Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site on September 24, 2026.
St. Francis County, Arkansas, has about 22,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office and three city agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the St. Francis County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: St. Francis County public records, Arkansas arrest records, Arkansas inmate search and Arkansas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in St. Francis County
The St. Francis County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. Francis County. It reported 0 arrests for 2023, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside three of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Forrest City, 12,340 residents: 348 arrests reported for 2025.
- Hughes, 977 residents: 5 arrests reported for 2025.
- Madison, 717 residents: 10 arrests reported for 2023.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in St. Francis County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Forrest City: 348 for 2025, 454 for 2024, 473 for 2023, 432 for 2022, 468 for 2021 and 560 for 2020.
- Hughes: 5 for 2025, 17 for 2024, 7 for 2021 and 30 for 2020; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Madison: 10 for 2023, 32 for 2020 and 22 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- St. Francis County Sheriff's Office: 0 for 2023, 0 for 2022, 0 for 2021, 17 for 2020 and 55 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 353 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 353 in 2025 against 471 in 2024, down 25 percent.
Through April 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 123 arrests, against 92 in the same months of 2025.
Madison reported only part of 2025 (3 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. Francis County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in St. Francis County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 28 people, down from about 75 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 75 beds, and it ran at 100 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office at stfranciscountysheriff.org/inmate-roster/filters/current/booking_ti... (page title: Inmate Roster | St. Francis County Sheriff AR | Sort Booking Time | Descending | Page 1), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Arkansas Division of Correction, whose inmate locator is at doc.arkansas.gov/correction/online-services.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in St. Francis County
Whether someone was arrested in St. Francis County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the St. Francis County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at arcourtkiosk.org/st-francis-county/stfrancis, phone 870.261.1715).
Statewide, CourtConnect is the Arkansas Judiciary's free statewide case search.
Arkansas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the state runs an online name-based background check open to the public, through the Arkansas State Police. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in St. Francis County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 3 working days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Forrest City, Hughes or Madison: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the St. Francis County Circuit Court, through the court records page at arcourtkiosk.org/st-francis-county/stfrancis, phone 870.261.1715.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Arkansas State Police Identification Bureau.
Cities in St. Francis County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the eight cities in St. Francis County: Forrest City, Hughes and Madison. Palestine, Caldwell, Colt, Wheatley and Widener have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the St. Francis County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. Francis County each year?
Forrest City reported 348 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 353 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. Francis County?
Look on the custody page of the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office at stfranciscountysheriff.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in St. Francis County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. Francis County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Arkansas State Police: the state runs an online name-based background check open to the public. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in St. Francis County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. Francis County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 3 working days when the record is not immediately available.
Is this the official St. Francis County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.