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 4, 2026.
Meigs County, Tennessee, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Meigs 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 Meigs 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: Meigs County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Meigs County
The Meigs County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Meigs County. It reported 182 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Meigs County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Decatur, 1,652 residents: 25 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Meigs 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.
- Meigs County Sheriff's Office: 182 for 2025, 248 for 2024, 200 for 2023, 213 for 2022, 191 for 2020 and 380 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Decatur: 25 for 2025, 42 for 2024, 59 for 2023, 57 for 2022, 43 for 2021 and 40 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 207 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 207 in 2025 against 290 in 2024, down 29 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 105 arrests, against 141 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Meigs County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Meigs 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 72 people, down from about 91 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 56 beds, and it ran at 129 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 Meigs County Sheriff's Office at meigscountysheriff.com/jail (page title: Jail | Meigs County Sheriff Department), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Meigs County
An arrest in Meigs County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Meigs 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/9782373); the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at meigscounty.org/law-justice/district-attorney-general, phone 423-334-5119).
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 Meigs 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 Meigs County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Decatur: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General, 423-334-5119, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Meigs County Circuit and Chancery Courts, through the court records page at tncourts.gov/node/9782373.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at meigscounty.org/mayors-office/records-request (page title: Meigs, TN Government | Records Request).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Meigs County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Decatur, the one city in Meigs County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Meigs County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Meigs County each year?
The Meigs County Sheriff's Office reported 182 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 207 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Meigs County?
Ask the Meigs County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at meigscountysheriff.com/jail.
Where are people arrested in Meigs County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Meigs County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Meigs 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 Meigs County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Meigs 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at meigscounty.org/mayors-office/records-request.
Is this the official Meigs 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.