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.
Madison County, Kentucky, has about 100,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Madison County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and two campus, state or other 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 Commonwealth's Attorney files charges, a case in the Madison 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: Madison County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky 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 1,248 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two 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:
- Richmond, 39,581 residents: 2,252 arrests reported for 2025.
- Berea, 16,436 residents: 603 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 these agencies in Madison County: Eastern Kentucky University (campus police); Madison County Public Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Madison 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.
- Richmond: 2,252 for 2025, 2,027 for 2024, 2,363 for 2023, 2,192 for 2022, 2,312 for 2021 and 2,645 for 2020.
- Madison County Sheriff's Office: 1,248 for 2025, 1,485 for 2024, 1,271 for 2023, 1,288 for 2022, 1,367 for 2021 and 952 for 2020.
- Berea: 603 for 2025, 568 for 2024, 624 for 2023, 657 for 2022, 720 for 2021 and 590 for 2020.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 4,103 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 4,103 in 2025 against 4,080 in 2024, up 0.6 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 2,392 arrests, against 2,483 in the same months of 2025.
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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 260 people on an average day, down from about 380 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 184 beds, and it is running at 141 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office at sheriffrandytucker.com/madison-county-detention-center (page title: Madison County Detention Center | Madison County Sheriff's Department), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 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 Madison County
For Madison County the place to look is the case index of the Madison 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/Madison.aspx, phone 859-624-4713).
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 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 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Richmond or Berea: 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 Eastern Kentucky University or Madison County Public Schools: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Madison Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 859-624-4713.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madisoncountyky.gov/open-records-request (page title: Open Records Request | Welcome to MadisonCountyKy.gov | Madison County, Kentucky).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Madison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in Madison County: Richmond and Berea.
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 Court.
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:
- Richmond (39,581)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Madison County each year?
Richmond reported 2,252 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 4,103 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Madison County?
Ask the Madison County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriffrandytucker.com.
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 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 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 Kentucky Open Records Act the answer is due within 5 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madisoncountyky.gov/open-records-request.
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.