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 30, 2026.
Nicholas County, Kentucky, has about 7,800 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Nicholas 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 Nicholas 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: Nicholas County public records, Kentucky arrest records, Kentucky inmate search and Kentucky criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Nicholas County
The Nicholas County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Nicholas County. It reported 68 arrests for 2025.
One city in Nicholas County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Carlisle, 2,151 residents: 86 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 Millersburg Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Nicholas County, so its arrests are not broken out for Nicholas County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Nicholas County: Nicholas County Schools (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Nicholas 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.
- Carlisle: 86 for 2025, 85 for 2024, 120 for 2023, 141 for 2022, 105 for 2021 and 93 for 2020.
- Nicholas County Sheriff's Office: 68 for 2025, 95 for 2024, 90 for 2023, 127 for 2022, 98 for 2021 and 95 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 154 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 154 in 2025 against 180 in 2024, down 14 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Nicholas County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Nicholas 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 39 people, down from about 42 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 31 beds, and it ran at 124 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Nicholas County Sheriff's Office at nicholascounty.ky.gov/elected/sheriff/Pages/default.aspx (page title: Nicholas County), phone (859) 289-3740, 125 East Main Street Carlisle, KY 40311, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 Nicholas County
An arrest in Nicholas County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Nicholas 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/Nicholas.aspx, phone 859-289-2336); the Commonwealth's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at nicholascounty.ky.gov/elected/Attorney/Pages/default.aspx, phone (859) 289-3745).
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 Nicholas 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 Nicholas County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (859) 289-3740.
- An arrest in Carlisle: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Nicholas 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, (859) 289-3745, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Nicholas Circuit Court, through the court records page at kycourts.gov, phone 859-289-2336.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Nicholas County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Carlisle, the one city in Nicholas County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Nicholas Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Nicholas County each year?
Carlisle reported 86 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 154 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Nicholas County?
Ask the Nicholas County Sheriff's Office at (859) 289-3740; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at nicholascounty.ky.gov.
Where are people arrested in Nicholas County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Nicholas County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Nicholas 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 Nicholas County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Nicholas 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 Nicholas 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.