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.
St. James Parish, Louisiana, has about 19,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office and two city agencies. 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 St. James 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: St. James Parish public records, Louisiana arrest records, Louisiana inmate search and Louisiana criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in St. James Parish
The St. James Parish Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for St. James Parish. It reported 268 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the parish'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:
- Lutcher, 2,883 residents: 4 arrests reported for 2021.
- Gramercy, 2,719 residents: 11 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 St. James Parish
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.
- St. James Parish Sheriff's Office: 268 for 2025, 251 for 2024, 391 for 2023, 433 for 2022, 407 for 2021 and 415 for 2020.
- Gramercy: 11 for 2025, 23 for 2024, 37 for 2023, 45 for 2022, 43 for 2021 and 71 for 2020.
- Lutcher: 4 for 2021 and 9 for 2019; 2020 is missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 279 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 279 in 2025 against 274 in 2024, up 1.8 percent.
Through March 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 77 arrests, against 66 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in St. James Parish Are Held
The parish jail is where a person arrested in St. James 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 2021 the jail held about 58 people, down from about 70 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 74 beds, and it ran at 95 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 St. James Parish Sheriff's Office at stjamessheriff.com/inmateSearch (page title: St. James Parish Sheriff's Office), phone (225) 562-2200, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 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 St. James Parish
An arrest in St. James Parish can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the parish jail; the case index of the District Court for St. James Parish, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at stjamesclerk.com/records); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at 23rdda.org).
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 St. James 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 St. James Parish Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (225) 562-2200.
- An arrest in Lutcher or Gramercy: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the District Court for St. James Parish, through the court records page at stjamesclerk.com/records.
- Any parish record that is not posted: the parish records request page SearchSystems verified is at stjamesla.com/163/Public-Information-Requests (page title: Public Records Requests | St. James Parish, LA).
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Bureau of Criminal Identification.
Cities in St. James Parish: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the two cities in St. James Parish: Lutcher and Gramercy.
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 St. James Parish.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in St. James Parish each year?
The St. James Parish Sheriff's Office reported 268 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 279 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in St. James Parish?
Look on the custody page of the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office at stjamessheriff.com/inmateSearch, or call (225) 562-2200. It covers people booked into the parish jail.
Where are people arrested in St. James Parish booked?
Those kept in custody go to the parish jail, run by the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in St. James Parish?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for St. James 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 St. James Parish?
From the agency that made the arrest: the St. James 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; the parish records request page SearchSystems verified is at stjamesla.com/163/Public-Information-Requests.
Is this the official St. James 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.