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 September 30, 2026.
Jackson County, Illinois, has about 53,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, four city agencies and one campus 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 Jackson 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: Jackson County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Jackson County
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jackson County. It reported 99 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
Arrests inside four of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Carbondale, 22,223 residents: 1,026 arrests reported for 2025.
- Murphysboro, 7,044 residents: 211 arrests reported for 2025.
- De Soto, 1,408 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2020.
- Grand Tower, 475 residents: 1,152 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.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Jackson County: Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (campus police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Jackson 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.
- Grand Tower: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Carbondale: 1,026 for 2025, 977 for 2024, 868 for 2023 and 753 for 2022.
- Murphysboro: 211 for 2025, 222 for 2024, 264 for 2023 and 266 for 2022.
- Jackson County Sheriff's Office: 99 for 2024, 61 for 2023, 95 for 2022 and 89 for 2021.
- De Soto: 0 for 2020 and 0 for 2019.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,389 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,389 in 2025 against 2,351 in 2024, up 1.6 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,270 arrests, against 1,362 in the same months of 2025.
Jackson County Sheriff's Office reported only part of 2025 (9 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jackson County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Jackson 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 2023 the jail held about 140 people, up from about 100 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 199 beds, and it ran at 70 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 Jackson County Sheriff's Office at jacksoncountyso.com/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search | Jackson County Sheriff's Office), phone 877-654-8463, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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 Jackson County
Whether someone was arrested in Jackson County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at jacksoncounty-il.gov/313/Courts, phone 618-687-7330); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at jacksoncountystatesattorney.com).
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 Jackson 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 Jackson County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 877-654-8463.
- An arrest in Carbondale, Murphysboro, De Soto or Grand Tower: 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 Southern Illinois University at Carbondale: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Jackson County, through the court records page at jacksoncounty-il.gov/313/Courts, phone 618-687-7330.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at jacksoncounty-il.gov (page title: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Information | Jackson County, IL).
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Jackson County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for four of the 11 cities in Jackson County: Carbondale, Murphysboro, De Soto and Grand Tower. Elkville, Ava, Makanda, Dowell, Campbell Hill, Vergennes and Gorham 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 Jackson County.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Jackson County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Carbondale (22,223)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jackson County each year?
Grand Tower reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 2,389 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jackson County?
Look on the custody page of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at jacksoncountyso.com/inmate-search, or call 877-654-8463. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Jackson County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jackson 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 Jackson County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jackson 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 jacksoncounty-il.gov.
Is this the official Jackson 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.