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 October 9, 2026.
Clay County, Tennessee, has about 7,900 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clay County Sheriff's Office and one city 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 Clay 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: Clay County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clay County. It reported 136 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
One city in Clay County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Celina, 1,424 residents: 83 arrests reported for 2024.
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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clay County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Clay County Sheriff's Office: 136 for 2024, 228 for 2023, 201 for 2022, 205 for 2021, 236 for 2020 and 269 for 2019.
- Celina: 83 for 2024, 64 for 2021, 67 for 2020 and 92 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 219 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 136 in 2024 against 228 in 2023, down 40 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clay County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clay County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 9 people, down from about 22 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 14 beds, and it ran at 62 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office at claycountysheriff.org/cur_inmates.html (page title: Redirecting…), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Tennessee Department of Correction lists its inmates at foil.app.tn.gov/foil/search.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Clay County
For Clay County the place to look is the case index of the Clay County Circuit and Chancery Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at tncourts.gov/node/9779779).
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 Clay County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Celina: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clay County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9779779.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Clay County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Clay County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Celina, the one city in Clay County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clay County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clay County each year?
The Clay County Sheriff's Office reported 136 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 219 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clay County?
Ask the Clay County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at claycountysheriff.org/cur_inmates.html.
Where are people arrested in Clay County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clay County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clay 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 Clay County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clay 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 Clay 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.