SPOKE ARTICLE - State Inmate Locator series - TENNESSEE

Target URL: /information/how-to-find-an-inmate-in-tennessee (confirm path with Selva)

Links up to: /prisons/tennessee (state hub)

Editorial: no em dashes, plain former-insider voice, FAQ headings under 60 chars

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How to Find an Inmate in Tennessee

If someone you love was just arrested or sent to prison in Tennessee, the first thing you need is also the hardest to get: a straight answer about where they are. Tennessee does not have one single database that lists everyone in custody. The person you are looking for could be in a county jail, a state prison, a federal facility, or immigration detention, and each of those is searched a different way. This guide walks you through all four, in the order most families need them, and tells you what to do when someone does not show up at all.

One thing about Tennessee is worth knowing up front. The state does not have a large long-term immigration detention center of its own. If your person was picked up by immigration agents, they are usually held only briefly in a county jail or temporary holding site here before being moved out of state, and the section below on ICE custody explains how to handle that.

Start here: figure out which system is holding them

Before you search anything, answer one question, because it tells you which tool to use.

How long ago were they taken into custody, and what happened? Someone who was arrested in the last few days is almost always in the county jail for the county where the arrest happened. They stay there through booking, the first court appearance, and often through their entire case if it is a local charge. People do not go to state prison when they are arrested. They go to state prison only after they have been sentenced and physically transferred into the custody of the Tennessee Department of Correction, which can take weeks after sentencing while intake happens at a classification center.

So the rule of thumb is simple. Recently arrested, case still pending, or a short sentence: look in the county jail. Sentenced to state prison time and transferred: look in the Tennessee Department of Correction. Federal charge: look in the federal system. Immigration hold: look in ICE custody. Most families searching for someone newly arrested waste time on the state prison site when their person is sitting in a county jail across town.

Searching the Tennessee state prison system (TDOC)

The Tennessee Department of Correction, or TDOC, holds everyone serving a state prison sentence. Its public search tool is called the Felony Offender Information Lookup, or FOIL, and you can look a person up by name, by their TOMIS ID (the offender number TDOC assigns), or by their state ID number. The results show the person's photo, current status (incarcerated, on parole, on probation, or inactive), location, offense, sentence, and parole and release information. The same search is also available through MyTN, the state government's official app.

To search, you generally need the person's last name, and the TOMIS ID helps narrow it when the name is common. One thing to know: FOIL only covers felony offenders in the custody or under the supervision of the state. It does not show people held in county or city jails, or people convicted of lesser misdemeanor offenses. So if your person is not there, it usually means they are in one of the other systems below, not that they cannot be found.

It is also worth knowing that Tennessee has both state-run prisons and a few prisons operated under contract by a private company. Either way, they all show up in the same FOIL search, so you do not need to know in advance which kind your person is in.

Searching county jails in Tennessee (recently arrested)

Tennessee has 95 counties, and each one runs its own jail through the county sheriff's office. There is no statewide county jail search, so you have to find the roster for the specific county where the arrest happened.

If you know the county, search for that county's jail roster directly, or find the facility on InmateAid and use the search link on its page. The largest county systems, where most arrests happen, are Shelby (Memphis), Davidson (Nashville), Knox (Knoxville), Hamilton (Chattanooga), and Rutherford (Murfreesboro). The bigger counties post online jail rosters that update through the day; smaller rural counties may not post online at all, in which case calling the sheriff's office is the fastest route.

To search a county roster you typically need the person's full name. A booking number, if you have it, finds the record immediately. If you are not certain which county made the arrest, the city where it happened tells you: look up which county that city sits in, then search that county's jail.

Federal inmates in Tennessee (BOP)

If the charge was federal, the person is in the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons, not the state, and you search the BOP's own national inmate locator rather than any Tennessee tool. It covers everyone in federal custody from 1982 to the present and searches by name or by federal register number.

