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.
Mason County, Kentucky, has about 17,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Mason 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 Mason 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: Mason County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Mason County
The Mason County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Mason County. It reported 309 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Mason County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Maysville, 8,711 residents: 444 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 Mason 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.
- Maysville: 444 for 2025, 563 for 2024, 576 for 2023, 598 for 2022, 684 for 2021 and 470 for 2020.
- Mason County Sheriff's Office: 309 for 2025, 302 for 2024, 383 for 2023, 361 for 2022, 302 for 2021 and 275 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 753 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 753 in 2025 against 865 in 2024, down 13 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 361 arrests, against 425 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Mason County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Mason 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 150 people on an average day, up from about 76 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 131 beds, and it is running at 114 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Mason County Sheriff's Office at masoncountydetention.com/mason_inmatelist.html (page title: Mason County Detention Center), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
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 Mason County
An arrest in Mason County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Mason County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Mason 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/Mason.aspx, phone 606-564-4340).
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 Mason 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 Mason County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Maysville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Mason Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 606-564-4340.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Mason County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Mason County: Maysville. Dover and Sardis 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 Mason Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Mason County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Maysville (8,711)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Mason County each year?
Maysville reported 444 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 753 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Mason County?
Look on the custody page of the Mason County Sheriff's Office at masoncountydetention.com. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Mason County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Mason County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Mason 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 Mason County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Mason 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 Mason 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.