Arrest Records for Montgomery County, Alabama

When you have a specific name to look up, Montgomery County arrest records live in two separate systems that serve different purposes. Booking records — the Sheriff-side documentation of who was arrested and when — are held by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 115 S. Perry St, Montgomery, AL 36103, reachable at (334) 625-4636). Court records — charges filed, case numbers, and dispositions — live in the Fifteenth Circuit Court’s online portal. The statewide Alacourt index covers all 67 Alabama counties but charges a per-search fee; the free state portal covers appellate courts only and will not show a Montgomery County criminal case.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Montgomery County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

If your person has a history in other states

Montgomery County’s court portal covers cases filed in the Fifteenth Circuit — it won’t surface charges from other Alabama counties, federal cases, or records predating the portal’s online window. A nationwide third-party search may help fill gaps that local portals often leave, and can surface name variants or prior-name records you might not find through a single-county search. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.

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This tool is not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and may not be used to screen anyone for employment, housing, credit, or any other purpose covered by that law.

How to look up arrest records in Montgomery County

Booking records and court records are kept by different agencies — knowing which one you need saves a trip. The Sheriff holds the arrest side; the Circuit Court Clerk holds the case side.

Sheriff’s Office — booking records and jail register. Alabama law requires the sheriff’s jail register to be open to public inspection. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, located at 115 S. Perry St, Montgomery, AL 36103, maintains an online inmate and warrant search at Mcsojail. You can search current inmates and warrant status from that portal without visiting in person. The Sheriff’s identification services are at a separate address: 100 South Lawrence Street, Montgomery, AL 36104. Confirm hours before visiting — the phone line at (334) 625-4636) can be slow to answer, so try the online portal first.

Circuit Court Clerk — felony and misdemeanor court records. The Montgomery County Courthouse at 251 S. Lawrence St, Montgomery, AL 36104 houses the Circuit and District Court Clerk. The Fifteenth Circuit’s own portal lets you search felony circuit criminal records and district criminal records directly. Courthouse hours are reported as 8:30 AM–4:30 PM, Monday through Friday — confirm before driving, as unannounced closures have been noted. Leave your cell phone in the car; electronic devices are not permitted inside. The Clerk’s office accepts cash, certified checks, money orders, debit cards, and major credit cards, but verify accepted methods for your specific request before visiting.

Statewide Alacourt paid index. Alabama’s statewide trial-court index covers all 67 counties and charges a fee per name search. It’s useful when you’re not certain which county a case was filed in. Do not confuse it with the free appellate-court portal, which covers Supreme Court and Court of Civil/Criminal Appeals cases only — a Montgomery County arrest case will not appear there.

Municipal Court — city ordinance charges. Charges filed in Montgomery’s Municipal Court sit partly outside the statewide index. The City of Montgomery’s Court Daily Docket is published online. The Magistrate’s Office, located at 103 North Perry St, Montgomery, AL 36104, handles magistrate-level warrant matters and can be reached at (334) 625-4636). For city-level charges, confirm directly with the Municipal Court whether the case appears in Alacourt or only in the city’s own system.

Alabama Department of Corrections — state prison sentences. Someone serving a state prison sentence is in ADOC custody, not the county jail. The Alabama Department of Corrections inmate search covers people in state facilities. Note that ADOC phone lines are frequently congested and callers may be transferred multiple times; the online search is more reliable for basic location information.

Are Montgomery County arrest records public?

What does Alabama law actually say about who can see these records? The answer is: most of them are open by default, with a narrow set of exceptions.

Court filings are public records under Ala. Code §§ 36-12-40 to 36-12-46, Alabama’s Open Records Act. That framework establishes a presumption of public access — the burden falls on the agency to justify withholding, not on you to justify requesting. Booking records and the jail register are also presumptively public under Alabama law, and the Sheriff’s jail register must be open to inspection.

The narrow exceptions matter. Sealed or expunged records are removed from public view after a court order — a person who has successfully petitioned under Ala. Code § 15-27-1 will not appear in a standard public search. Juvenile records are confidential by statute and do not appear in the adult court index. Victim-identifying information may be redacted from records involving certain offenses. Ongoing investigations may have limited information available until charges are formally filed.

Municipal court records present a practical gap: some Montgomery city ordinance cases sit outside the statewide Alacourt index entirely. If a name search on Alacourt returns nothing but you have reason to believe a municipal charge exists, contact the Montgomery Municipal Court directly to confirm.

A practical note on the Montgomery County Courthouse: phone lines ring repeatedly before disconnecting, according to multiple visitor accounts. The online portal at Circuit Criminal is the more reliable path for initial research. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling.

What’s in a Montgomery County arrest record?

“Arrest record” covers two distinct documents that often get conflated — the booking entry and the court docket — and they live in different systems at the Montgomery County Courthouse.

