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.
Santa Cruz County, Arizona, has about 51,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Santa Cruz County is held at the county jail, run by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, and the jail's record of each person held is a public record. This guide says where to look for someone in custody, what the jail holds and who books people into it.
This guide covers the search, the jail, who books people, state prison and common questions.
Related guides: Santa Cruz County public records, Santa Cruz County arrest records, Santa Cruz County warrants, Santa Cruz County criminal records, Santa Cruz County court records, Arizona arrest records and Arizona inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Santa Cruz County
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Santa Cruz County is held at the county jail, run by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office, whichever agency made the arrest.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office at santacruzcountyaz.gov/1056/Santa-Cruz-County-Sheriff (page title: Santa Cruz County Sheriff | Santa Cruz County, AZ), phone 520-761-7869, 2170 N. Congress Drive Nogales, AZ 85621, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the office's jail information page rather than a roster, so a search for a particular person goes through the office at 520-761-7869.
The Santa Cruz County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 130 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 372 beds, and it ran at 34 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Santa Cruz County has about 51,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 25 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Santa Cruz County Jail
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Nogales make the arrests that end in a booking in Santa Cruz County.
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Nogales's 897 for 2025 and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office's 498 for 2024.
Together, the two agencies in Santa Cruz County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,502 arrests to the FBI that year. Those kept in custody were booked into the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene was not.
The counts, agency by agency and year by year, are in Santa Cruz County arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in Santa Cruz County serves the sentence in a facility of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, whose inmate locator is at corrections.az.gov/inmate-data-search.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Santa Cruz County?
Ask the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office at 520-761-7869; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at santacruzcountyaz.gov.
How many people are in the Santa Cruz County jail?
About 130 on an average day in 2019, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 372 beds.
What is the phone number for the Santa Cruz County jail?
520-761-7869, the number on the page of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office SearchSystems verified.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Santa Cruz County go?
To a facility of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry; its inmate locator is at corrections.az.gov/inmate-data-search.
Is this the official Santa Cruz 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.