Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. 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 between September 23, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Costilla County, Colorado, has about 3,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Costilla County Sheriff's Office. 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 Costilla County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it.
This guide covers who makes arrests, arrest counts, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Costilla County public records, Colorado arrest records, Colorado inmate search and Colorado criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Costilla County
The Costilla County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Costilla County.
Arrest Counts on File for Costilla County
The FBI publishes monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. For Costilla County the counts on file are partial: Costilla County Sheriff's Office has sent some months but no full year since 2019, so no annual total is given here.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Costilla County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Costilla 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 21 people, up from about 20 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2021 was 23 beds, and it ran at 91 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 Costilla County Sheriff's Office at costillacounty.gov/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Costilla County CO), phone 719-672-0673, 352 Main Street | San Luis, CO 81152, a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Colorado Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at cdoc.colorado.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Costilla County
For Costilla County the place to look is the case index of the Costilla County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at coloradojudicial.gov/location/costilla-combined-court, phone 719-672-3681).
Colorado is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the state runs an online name-based criminal history check open to the public, through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. 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 Costilla 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 Colorado Open Records Act the agency must answer within 3 working days, extendable to 7 when there are extenuating circumstances, and it may charge research and retrieval time after the first hour, plus copying.
- An arrest by the Costilla County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 719-672-0673.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Costilla County District Court, through the court records page at coloradojudicial.gov, phone 719-672-3681.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at coloradojudicial.gov/node/9167 (page title: Record/Document Request Form | Costilla County | Colorado Judicial Branch).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Costilla County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Costilla County with an arrest reporting agency of its own.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Costilla County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where are people arrested in Costilla County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Costilla County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Costilla County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation: the state runs an online name-based criminal history check open to the public. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Colorado Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Costilla County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Costilla County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Colorado Open Records Act the answer is due within 3 working days, extendable to 7 when there are extenuating circumstances; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at coloradojudicial.gov/node/9167.
Is this the official Costilla 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.