Lincoln County Jail Inmate Search

In 1872, The jail and courthouse were in the same building. It was a simple log structure. They were looking to build a better one. A replacement was built, but burned down. In 1889, the courthouse was built with the jail in that building. The current structure was built a little after 1943 and is connected to the courthouse by a breezeway.

In 1955, Lamar Smith was gunned down at the courthouse. Smith was a black World War I veteran and civil rights activists. He was working toward getting black people the ability to vote without violence occurring. He was a member of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership. The Sheriff, thirty white people, and some blacks were gathered having a public discussion on this topic. Someone walked up to Smith and shot him in front of everyone. There were three people arrested, but no witnesses came forward. The men were released after the grand jury could not bring an indictment.

On May 31, 1971, Carnell Russ was brought to the jail for a speeding ticket. He had been clocked by a state trooper going 75 in a 60. The jailers told Russ is was a $23 bail. He asked that since his father knew the Sheriff, if he could get out on his own recognizance. The jailers tried to call the Sheriff, but had no luck doing so. Russ then asked for a copy of the ticket before he paid. The jailers refused this. They were leading him to a cell when an incident happened and a jailer went to strike Russ with the butt of his service pistol. The pistol went off and killed him. The grand jury indicted the deputy on voluntary manslaughter. The criminal trial jury came back with not guilty after eight minutes. The Russ family brought a civil lawsuit. The jury to that trial awarded the family $288,000.

In 2013, Justin Thornton was convicted in Lincoln County for the murder of Kwame Turner. He was also convicted of abuse of a corpse, felon in possession of a firearm, and theft of property. Thornton shot Tuner in the parking lot of Turner's apartment. Thornton then put the body in Turner's car and drove to a remote location. Turner's body was found in a ditch. Thornton is sentenced to life with no parole and twenty years.