How to Get Someone Out of Jail

The Twenty-Four-Hour Clerk's Office is located at 201 Poplar, Suite LL-126, and processes the following:

  • Approximately 104,000 arrests annually for all courts in Shelby County, excluding Federal Court
  • Bail Bonds, excluding Juvenile and Federal bonds, for all of the courts in Shelby County, totaling approximately forty five thousand (45,000) a year for all courts in Shelby County.

Someone You Know Has Been Arrested

If someone you know is arrested, keep in mind that the general incarceration (jailing) process takes approximately two to five hours to complete.

To release someone from the Shelby County Jail, you must:

  1. Call the Shelby County Jail Information phone number 901-222-4700 in order to obtain the booking information.
  2. Then you must do one of the following: Satisfy the bond set amount with cash. (There is no service fee charged for cash bonds) or
    Satisfy the bond set amount with the securities of a bail bonding company.
    or
    Satisfy the bond set amount with a property bond.
    or
    Release On Recognizance (ROR) is the normal bond set amount when public intoxication is the only charge. The Judicial Commissioners coordinate ROR releases with Pretrial Services.

Once bail has been posted it takes approximately two to five hours before the inmate is released. However, the exceptions are as follows: Domestic Violence arrests are handled differently due to state law. The process will take longer in Domestic Violence arrests.

Misdemeanor arrests take approximately six to eight hours to process.

Felony arrests are handled differently due to State Law. Therefore processing will take longer compared to processing exclusively misdemeanor charges.

Helpful Information

Shelby County Sheriff's Department - Jail 901-222-4700

For Pretrial Services you must be seen in person and it is located at 201 Poplar, 8th Floor.

The Judicial Commissioners arraign defendants and set bonds and court dates.

Bail Bond Companies qualified to write bonds are located in the yellow pages of the telephone book.