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.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa, has about 94,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Pottawattamie County is held at the county jail, run by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office, and the jail's record of each person held is a public record. This guide says where to look for someone in custody, what the jail holds and who books people into it.
This guide covers the search, the jail, who books people, state prison and common questions.
Related guides: Pottawattamie County public records, Pottawattamie County arrest records, Pottawattamie County warrants, Pottawattamie County criminal records, Pottawattamie County court records, Iowa arrest records and Iowa inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Pottawattamie County
The county jail, run by the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in Pottawattamie County, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office at sheriff.pottcounty-ia.gov/jail (page title: Pottawattamie County Jail Division | Council Bluffs, Iowa), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the office's jail information page rather than a roster.
The Pottawattamie County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 150 people, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 288 beds, and it ran at 98 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Pottawattamie County has about 94,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 16 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Pottawattamie County Jail
The Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Council Bluffs and Carter Lake make the arrests that end in a booking in Pottawattamie County.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Pottawattamie County: the Union Pacific Railroad Police (other agency).
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Council Bluffs's 1,696 for 2025, the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office's 483 for 2025 and Carter Lake's 276 for 2024.
Together, the two agencies in Pottawattamie County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,179 arrests to the FBI that year. Those kept in custody were booked into the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene was not.
The counts, agency by agency and year by year, are in Pottawattamie County arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in Pottawattamie County serves the sentence in a facility of the Iowa Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.iowa.gov/inmate-family-services.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Pottawattamie County?
Ask the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriff.pottcounty-ia.gov/jail.
How many people are in the Pottawattamie County jail?
About 150 on an average day in 2021, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 288 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Pottawattamie County go?
To a facility of the Iowa Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at doc.iowa.gov/inmate-family-services.
Is this the official Pottawattamie 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.