Search Clayton County Busted Mugshots

Clayton County sits just south of Atlanta and is one of the most active counties in the metro area for arrests and jail bookings. If you want to find Clayton County busted mugshots, arrest records, or current inmate information, the Clayton County Sheriff's Office provides a public inmate search tool on the county website where you can look up people by name or search by booking date, with access to public booking records for active inmates and recent releases over the past 31 days.

Clayton County Sheriff Inmate Search and Booking Records

The Clayton County Sheriff's Office posts its public inmate search at claytoncountyga.gov. The tool gives you two ways to find someone. You can search by booking date, with options to pull records from the past 48 hours, the past 14 days, or the past 31 days. You can also search by name for active inmates currently in custody. Both searches pull from the same public booking database maintained by the sheriff.

The tool comes with a disclaimer that is worth reading: by using the inmate search, you acknowledge that you understand the database may have errors and that you waive any claims against the Clayton County Sheriff's Office or Clayton County for information found through the system. This disclaimer is standard at many Georgia county jails. It doesn't change the fact that the data is public, but it does put responsibility on the user to verify anything found through the search before acting on it.

The Clayton County Sheriff's Office page on the county website links to the inmate search along with other services. A separate site at claytonsheriff.com is also maintained by the office and may have additional information. The county sheriff's office is based in Jonesboro, the county seat, and handles all jail operations and arrest record keeping for the county.

The screenshot below shows the Clayton County Sheriff's inmate search tool, which lets you look up current Clayton County arrest records by name or filter bookings by date range.

The Clayton County inmate search offers two search modes: active inmates by name, and bookings by date range covering the past 48 hours, 14 days, or 31 days.

Note: The name search in the Clayton County inmate tool covers only active inmates. For people who have been released, use the booking date search, which can pull records up to 31 days back.

Clayton County Booking Photos and Public Record Access

As with all Georgia counties, the Clayton County Sheriff's Office does not post booking photos in its public inmate search results. This is required by O.C.G.A. § 35-1-19, the 2014 Georgia law that bars law enforcement from posting mugshots online. The online inmate search shows arrest records, charges, custody status, and booking dates, but photos are not part of the public portal.

If you need a Clayton County booking photo, the formal route is a written open records request to the sheriff's office. Under the Georgia Open Records Act (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70), agencies have three business days to respond. The first 15 minutes of staff time and the first 20 pages are free. After that, copies run $0.10 each. Having the name and booking number from the inmate search will help the request go faster. Booking photos are public records in Georgia, so the sheriff's office cannot deny the request on grounds of privacy, but they do control how they provide access.

For people looking to get a Clayton County mugshot removed from a third-party website, Georgia's O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.5 provides a free remedy in eligible cases. When an arrest qualifies for record restriction, mugshot removal companies must delete the photo within 30 days at no charge. The request goes out by certified mail. Details on the process and which sites are covered can be found at the Georgia Consumer Protection Division website.

The screenshot below shows the Clayton County Sheriff's Office government page, the main resource for Clayton County inmate information and public safety records.

The Clayton County government site links to the sheriff's office, inmate search, and other county services used for accessing public arrest records in the Jonesboro area.

Clayton County Arrest Records and the Georgia Open Records Act

Clayton County arrest records are public documents under Georgia law. Each time someone is booked into the Clayton County jail, a record is created that includes the person's name, charges, booking date, arresting officer, and other details. These records must be made available to anyone who asks, subject to the response time and fee rules in the Georgia Open Records Act.

The Open Records Act at O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 sets a three-business-day response deadline for agencies. For most simple requests, a Clayton County arrest record or jail roster can be obtained quickly. More complex requests that involve large numbers of records or require staff time to compile may take longer and cost more. Staff time beyond the first 15 free minutes is billed at the agency's actual cost. Pages beyond 20 are $0.10 each.

The GBI's statewide open records system at gbigeorgia.govqa.us handles formal open records requests for state-level records. For records specific to the Clayton County Sheriff, you need to contact the sheriff's office directly rather than going through the GBI portal.

Statewide Databases for Clayton County Arrest and Inmate Records

Several state-level tools can supplement the Clayton County inmate search. The Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC), run by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, maintains statewide criminal history data for all 159 Georgia counties. Clayton County arrests that are submitted through standard law enforcement reporting channels will appear in the GCIC system. Criminal history queries run through GCIC will include Clayton County booking and conviction history.

The Georgia Department of Corrections offender search is free and shows photos for people in state prison. It is a good tool for checking whether someone arrested in Clayton County has a prior state prison record. The Georgia Felon Search through georgia.gov charges $15 and gives instant results for felony convictions statewide. If you want to check whether someone has a felony record tied to a Clayton County case, this is the fastest paid option.

The Georgia Sex Offender Registry is free, searchable by name or address, and includes photos of registered offenders across the state. Anyone registered in Clayton County should appear in this database. The registry is maintained by the GBI and is one of the few Georgia law enforcement tools that includes photos in a publicly accessible format, since the 2014 law restricts law enforcement photo posting in other contexts.

The screenshot below shows the Georgia Felon Search service, a statewide tool that provides instant felony conviction results for $15, covering Clayton County and all other Georgia counties.

The Georgia Felon Search at georgia.gov gives instant results for felony conviction history across the state, including Clayton County cases that resulted in felony convictions.

Clayton County Busted Mugshots on Third-Party Sites

Third-party websites that publish Georgia mugshots often include Clayton County booking photos sourced through public records requests or other collection methods. These sites are not operated by the sheriff or the county. They pull public arrest data and make it searchable online, which is legal in Georgia. However, the 2013 mugshot removal law gives people in eligible situations a way to get their photos removed for free.

If you find a Clayton County arrest photo of yourself or a family member on one of these sites and the underlying arrest qualifies for record restriction, send a certified mail request to the website operator. Under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.5, they must remove it within 30 days at no charge. The law covers arrests where charges were dropped, the case was dismissed, or the person was found not guilty. Check the Georgia Consumer Protection Division page for a full breakdown of which sites and situations are covered.

The screenshot below shows the GBI homepage, which oversees the GCIC criminal history system and handles statewide arrest record queries for Clayton County and all other Georgia jurisdictions.

The GBI runs the GCIC database, the statewide sex offender registry, and the formal open records portal for Georgia criminal history requests covering Clayton County and beyond.

Cities in Clayton County

Clayton County does not have any cities that meet the population threshold for individual city pages on this site. Jonesboro is the county seat, and other communities in the county include Forest Park, Morrow, Riverdale, Lake City, Lovejoy, Hampton (partial), and Rex. For arrest records and inmate information in these areas, use the Clayton County Sheriff's inmate search, which covers all bookings made throughout the county regardless of which city the arrest occurred in.

Nearby Counties

Clayton County is surrounded by major Atlanta metro counties, each with its own inmate search and arrest record resources.