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 September 28, 2026.
Knox County, Kentucky, has about 30,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Knox 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 Knox 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: Knox County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Knox County
The Knox County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Knox County. It reported 387 arrests for 2025.
One city in Knox County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Barbourville, 3,081 residents: 546 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 Corbin Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Knox County, so its arrests are not broken out for Knox County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Knox 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.
- Barbourville: 546 for 2025, 507 for 2024, 882 for 2023, 766 for 2022, 525 for 2021 and 782 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
- Knox County Sheriff's Office: 387 for 2025, 336 for 2024, 473 for 2023, 397 for 2022, 476 for 2021 and 291 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 933 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 933 in 2025 against 843 in 2024, up 11 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 444 arrests, against 658 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Knox County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Knox 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 310 people on an average day, up from about 110 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 294 beds, and it is running at 105 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 Knox County Sheriff's Office at knoxsheriff.org (page title: Knox County Sheriff's Office), phone 888-868-4631, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 28, 2026.
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 Knox County
For Knox County the place to look is the case index of the Knox 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/Knox.aspx, phone 606-546-3075).
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 Knox 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 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 Knox County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 888-868-4631.
- An arrest in Barbourville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Knox Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-546-3075.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Knox County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Barbourville, the one city in Knox County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Knox Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Knox County each year?
Barbourville reported 546 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 933 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Knox County?
Ask the Knox County Sheriff's Office at 888-868-4631; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at knoxsheriff.org.
Where are people arrested in Knox County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Knox County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Knox 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 Knox County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Knox 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 Knox 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.