Reviewed and updated October 10, 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 23, 2026 and October 11, 2026.
East Lansing, Michigan, in Ingham County, has about 49,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in East Lansing is held at the county jail, run by the Ingham County Sheriff's Office, and the jail's record of each person held is a public record. This guide says where to look for someone in custody, what the jail holds and who books people into it.
This guide covers the search, the jail, who books people, state prison and common questions.
Related guides: East Lansing public records, Ingham County inmate search, East Lansing arrest records, East Lansing warrants, East Lansing criminal records, East Lansing court records, Michigan arrest records and Michigan inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in East Lansing
The county jail, run by the Ingham County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in East Lansing, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Ingham County Sheriff's Office at jail.ingham.org (page title: Ingham County Inmate Locator), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone 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.
The Ingham County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2020 the jail held about 300 people, down from about 410 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 444 beds, and it ran at 92 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Ingham County has about 290,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 10 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Ingham County Jail
The Ingham County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for East Lansing (filed by the FBI as East Lansing Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around East Lansing.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Ingham County: Michigan State University and Lansing Community College (campus police); the Ingham County State Police (state police).
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Lansing's 1,936 for 2025, the Ingham County Sheriff's Office's 814 for 2025 and East Lansing's 492 for 2025.
Together, the nine agencies in Ingham County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 3,893 arrests to the FBI that year. Those kept in custody were booked into the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene was not.
The counts, agency by agency and year by year, are in East Lansing arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in Ingham County serves the sentence in a facility of the Michigan Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in East Lansing?
Look on the custody page of the Ingham County Sheriff's Office at jail.ingham.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
How many people are in the Ingham County jail?
About 300 on an average day in 2020, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 444 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Ingham County go?
To a facility of the Michigan Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2.
Is this the official East Lansing website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official city, county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.