The booking entry is the Sheriff-side record. It captures the date and time of arrest, the arresting agency (Sheriff’s Office, Montgomery Police Department, or another law enforcement agency), the charges as written at booking, the booking number, and the physical description recorded at intake. The official record may also contain a booking photograph. For the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office’s current policy on booking photo release, contact the Sheriff’s Office directly — the policy isn’t posted in a publicly accessible online document.

The court docket is the Clerk-side record. It shows the case number assigned by the Fifteenth Circuit Court, the formal charges as filed by the prosecutor (which may differ from booking charges), all court dates and hearing outcomes, bond amounts set by the judge, the attorney of record, and the final disposition — whether that’s a conviction, dismissal, acquittal, or nolle prosequi. Disposition status is critical: an arrest record shows charges filed, not guilt. Conviction status appears separately in the docket, and many arrests do not result in convictions.

A key practical distinction: the booking entry at the Sheriff’s Office may appear within hours of an arrest, while the court docket entry at the Circuit Clerk may lag by a day or more as paperwork processes. If you’re searching immediately after an arrest, the Sheriff’s online portal at Mcsojail will likely have information before the court system does.

Traffic matters have their own sub-system. The Fifteenth Circuit’s Traffic Court records are searchable separately, and the statewide traffic portal covers traffic cases across all Alabama counties.

How to expunge an arrest record in Montgomery County

Ala. Code § 15-27-1 — Alabama’s expungement statute — was significantly expanded in 2021 to reach convictions, not only dismissed charges. Much older guidance, including some material from the state bar, still describes the pre-2021 law. If you’ve read that Alabama only seals dismissed cases, that information is out of date.

The Petition to Seal is the document that initiates the process. You file it in the Circuit Court for the county where the original charge was brought — for a Montgomery County charge, that means the Fifteenth Circuit Court at the Montgomery County Courthouse, 251 S. Lawrence St, Montgomery, AL 36104. The District Attorney’s office and the arresting agency are both entitled to receive notice and to object to the petition.

Dismissed and acquitted cases have a streamlined path under the statute. If your charge was dismissed, nolle prossed, or ended in a not-guilty verdict, the statute provides a route to sealing without the waiting period that applies to convictions. These cases are often the clearest candidates for expungement.

Conviction-based petitions require satisfying eligibility criteria set out in the statute — including a waiting period after sentence completion and a clean record during that period. The statute sets the specific timing requirements; check the current text of Ala. Code § 15-27-1 or ask the Circuit Clerk for the current self-help materials, as the exact waiting periods are defined there and must be confirmed against the current statute.

Filing fees apply. An indigency waiver path exists for those who cannot afford the fee — ask the Clerk about the fee waiver process when you pick up the petition form. The Clerk’s office at the Montgomery County Courthouse can provide the Petition to Seal form and explain the filing procedure.

You can file the petition yourself without an attorney. Many people do. That said, if the DA’s office objects or the case involves a conviction rather than a dismissal, having an attorney familiar with the Fifteenth Circuit’s practices is worth considering. The Alabama State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with a licensed attorney. If cost is a barrier, the Alabama indigent defense locator may identify available resources.

After a successful sealing order, the record is removed from public view — it will not appear in a standard Alacourt search or a background check run by a member of the public. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records. The sealing does not erase the record from law enforcement databases; it removes it from public-facing systems.

Quick-contacts table

Frequently asked questions about Montgomery County arrest records

Where do I go in person to view my Montgomery County arrest record?

Court records — charges, case numbers, and dispositions — are at the Montgomery County Courthouse, 251 S. Lawrence St, Montgomery, AL 36104, weekdays 8:30 AM–4:30 PM. The Circuit Clerk’s office handles felony and misdemeanor court files. Booking records are held by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 115 S. Perry St. Before driving to either location, check the online portals first: the Fifteenth Circuit’s records are searchable at Circuit Criminal, and the Sheriff’s jail records are at Mcsojail. Leave your cell phone in the car — electronic devices are not permitted inside the courthouse building.

Who do I contact to get a Montgomery County arrest record sealed or expunged?

File the Petition to Seal at the Fifteenth Circuit Court Clerk’s office, 251 S. Lawrence St, Montgomery, AL 36104. The controlling statute is Ala. Code § 15-27-1, which since 2021 covers both dismissed charges and certain convictions. Dismissed or acquitted cases typically have a more direct path than conviction-based petitions, which require meeting eligibility criteria and a waiting period set out in the statute. The Clerk can provide the petition form and explain the filing fee; ask about the indigency waiver if cost is a concern. The District Attorney’s office receives notice and may object. For conviction-based petitions or cases where an objection is likely, the Alabama State Bar Lawyer Referral Service can connect you with an attorney familiar with Montgomery County practice.