Knox County Jail & Inmate Roster

Knox County jail and sheriff

Where a field is blank, the county does not publish that detail on an official source we can cite.

How to find someone in the county jail

• Call the jail directly if the name does not appear; online rosters lag behind actual bookings.
• Search the county's official roster for the person's full legal name.
• If the person has already been sentenced, search the Tennessee Department of Correction offender locator instead.
• Have their date of birth ready — it is the detail that separates people with common names.
• If the charge is federal, search the Bureau of Prisons system, which is separate from both.

Cities in Knox County

1 city in Knox County is covered, each with its own inmate search and bail information.

The Tennessee state prison system

Sentenced prisoners in Tennessee are held by the Tennessee Department of Correction, not by Knox County. A person stops appearing on the county roster once transferred.

Official Tennessee offender search

How the Knox County jail system works

Knox County is the facility that takes bookings for arrests in Tennessee. County jails are short-stay by design: people move through them to court, to release, or on to a state prison. That turnover is why a roster can look empty one day and full the next.

From booking, a case moves to a first appearance and then to whatever the court decides about release. Everything that follows — plea, trial, sentencing — depends on that first decision.

What to ask when you call

A single call to the jail or the sheriff's office can answer most of what a family needs to know in the first days. Having the questions ready makes the call much shorter.

• The booking number and the facility housing unit.
• The next court date and the courtroom.
• The bail amount and the accepted payment method.
• Whether the person has already been assigned counsel.
• What identification you need to visit, and the visiting hours.
• Whether there are any restrictions on calls or visits in this case.

Bail in Tennessee

Bail for arrests in Knox County is set under Tennessee law. The governing provisions are listed below.

• Tenn. Code § 40-11-113 Admission to bail pending appeal.

  In the cases in which the defendant may be admitted to bail upon appeal, the order admitting the defendant to bail may be made either by the court wherein the judgment was rendered, or the judge of the rendering court, by the court of criminal appeals, or any judge of the court of criminal appeals,…

  Public.Resource.Org / UniCourt structured HTML (opens in a new tab)
• Tenn. Code § 55-10-203 When arrested person must be taken before a magistrate — Admission to bail.

  Whenever any person is arrested for a violation of chapter 8 or parts 1-5 of this chapter, the arrested person shall be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate or judge within the county in which the offense charged is alleged to have been committed, who has jurisdiction of the offense…

  Public.Resource.Org / UniCourt structured HTML (opens in a new tab)

Bail in Tennessee

• Tenn. Code § 40-11-113 Admission to bail pending appeal.

  In the cases in which the defendant may be admitted to bail upon appeal, the order admitting the defendant to bail may be made either by the court wherein the judgment was rendered, or the judge of the rendering court, by the court of criminal appeals, or any judge of the court of criminal appeals,…

  Public.Resource.Org / UniCourt structured HTML (opens in a new tab)
• Tenn. Code § 55-10-203 When arrested person must be taken before a magistrate — Admission to bail.

  Whenever any person is arrested for a violation of chapter 8 or parts 1-5 of this chapter, the arrested person shall be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate or judge within the county in which the offense charged is alleged to have been committed, who has jurisdiction of the offense…

  Public.Resource.Org / UniCourt structured HTML (opens in a new tab)

Frequently asked questions