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 between September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Hendry County, Florida, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hendry County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and six 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 State Attorney files charges, a case in the Hendry 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: Hendry County public records, Florida arrest records, Florida inmate search and Florida criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hendry County
The Hendry County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hendry County. It reported 1,396 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Hendry County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Clewiston, 7,496 residents: 143 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Hendry County: the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at Hendry, the Department of Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement in Hendry County, the Hendry County Florida Game Commission, the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in Hendry County and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Hendry County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hendry 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.
- Hendry County Sheriff's Office: 1,396 for 2025, 1,323 for 2024, 1,210 for 2023 and 1,284 for 2022.
- Clewiston: 143 for 2024 and 159 for 2023.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 1,466 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 1,466 in 2024 against 1,369 in 2023, up 7.1 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hendry County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hendry 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 220 people on an average day, up from about 220 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 266 beds, and it ran at 84 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 Hendry County Sheriff's Office at hendrysheriff.org/inmateSearch (page title: Inmate Search | Hendry County Sheriff’s Office FL), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 27, 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 Florida Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at fdc.myflorida.com.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hendry County
Whether someone was arrested in Hendry County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hendry County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Hendry County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at flcourts.gov/Florida-Courts/Court-Locations/Sixth-District/Hendry); the State Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at leegov.com/countyattorney/legal-services-contacts/state-attorney-20...).
Florida is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24 a search, through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 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 Hendry 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 Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the agency must answer promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the copy fees set by statute, plus a special service charge for large requests.
- An arrest by the Hendry County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Clewiston: 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 the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at Hendry, the Department of Environmental Protection, Law Enforcement in Hendry County or the Highway Patrol in Hendry County: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Hendry County Circuit Court, through the court records page at flcourts.gov.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hendrycountytc.com/public-records-requests (page title: Public Records Requests | Hendry County Tax Collector).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Hendry County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Hendry County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Hendry County: Clewiston. LaBelle has 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 Hendry County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Hendry County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Clewiston (7,496)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hendry County each year?
The Hendry County Sheriff's Office reported 1,396 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Hendry County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 1,466 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hendry County?
Look on the custody page of the Hendry County Sheriff's Office at hendrysheriff.org/inmateSearch. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hendry County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hendry County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hendry County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Hendry County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hendry County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the answer is due promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hendrycountytc.com/public-records-requests.
Is this the official Hendry 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.