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 1, 2026.
Monona County, Iowa, has about 8,400 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Monona 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 County Attorney files charges, a case in the Iowa District Court for Monona 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: Monona County public records, Iowa arrest records, Iowa inmate search and Iowa criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Monona County
The Monona County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Monona County. It reported 127 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
How Many Arrests The Monona County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- Monona County Sheriff's Office: 127 for 2024, 169 for 2023, 101 for 2021, 100 for 2020 and 141 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
The Monona County Sheriff's Office's 127 arrests in 2024 were down 25 percent from 169 in 2023.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Monona County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Monona 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 30 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 12 beds, and it ran at 250 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 Monona County Sheriff's Office at mononacountyiowa.gov/sheriff (page title: Sheriff of Monona County, Iowa | County Government), phone 712-433-1414, 610 Iowa Ave. Onawa, IA 51040, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Monona County
Whether someone was arrested in Monona County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Iowa District Court for Monona 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-3/distr..., phone 712-433-2491); the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at mononacountyiowa.gov/attorney, phone 712-423-1728).
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 Monona County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. 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 Monona County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 712-433-1414.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 712-423-1728, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Iowa District Court for Monona County, through the court records page at iowacourts.gov, phone 712-433-2491.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Monona County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Monona County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
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 Monona County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Monona County each year?
The Monona County Sheriff's Office reported 127 arrests to the FBI for 2024, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Monona County?
Ask the Monona County Sheriff's Office at 712-433-1414; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at mononacountyiowa.gov/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Monona County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Monona County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Monona 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 Monona County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Monona 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 Monona 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.