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.
Ascension Parish, Louisiana, has about 134,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Ascension Parish 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 parish jail, and, if the District Attorney files charges, a case in the District Court for Ascension Parish. 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: Ascension Parish public records, Louisiana arrest records, Louisiana inmate search and Louisiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Ascension Parish
The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Ascension Parish. It reported 1,948 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Ascension Parish with a reporting agency of its own:
- Gonzales, 13,837 residents: 687 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Ascension Parish
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.
- Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office: 1,948 for 2025, 2,047 for 2024, 2,236 for 2023, 2,053 for 2022, 2,342 for 2021 and 2,248 for 2020.
- Gonzales: 687 for 2024, 772 for 2023, 874 for 2022, 936 for 2021, 992 for 2020 and 829 for 2019.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 2,734 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 2,734 in 2024 against 3,008 in 2023, down 9.1 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Ascension Parish Are Held
The parish jail is where a person arrested in Ascension Parish 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 2023 the jail held about 490 people, down from about 510 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 588 beds, and it ran at 83 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office at inmate-inquiry.ascensionsheriff.com/NewWorld.InmateInquiry/Ascensio... (page title: Inmate Search), 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 person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.la.gov.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Ascension Parish
Whether someone was arrested in Ascension Parish, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the parish jail; the case index of the District Court for Ascension Parish, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ascensionparishcourt.org, phone (225) 621-8400).
Louisiana does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Ascension Parish
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Louisiana Public Records Law the agency must answer within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available, and it may charge a reasonable fee for copies.
- An arrest by the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Gonzales: 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 District Court for Ascension Parish, through the court records page at ascensionparishcourt.org, phone (225) 621-8400.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Cities in Ascension Parish: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Ascension Parish: Gonzales. Donaldsonville and Sorrento have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the parish the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the parish jail and the case goes to the District Court for Ascension Parish.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Ascension Parish, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Gonzales (13,837)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Ascension Parish each year?
The Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office reported 1,948 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2024, the latest year most of the agencies in Ascension Parish sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 2,734 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Ascension Parish?
Look on the custody page of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office at inmate-inquiry.ascensionsheriff.com. It covers people booked into the parish jail.
Where are people arrested in Ascension Parish booked?
Those kept in custody go to the parish jail, run by the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Ascension Parish?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Ascension Parish are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Criminal Identification is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Louisiana Public Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Ascension Parish?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Louisiana Public Records Law the answer is due within 3 business days when the record is not immediately available.
Is this the official Ascension Parish website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official parish, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.