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 9, 2026.
Madison County, Indiana, has about 134,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Madison County Sheriff's Office and five 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 Prosecuting Attorney files charges, a case in the Madison Circuit and Superior Courts. 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: Madison County public records, Indiana arrest records, Indiana inmate search and Indiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Madison County
The Madison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Madison County. It reported 574 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside five 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:
- Anderson, 55,851 residents: 1,147 arrests reported for 2025.
- Elwood, 8,495 residents: 367 arrests reported for 2025.
- Pendleton, 5,758 residents: 221 arrests reported for 2024.
- Alexandria, 5,211 residents: 140 arrests reported for 2025.
- Chesterfield, 2,519 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.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Madison 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.
- Chesterfield: 1,152 for 2025, 1,152 for 2024, 1,146 for 2023, 1,132 for 2022, 919 for 2021 and 1,146 for 2020.
- Anderson: 1,147 for 2025, 1,145 for 2024, 932 for 2023 and 3,083 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Madison County Sheriff's Office: 574 for 2025, 762 for 2024, 694 for 2023, 758 for 2021, 1,144 for 2020 and 1,820 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Elwood: 367 for 2025, 503 for 2024, 624 for 2023, 619 for 2022 and 1,223 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Alexandria: 140 for 2025.
- Pendleton: 221 for 2024, 224 for 2023 and 255 for 2022.
Together, the five agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,380 arrests that year. The four of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 3,240 in 2025 against 3,562 in 2024, down 9 percent.
Through June 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 1,402 arrests, against 1,522 in the same months of 2025.
Pendleton reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Madison County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Madison 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 2024 the jail held about 240 people, down from about 280 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 207 beds, and it ran at 163 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office at madisoncounty.in.gov/departments/sheriff's-office (page title: Sheriff's Office), phone 800-800-9588, 720 Central Ave Anderson, IN 46016, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Indiana Department of Correction, whose inmate locator is at offenderlocator.idoc.in.gov/idoc-ofs-1.0.2/ofs.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Madison County
An arrest in Madison County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Madison Circuit and Superior Courts, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at in.gov/courts/local/madison-county); the Prosecuting Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at madisoncounty.in.gov/departments/prosecuting-attorney).
Statewide, mycase.IN.gov is the Indiana courts' free statewide case search.
Indiana is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online, through the Indiana 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 Madison 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 Indiana Access to Public Records Act the agency must answer within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email, and it may charge a copy fee set by the agency, within statutory limits.
- An arrest by the Madison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 800-800-9588.
- An arrest in Anderson, Elwood, Pendleton, Alexandria or Chesterfield: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Prosecuting Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Madison Circuit and Superior Courts, through the court records page at in.gov/courts/local/madison-county.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Madison County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Madison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for five of the 15 cities in Madison County: Anderson, Elwood, Pendleton, Alexandria and Chesterfield. Ingalls, Lapel, Edgewood, Frankton, Summitville, Markleville, Orestes, Country Club Heights, Woodlawn Heights and River Forest 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 Madison Circuit and Superior Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Madison County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Anderson (55,851)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Madison County each year?
Chesterfield reported 1,152 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the five agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 3,380 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Madison County?
Ask the Madison County Sheriff's Office at 800-800-9588; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at madisoncounty.in.gov.
Where are people arrested in Madison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Madison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Madison County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Indiana State Police: the Limited Criminal History search is open to anyone online. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Madison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Madison County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act the answer is due within 24 hours for a request made in person and 7 days for one sent by mail or email.
Is this the official Madison 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.