Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Claiborne County, Tennessee, has about 33,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and one campus agency. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the District Attorney General files charges, a case in the Claiborne County Circuit and Chancery Courts. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Claiborne County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Claiborne County
The Claiborne County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Claiborne County. It reported 353 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- New Tazewell, 2,824 residents: 107 arrests reported for 2025.
- Tazewell, 2,380 residents: 173 arrests reported for 2025.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Claiborne County: Lincoln Memorial University (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Claiborne County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Claiborne County Sheriff's Office: 353 for 2025, 475 for 2024, 692 for 2020 and 795 for 2019; 2021, 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Tazewell: 173 for 2025, 189 for 2024, 270 for 2023, 275 for 2022, 256 for 2021 and 255 for 2020.
- New Tazewell: 107 for 2025, 119 for 2024, 188 for 2023, 92 for 2022, 145 for 2021 and 154 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 633 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 633 in 2025 against 783 in 2024, down 19 percent.
Through September 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 432 arrests, against 481 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Claiborne County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Claiborne County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 180 people, down from about 250 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 210 beds, and it ran at 87 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office at claiborneso.com/press/index.html (page title: Press | Claiborne County Sheriff's Office), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Tennessee Department of Correction, whose inmate locator is at foil.app.tn.gov/foil/search.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Claiborne County
Whether someone was arrested in Claiborne County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Claiborne County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at claibornecountytn.gov/countyoffices/law-justice/circuit-court-sessi..., phone (423) 626-3334); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at tennesseeda.gov/district-8).
Tennessee is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29 a search, through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Claiborne County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 business days, and it may charge copying, and labor after the first hour.
- An arrest by the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in New Tazewell or Tazewell: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Lincoln Memorial University: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Claiborne County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at claibornecountytn.gov, phone (423) 626-3334.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Claiborne County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Claiborne County: New Tazewell and Tazewell. Harrogate and Cumberland Gap have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Claiborne County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Claiborne County each year?
The Claiborne County Sheriff's Office reported 353 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 633 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Claiborne County?
Ask the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at claiborneso.com/press/index.html.
Where are people arrested in Claiborne County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Claiborne County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Tennessee Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Claiborne County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days.
Is this the official Claiborne County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.