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 on September 24, 2026.
Breathitt County, Kentucky, has about 13,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Breathitt 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 Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Breathitt Circuit Court. 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: Breathitt County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Breathitt County
The Breathitt County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Breathitt County. It reported 139 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Breathitt County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Jackson, 2,101 residents: 228 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 Breathitt 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.
- Jackson: 228 for 2025, 191 for 2024, 324 for 2023, 280 for 2022, 178 for 2021 and 152 for 2020.
- Breathitt County Sheriff's Office: 139 for 2025, 142 for 2024, 92 for 2023, 62 for 2022, 134 for 2021 and 136 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 367 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 367 in 2025 against 333 in 2024, up 10 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 156 arrests, against 261 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Breathitt County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Breathitt 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 62 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 33 beds, and it ran at 188 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Kentucky Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Breathitt County
For Breathitt County the place to look is the case index of the Breathitt Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at kycourts.gov/Courts/County-Information/Pages/Breathitt.aspx, phone 606-666-5768).
Kentucky is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, for $25 a search, through the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts. 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 Breathitt County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying, 10 cents a page for standard copies.
- An arrest by the Breathitt County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Jackson: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Breathitt Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-666-5768.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Breathitt County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Jackson, the one city in Breathitt County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Breathitt Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Breathitt County each year?
Jackson reported 228 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 367 between them.
Where are people arrested in Breathitt County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Breathitt County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Breathitt County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Breathitt County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Breathitt County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Kentucky Open Records Act the answer is due within 5 business days.
Is this the official Breathitt 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.