Finding a Clarke County Inmate
Clarke County does not publish an online jail roster. The Sheriff's Office runs the county jail, and the sheriff acts as the county jailor. By law the sheriff keeps a jail docket, which is the booking log for people held in the county. That docket is not posted on the web. To learn whether someone was just arrested and is still in county custody, the first and best step is a phone call to the Clarke County Sheriff's Office at 601-776-5252.
The fallback chain after that call is short and clear. For a person already sentenced to prison, the Mississippi Department of Corrections runs an inmate search. For custody alerts, Mississippi VINE sends free notifications when a status changes. There is no official Clarke County Sheriff app, so any app claiming to list Clarke jail inmates is not a county tool. Money and commissary for the county jail run through a single approved vendor.
Booking is only the start of the court process. Justice Court judges hold sessions at the jail three times each week so that each arrested person gets an initial appearance within three days. The charges filed at that stage are tracked on the Clarke County court charge records page.
Clarke County Jail or State Prison
The single most common search mistake is looking in the wrong system. The county jail and the state prison system are run by different agencies and hold different people. Someone arrested in Quitman yesterday is a county jail matter. Someone who was convicted and shipped off to serve a term is a state prison matter. Picking the right system first avoids a dead-end search.
| Clarke County Jail | State Prison (MDOC) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is held | Recent arrests, pretrial detainees, short local sentences | People sentenced to state prison, parolees, supervised offenders |
| Run by | Clarke County Sheriff as jailor | Mississippi Department of Corrections |
| How to check | Call 601-776-5252; no online roster | Free MDOC inmate search by name or ID |
| Best for | Someone booked in the last day or two | Someone sentenced and sent to prison |
People often move from one system to the other. A person can sit in the county jail before trial, then transfer to state custody after sentencing. If the sheriff says a person is no longer in the county jail, the next stop is the state search.
How to Find a Clarke County Inmate
A clear order of steps reaches the right answer faster. Start with the question of when the person went into custody, then follow the chain through the county and state channels.
- Decide whether the person was just arrested or already sentenced. Recent arrests sit in the county jail; sentenced prisoners move to state custody.
- For a recent county arrest, call the Clarke County Sheriff's Office at 601-776-5252 and ask the jail staff to check the docket.
- For a sentenced inmate, open the MDOC inmate search and look by last name or by MDOC ID number.
- To track custody changes, register the person through Mississippi VINE online or by phone.
- If records are sealed, juvenile, or held off the docket, ask the sheriff how to file a written request for the booking record.
Have the full legal name ready, and a date of birth if you know it. Common names return more than one match, so any extra detail helps the staff or the database narrow the list. People with active warrants may not appear in custody at all, and that path is covered on the Clarke County warrant search page.
Note: Call the jail before driving over, because a person booked overnight may have already bonded out or moved to another facility by morning.
Clarke County Sheriff and Jail Contact
The Sheriff's Office is the front door for every county custody question. Sheriff Anthony Chancelor leads the office, which serves as the county jailor and keeps the jail docket. Staff there can confirm whether a person is held, when they were booked, and what the next court date looks like. Because the county posts no roster, this phone line carries the weight that a website roster would in larger counties.
Clarke County Sheriff's Office
Anthony Chancelor, Sheriff
444 West Donald Street
Quitman, MS 39355
601-776-5252
Fax 601-776-1025
The county does not publish jail office hours or a visiting desk schedule, so confirm the best call time when you reach the staff. Keep the booking name and any case number on hand. For court papers tied to the arrest, the Circuit Clerk and Justice Court handle the filings rather than the jail.
Jail staff can usually confirm the basics: whether a person is held, the booking date, and any set bond or court date. They will not read a sealed file or a juvenile matter over the phone. Felony cases route through the County Prosecuting Attorney and the District Attorney for the 10th District, so charge questions belong with the court, not the jail desk. When a call goes unanswered, a written records request to the sheriff is the next step, and the full case file moves to the Circuit Court once a felony case opens.
MDOC Inmate Search for State Custody
Once a person is sentenced to prison, the Mississippi Department of Corrections becomes the place to look. MDOC runs a free online inmate search that the public can use without an account. It covers people in state-prison custody and many under state supervision, which is a different group than the county jail holds. The tool accepts either a name search or a state ID number.
The official starting point is the MDOC inmate search on the state portal. The form is short, and the fields below show what it asks for.
