking number should be included, and which items (photos, books) are allowed.

Address the envelope to the person's official name, and put a sender address in the upper left. Do not slip in cash or stickers unless staff approve. Our letter guide lists typical limits.

Whatever officers took in at the front desk stays in storage till the person leaves. To bring clothing or collect things, phone 931-232-3114 and ask about drop-off hours, release forms and the ID you must carry.

The detention center sits at 314 Cedar Street, Dover, TN 37058. Please call before you drive there, because staff may turn away items that were not arranged.

Call 931-232-3114 at once. Give the inmate's name, what is wrong, every drug they take and how much, and who prescribes it, with a phone number. Ask that the nurse or medical contact be told.

Your loved one can file a sick-call slip and also tell a guard directly, which leaves a paper trail. Dial 911 for an emergency, and say so clearly if you fear a self-harm risk.

Deputies handle county warrants, while Dover officers handle those in town. Phone the Sheriff at 931-232-4053 or Dover Police at 931-232-5907, or read the Sheriff's warrant page. For a case lookup, call the Circuit and General Sessions Court Clerk, 931-232-7042. A lawyer is the first stop for resolving a warrant, and after that comes the court that issued it. Warrant status changes often, so call again before you go anywhere. The clerk works at 225 Donelson Parkway, Second Floor, Dover, TN 37058, and hours run Monday to Friday.

Check with the jail and then the clerk. Cases are split like this:

• General Sessions: opening hearings, lesser-charge trials and the early review of felony cases. The clerk is at the Stewart County Courthouse, 225 Donelson Parkway, Second Floor, Dover, TN 37058, 931-232-8474.
• Circuit Court: felony trials, which begin after a grand jury votes an indictment. Call the Circuit Court Clerk at 931-232-7042.

Mail to the Circuit Clerk goes to P.O. Box 193, Dover, TN 37058. Our court process guide follows a case from first appearance onward.

Federal criminal cases from the area are tried by the Nashville Division of the Middle District of Tennessee. Courthouse address: 719 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37203 (Fred D. Thompson U.S. Courthouse). The clerk's number is 615-736-5498.

1. Early on, a detention hearing lets the federal judge choose between custody and freedom before the trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
2. The U.S. Marshals house pretrial detainees. Their Nashville office is at 719 Church Street, Suite 2500, Nashville, TN 37203, 615-750-1434.
3. The Federal Public Defender is at 164 Rosa L Parks Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37203, 615-736-5047.
4. Following a sentence, query the BOP inmate locator.

Cases tend to follow this path:

1. The jail receives an ICE detainer on paper (Form I-247A).
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), a jail may hold the person for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. ICE collects the person. Tennessee's immigration enforcement page lists this county among the 287(g) participants, so local staff may work alongside ICE.
4. Try the ICE Online Detainee Locator with a name and the person's birth country. For Tennessee, the office to call is ICE's field office in New Orleans, Louisiana.

An immigration attorney can explain options. The state enforcement division answers at 615-532-9736.

Once a judge orders state time, the Department of Correction receives the person at an intake site, then chooses a prison. A stretch in local cells can come before the move, so ring 931-232-3114.

• The state offender lookup may list photo, status, location, offense and sentence.
• Department headquarters: 320 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243, 615-741-1000.
• Prison visits, money and mail are on our state prisons page.

Anyone under 18 goes before Juvenile Court, which runs apart from the adult courts. The county pages list no address for it, so call the clerk at 931-232-7042 and ask where it meets and where a detained child stays.

The clerk's office is at 225 Donelson Parkway, Second Floor, Dover, TN 37058. Ask promptly about a lawyer and the detention hearing. Juvenile files are kept private.

About 14,000 people live in the county, by a state estimate. Agencies:

• Stewart County Sheriff's Office, 314 Cedar Street, Dover, TN 37058, 931-232-4053 or 931-232-6863; dispatch 931-232-5322. Covers areas outside town limits.
• Dover Police Department, P.O. Box 447, Dover, TN 37058, 931-232-5907.
• Cumberland City and Tennessee Ridge are towns here; no police line is confirmed, so ask Sheriff's dispatch.
• Tennessee Highway Patrol has eight districts; use its district contact list to reach the one for this county.