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 24, 2026 and October 2, 2026.
Lee County, Iowa, has about 32,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lee 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 County Attorney files charges, a case in the Iowa District Court for Lee County. 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: Lee County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lee County
The Lee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lee County. It reported 213 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Lee County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Fort Madison, 9,983 residents: 313 arrests reported for 2025.
- Keokuk, 9,462 residents: 544 arrests reported for 2025.
- Donnellson, 859 residents: 1,163 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lee 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.
- Donnellson: 1,163 for 2025, 1,151 for 2024, 1,136 for 2023, 1,125 for 2022, 1,125 for 2021 and 1,155 for 2020.
- Keokuk: 544 for 2025, 425 for 2023, 451 for 2022, 515 for 2021, 592 for 2020 and 646 for 2019; 2024 is missing months.
- Fort Madison: 313 for 2025, 284 for 2024, 281 for 2023, 307 for 2022, 547 for 2020 and 541 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
- Lee County Sheriff's Office: 213 for 2025, 229 for 2024, 293 for 2023, 318 for 2022, 579 for 2021 and 478 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,233 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,689 in 2025 against 1,664 in 2024, up 1.5 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,339 arrests, against 1,348 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lee County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Lee 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 2019 the jail held about 90 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 132 beds, and it ran at 68 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Iowa Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.iowa.gov/inmate-family-services.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lee County
For Lee County the place to look is the case index of the Iowa District Court for Lee County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at iowacourts.gov/iowa-courts/district-court/judicial-district-8/distr..., phone 319-372-3523).
Statewide, Iowa Courts Online is the Iowa Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
Iowa is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can request a name-based criminal history check online, through the Iowa Division of Criminal 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 Lee 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 Iowa Open Records Law (Chapter 22) the agency must answer without delay; the law sets no fixed number of days, and a delay past 20 days must be justified, and it may charge the actual cost of copying and retrieval.
- An arrest by the Lee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Fort Madison, Keokuk or Donnellson: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Lee County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 319-372-3523.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the eight cities in Lee County: Fort Madison, Keokuk and Donnellson. West Point, Montrose, Franklin, Houghton and St. Paul 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 Iowa District Court for Lee County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lee County each year?
Donnellson reported 1,163 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,233 between them.
Where are people arrested in Lee County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lee County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation: anyone can request a name-based criminal history check online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Iowa Open Records Law (Chapter 22).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Lee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lee County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Iowa Open Records Law (Chapter 22) the answer is due without delay; the law sets no fixed number of days, and a delay past 20 days must be justified.
Is this the official Lee 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.