That screen is the same one used to check a Clarke County inmate who has moved into state prison custody.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Criteria | Radio | Yes | Choose Name or ID Number. |
| Last Name | Text | If name search | Enter the last name to search by name. |
| First Name | Text | No | Pairs with last name to narrow the list. |
| MDOC ID Number | Text | If ID search | Use the assigned state inmate ID. |
| Search | Button | N/A | Runs the search and returns matches. |
An ID search is the most exact path when the number is known. A name search casts a wider net and can return several people, so check the matching details carefully before drawing any conclusion.
Custody Alerts Through Mississippi VINE
Not every search needs to happen by hand. Mississippi VINE is a free, confidential service that sends alerts when a person's custody status changes. It works for victims, families, and anyone who wants to know about a release, transfer, or court event. Coverage depends on the agencies that feed the system, so it pairs well with a direct call to the jail.
The state explains the program on the MDOC SAVIN and VINE notifications page. Registration runs through the Office of Mississippi SAVIN at 601-359-5759 during business hours, or a 24-hour toll-free line at 866-847-1298, with English, Spanish, and TTY help.
That page is the official guide for setting up Clarke County inmate custody alerts through the state service.
The search side of the service lives at VINELink for Mississippi, which lets users look up custody status and register for notice without a fee. The portal is also available as a mobile app, though that app is a statewide VINE tool and not a Clarke County Sheriff product.
VINELink gives a second route to track a Clarke County inmate when the jail line is busy.
What a Clarke County Inmate Search Shows
Results look different depending on the system that answers. The county jail docket, the MDOC search, and VINE each expose their own set of details. The county jail does not post mugshots, pod assignments, bond figures, or charge codes online, so honest expectations matter. The fields below are the ones these official channels actually return.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Full Name | The legal name of the booked or sentenced person as the agency recorded it. |
| MDOC ID Number | The state inmate number assigned in prison custody, used for exact ID searches. |
| Custody Status | Whether MDOC or VINE lists the person as in custody, released, or transferred. |
| Location or Facility | The state facility or supervision area on MDOC; VINE flags the holding agency. |
| Jail Docket Entry | The sheriff's booking record kept as jailor, reached by phone or written request rather than online. |
| Notification Status | Whether a VINE alert is set to follow that person's custody changes. |
For a fuller county booking record, a written request to the Sheriff's Office is the proper route, subject to redactions and any sealed-record limits. State records questions go to the MDOC records department.
The MDOC contact page lists the central office and the records department for mailed requests on state inmates.
That contact page is the official channel for state inmate record questions that the online search does not answer.
Clarke County Jail Visitation and Mail
Visitation and mail rules are not posted online for the Clarke County Jail. The official county pages give only the address and phone number. No visitation schedule, mail format, dress code, or video provider was published. Because of that, no fixed schedule should be assumed, and the phone line is the only reliable source for current rules.
Important: Clarke County does not publish a jail visitation schedule. Before going to 444 West Donald Street, call 601-776-5252 to confirm the inmate is still held there, whether visits are allowed that day, what identification is required, and how mail must be addressed.
State prison visitation is a separate matter. After a transfer to MDOC, the state sets the visiting rules for its own facilities, including photo identification and sign-in. Those state rules do not control the county jail, so do not apply them to a person still held in Quitman.
Inmate Money and Commissary
Money for a county jail account runs through one approved vendor. Clarke County Jail uses Tiger Commissary for both deposits and commissary orders. This keeps funds and ordering inside a single official system rather than spread across many sites. Families should use that vendor and confirm any limits or fees with the jail.
The official vendor page is the Tiger Commissary Clarke County Jail service, which lists two options.
- Web Deposits, which place money on an inmate trust fund account.
- Order Commissary, which sends commissary items to an inmate.
That page is the official way to send money or commissary to a Clarke County inmate.
Note: Deposit limits, processing fees, and order cutoffs are set by the vendor and the jail, so confirm the current terms before sending funds.
Mississippi Sex Offender Registry
Some custody searches turn into public-safety checks. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety keeps a statewide public sex offender registry that anyone can search. It is a separate database from the jail docket and the court files, and it is built for community awareness rather than custody tracking. Clarke County appears as a county option in the county search.
The public tool is the Mississippi DPS sex offender registry, searchable by name and by county.
That registry lets a Clarke County resident check listed offenders by county, apart from any jail or prison search.
Registry records track required reporting, not current jail status. A person on the registry may or may not be in custody, so a jail or MDOC search is still the way to confirm where someone is held today.