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 1, 2026.
Hamilton County, Illinois, has about 7,800 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office and one city agency. 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's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Hamilton 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: Hamilton County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hamilton County
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hamilton County. It reported 16 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
The FBI lists one city in Hamilton County with a reporting agency of its own:
- McLeansboro, 2,593 residents: 14 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 Hamilton 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.
- Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: 16 for 2024, 26 for 2023 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- McLeansboro: 14 for 2025, 13 for 2024, 35 for 2023, 44 for 2022 and 0 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 29 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 29 in 2024 against 61 in 2023, down 52 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hamilton County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Hamilton 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 2019 the jail held about 16 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 19 beds, and it ran at 83 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 Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at inmate.hamiltonsheriff.com/smartwebclient/jail.aspx (page title: JAIL View), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 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 Illinois Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hamilton County
Whether someone was arrested in Hamilton County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of Hamilton County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyil.gov/departments/circuit-clerk, phone (618) 643-3224); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hamiltoncountyil.gov/departments/states-attorney, phone (618) 643-3021).
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. 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 Hamilton 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 Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
- An arrest by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in McLeansboro: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (618) 643-3021, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Hamilton County, through the court records page at hamiltoncountyil.gov, phone (618) 643-3224.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com (page title: Open Public RecordsNextRequest | Modern FOIA & Public Records Request Software).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Hamilton County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the five cities in Hamilton County: McLeansboro. Dahlgren, Broughton, Belle Prairie City and Macedonia 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 Circuit Court of Hamilton County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hamilton County each year?
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office reported 16 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 29 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hamilton County?
Look on the custody page of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at inmate.hamiltonsheriff.com. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Hamilton County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hamilton County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Hamilton County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at hamiltoncountyin.nextrequest.com.
Is this the official Hamilton 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.