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 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Clay County, Kentucky, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clay County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one other 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 Clay 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: Clay County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clay County. It reported 524 arrests for 2025.
One city in Clay County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Manchester, 1,433 residents: 172 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 Clay County: Clay County Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clay 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.
- Clay County Sheriff's Office: 524 for 2025, 520 for 2024, 394 for 2023, 660 for 2021, 631 for 2020 and 1,112 for 2019; 2022 is missing months.
- Manchester: 172 for 2025, 293 for 2024, 256 for 2023, 280 for 2022, 292 for 2021 and 252 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 696 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 696 in 2025 against 813 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 467 arrests, against 457 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clay County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Clay 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 220 people on an average day, down from about 320 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 234 beds, and it is running at 92 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Clay County Sheriff's Office at claycountysheriff.org/cur_inmates.html (page title: Redirecting…), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Kentucky Department of Corrections lists its inmates at kool.corrections.ky.gov/.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Clay County
Whether someone was arrested in Clay County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Clay 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/Clay.aspx, phone 606-598-3663); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at wymt.com/2024/05/22/haley-jo-fields-beats-incumbent-41st-circuit-co...).
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 Clay 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 Clay County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Manchester: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Clay County Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Commonwealth's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clay Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-598-3663.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clay.clerkinfo.net/?page_id=929 (page title: Open Records Request | Clay County Clerk).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Clay County guides go further: warrants, criminal records, court records, police reports, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Clay County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Manchester, the one city in Clay County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clay Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clay County each year?
The Clay County Sheriff's Office reported 524 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 696 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Clay County?
Ask the Clay County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at claycountysheriff.org/cur_inmates.html.
Where are people arrested in Clay County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clay County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clay 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 Clay County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clay 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; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clay.clerkinfo.net/?page_id=929.
Is this the official Clay 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.