Code of Alabama
Article 3 - Issuance and Execution of Writ.
Section 15-10-47 - Return of Writs by Sheriff; Duty of Clerks to Accept Returns by Mail; Failure of Sheriffs to Comply With Section.

(a) All writs of arrest, with the undertaking of bail when given, must be returned by the sheriff to the clerk of the court from which they were issued, with the proper return thereon endorsed.
(b) If the writ of arrest is executed, the return must be made within five days after service; but if executed out of the county in which the indictment was found, the return may be made by depositing the writ in the post office within five days after service in a sealed envelope, postage prepaid, directed to the clerk of the court at the courthouse of his county, with the title of the case and the character of the process endorsed on the envelope.
(c) When any writ of arrest is not executed, it must be returned by the sheriff to the clerk of the court from which it was issued; and when the return is made by the sheriff of any other county than that in which the indictment was found, it may be made by mail, as prescribed by subsection (b) of this section.
(d) The clerk of the court must take from the post office all packages addressed to him which are endorsed according to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, and the expense of the same must be paid by the county.
(e) Any sheriff who fails to comply with the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section may be compelled to make the return by attachment and also forfeits to the state, for the use of the county, $50.00, which may be recovered with costs against him and his sureties, or any of them, having three days' notice thereof by motion in the court in which the indictment was found. On the trial of such motion, the certificate of the postmaster is presumptive evidence of the deposit of the writ of arrest, the superscription and endorsement on the envelope.

Structure Code of Alabama