Prentiss County Arrest Records

Prentiss County arrest records are official documents detailing all instances of a person being taken into custody by a law enforcement officer under suspicion of committing a crime. Arrests are necessary to maintain the peace and ensure that justice is dispensed when individuals break local or state laws. Upon arrest, the arrestee is taken to the Prentiss County Jail, where they are booked and their arrest record is generated. The contact information of the jail is as follows:

Prentiss County Jail
1901-B East Chambers Drive
Booneville MI.
Phone: (662) 728-2016

As the primary law enforcement agency in the county, the Prentiss County Sheriff's Office is responsible for generating arrest records. They also oversee the filing and maintenance of arrest records from the local police departments. As the case progresses through the criminal justice system, arrest records eventually become part of criminal records. Like Prentiss County court records and some other public records, arrests are available with the record custodian in person, or online (through their website and email).

Are Arrest Records Public in Prentiss County?

Yes, according to the Mississippi Public Records Act (Mississippi Code § 25-61-12(2)(c)), arrest records are classified as public records. Arrest records, which include incident reports and other criminal history, are created and maintained by law enforcement agencies, which are public agencies, so like other public records, these laws make them open for inspection and copying upon request.

To protect the privacy of citizens involved in the case, some records are restricted from unauthorized public access. Examples of these exempted records include law enforcement investigation records, personal information of law enforcement officers or the judiciary, witness information, and attorney-client correspondence. Different law enforcement agencies have different procedures for obtaining eligibility to access these records. A common requirement for assessing restricted arrest records, however, is to present a court order to the record custodian.

What Do Public Arrest Records Contain?

A publicly available Prentiss County arrest record will typically contain the following:

• Information on the arrestee (name, age, description)
• Arrest information (time of arrest, date of arrest, location of arrest)
• Reason for arrest
• Arresting agency
• Name of arresting officer (or badge number)

Prentiss County Arrest Statistics

According to the 2023 arrest data of the FBI's crime data explorer, the Prentiss County Sheriff's Office recorded a total of 182 arrests in 2023. The crime categories that most frequently led to arrests included All Other Offenses (35%), Disorderly Conduct (24%), and Drug Possession (19%).

Find Prentiss County Arrest Records

The county and state resources available for looking up offenders in Prentiss County include the following:

• Prentiss County Jail: The Prentiss County Sheriff's office oversees the Prentiss County Jail. As the custodians of Prentiss County offender information, the jail makes these local arrest records available upon request through the Mississippi SAVIN service or their affiliated third-party online resource. Their contact information is as follows:

1901-B East Chambers
Booneville, Mississippi 38829
Phone: (662) 728-6232
Email: info@prentisscountymssheriff.com.

• Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC): They provide a state-wide inmate search tool through which individuals can find inmates by name or inmate number.
• Criminal Information Center (CIC): The Mississippi Department of Public Safety (MDPS), through the CIC, offers the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). This tool is a biometric identification system for finding individuals with arrest records (fingerprint-based background search).

For cases that escalated to trial, it is possible to find offender information or arrest records as part of court records. Third-party resources are also available for looking up offender information. Key information about the case, such as the name of the offender and their inmate ID, needs to be known to complete a search.

Free Arrest Record Search in Prentiss County

To obtain inmate information for free, individuals can use the Mississippi SAVIN service or contact the Prentiss County Jail with basic information about the inmate, such as their name. Third-party websites are also useful resources for finding public records, such as arrest records from different counties in Mississippi at a time. Using a single resource, a person can enter information about the offender, such as their name, and obtain their arrest information for free. While third-party websites are useful in conducting timely and non-location-bound searches, they offer basic offender information for free. Some may even require a subscription or a one-time fee to give access to the offender's full record.

How Long Do Arrests Stay on Your Record?

Indefinitely. Unless an arrest is expunged, sealed, or expunged, it will remain on the individual's record indefinitely. Per Mississippi state laws, all citizens are eligible to petition the courts to have their criminal records removed from public view as long as the records meet the state's prescribed eligibility criteria.

Expunge Prentiss County Arrest Records

Expunction is the legal process of clearing a charge from a person's arrest record. According to Mississippi Code Section 99-19-71, a person can petition to expunge a criminal conviction (one conviction, 5 years after the sentence) or a dismissed case, provided they are eligible for expunction. Although every individual is eligible for expunction, not all crimes can be expunged. Crimes such as violent crimes, arson, failure to register as a sex offender, abuse, witness intimidation, etc.

The process of getting a charge expunged begins when the individual confirms their eligibility for the expunction of their crime. Subsequent steps in the expunction process include the following:

• The individual gets a copy of their case and proof that they have fulfilled all obligations about the case.
• The individual fills out a Petition for Expungement of Criminal Record of Criminal Conviction or a Petition for Expungement of Criminal Record on Dismissed Case and submits it to the Clerk's Office of the court with jurisdiction.
• The individual pays any applicable filing fees and attends any hearing set by the court to defend their petition.

In Prentiss County, expunged records are restricted from public view but are not destroyed and can still be accessed with legal authorization. Expunction restores the individual to the state they were before the crime. Expunged or sealed records may also remain available through third-party websites, as they are not affiliated with government agencies.

Prentiss County Arrest Warrants

A Prentiss County arrest warrant is a legal document issued by a court and signed off by a judge, authorizing a law enforcement officer or peace officer to detain a person suspected of committing a crime. Arrest warrants work by justifying the detention of an accused person by law enforcement without jeopardizing the constitutional rights of the accused.

During a criminal investigation in Prentiss County, the law enforcement officer gathers evidence proving that the accused person committed a crime and submits this, along with an affidavit, to a court with jurisdiction over the case. If the judge or magistrate is convinced that probable cause has been established by the evidence, an arrest warrant is issued against the accused party.

Some reasons why an arrest warrant may need to be issued include the following:

• If it is believed with probable cause that an individual did commit a crime
• If an individual accused of committing a crime is a flight risk
• If an individual summoned to court fails to appear in court
• If an individual defaults on parole or probation.

According to the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure (Rule 3.2c), a public arrest warrant typically contains the following information:

• Name of the individual to be arrested or their description
• Seal of the issuing court
• Description of the offense
• How the warrant will be executed.

Individuals are advised to find out if they have an outstanding warrant and contact the services of a lawyer, as the warrant can be executed at any time.

Do Prentiss County Arrest Warrants Expire?

No. Arrest warrants issued in Prentiss County and other counties in Mississippi do not expire but remain active until they are executed ( the named party is arrested). Although a warrant is still active, some factors may prevent it from being executed. Some of these factors include:

• The death of the individual named on the warrant
• The warrant is being recalled by the court
• The statute of limitations of the case expires, and it can no longer be pursued
• The severity of the case and the resources available to law enforcement agencies.