Tennessee's main federal prison is FCI Memphis, a low-security facility with an adjacent minimum-security camp. A person arrested on a federal charge may first be held in a county jail under a federal contract, held for the US Marshals, before being moved to a federal facility that may be in another state. So if the BOP locator does not show your person yet, check the county jail where the arrest happened and call the US Marshals if you are unsure.

ICE detainees in Tennessee

If the person is being held on an immigration matter, they are in ICE custody, which is a civil detention system separate from criminal jail and prison. ICE detainees are not criminals serving sentences; they are held while their immigration cases are decided. You search for them using the federal ICE Online Detainee Locator, which works by the detainee's A-Number (a nine-digit immigration identification number) or by their full name, country of birth, and date of birth.

Here is the part that catches families off guard. Tennessee does not have a large long-term ICE detention center. When ICE detains someone in the state, the person is typically held for a short time in a county jail or a temporary ICE holding site, and is then transferred out of state for longer detention. Several Tennessee county jails hold people for ICE under cooperation agreements, including in Shelby County around Memphis and counties in Middle and East Tennessee, but these are short-term holds. Most people detained in Tennessee are moved within days to facilities in other states, often in Louisiana and Texas, which is where the regional immigration detention and deportation network is concentrated. Because of this, the person you are looking for may move quickly and may not be in Tennessee at all by the time you start searching. Use the A-Number in the ICE locator, because it is the most reliable way to find someone and to keep track of them once they leave the state.

When you cannot find them anywhere

If you have searched and your person is not turning up, work through these explanations before assuming the worst.

The booking is not complete yet. Newly arrested people can take hours to appear on a roster, and newly sentenced people can sit in a county jail for weeks before showing up in the state system. Try again later. They were released, transferred, or moved between systems. Someone can post bond, get transferred to another county, or be handed from county to federal or immigration custody and moved out of state, and during the handoff they may briefly appear nowhere. Immigration detainees in particular get moved out of state quickly. The name does not match the record. People are booked under legal names, middle names, maiden names, or misspellings. Try variations, and search with less information rather than more. They are a minor. Juveniles are not listed in public adult locators at all, regardless of facility.

When the online tools fail, calling works. Call the jail or facility you believe is holding them, give the full name and date of birth, and ask the booking desk or records office to confirm custody status. That is often faster than any website.

Get notified automatically: VINELink

Rather than checking rosters over and over, you can register with VINE, the free victim and family notification service Tennessee participates in. It lets you look up a person's custody status and sign up for automatic alerts about changes such as transfer or release. It is the simplest way to stop refreshing a website every day.

Once you have found them

Finding the person is the first step. Staying connected is the next, and it matters more than most families realize for how someone gets through their time.

The best place to start is mail. Letters and photos reach almost everyone in custody, they are the most reliable form of contact, and a person who hears from home regularly does easier time. Phone calls are the next layer, and Tennessee is reasonably affordable here. State prison calls are billed at a low rate per minute through the state's phone vendor, and the federal rate caps that took effect in April 2026 hold costs down further. A practical note: state prison phones are outgoing only, so your person calls you rather than the other way around, and you set up a prepaid account and get on the person's approved call list first. Tennessee's privately run state prisons use a different phone vendor than the state-run ones, so check which applies to your person's facility. County jails set their own rates and vendors. You can also send money to most facilities so your person can cover phone time, commissary, and basic needs.

To set any of this up for the specific facility holding your loved one, find that facility on InmateAid and follow the instructions on its page, since the rules, the phone carrier, and the mailing address are different at every facility. For someone held in immigration custody, remember to include the A-Number on mail and deposits, and keep in mind they may already be at a facility in another state.

[Internal link block to render at foot of article:]

- See every prison, jail, and detention center in Tennessee: /prisons/tennessee

- Understand the new 2026 call rates: link to FCC Prison Phone Rate Caps 2026 guide

- Search arrest records across Tennessee: Arrest Record Search (honestly labeled affiliate)

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