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 23, 2026.
Madera County, California, has about 165,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Madera County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and three campus, state or other 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Superior Court of California, County of Madera. 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: Madera County public records, California arrest records, California inmate search and California criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Madera County
The Madera County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Madera County. It reported 1,186 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Madera County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Madera, 69,094 residents: 2,339 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chowchilla, 19,191 residents: 888 arrests reported for 2025.
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.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Madera County: Union Pacific Railroad in Madera County (other); the Highway Patrol's Madera and Oakhurst Area Offices (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Madera County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Madera: 2,339 for 2025, 2,427 for 2024, 2,263 for 2023, 2,052 for 2022, 2,076 for 2021 and 4,047 for 2020.
- Madera County Sheriff's Office: 1,186 for 2025, 1,099 for 2024, 1,240 for 2023, 1,284 for 2022, 1,238 for 2021 and 1,385 for 2020.
- Chowchilla: 888 for 2025, 571 for 2024, 764 for 2023, 598 for 2022, 674 for 2020 and 645 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,413 arrests that year. The two of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,525 in 2025 against 3,526 in 2024.
Through June 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,722 arrests, against 2,180 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Madera County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Madera County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 430 people, down from about 470 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 564 beds, and it ran at 73 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Madera County Sheriff's Office at inmatepublicview.maderacounty.com (page title: Inmate Inquiry | Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, whose inmate locator is at cdcr.ca.gov/search.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Madera County
An arrest in Madera County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Superior Court of California, County of Madera, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at madera.courts.ca.gov/online-services); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at maderada.org).
California does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the California Department of Justice goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Madera 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 California Public Records Act the agency must answer within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances, and it may charge the direct cost of copying only, not staff time.
- An arrest by the Madera County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Madera or Chowchilla: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Union Pacific Railroad in Madera County or the Highway Patrol's Madera and Oakhurst Area Offices: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Superior Court of California, County of Madera, through the court records page at madera.courts.ca.gov/online-services.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madera.gov (page title: Public Records Request | City of Madera).
- Your own statewide record: a Record Review through Live Scan fingerprinting, form BCIA 8016RR, $25.
Cities in Madera County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Madera County: Madera and Chowchilla.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Superior Court of California, County of Madera.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Madera County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Chowchilla (19,191)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Madera County each year?
Madera reported 2,339 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,413 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Madera County?
Ask the Madera County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at inmatepublicview.maderacounty.com.
Where are people arrested in Madera County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Madera County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Madera County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Superior Court of California, County of Madera are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the California Department of Justice is not public; you can get your own for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the California Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Madera County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Madera County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the California Public Records Act the answer is due within 10 days, with up to 14 more days in unusual circumstances; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madera.gov.
Is this the official Madera 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.