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 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Carrboro, North Carolina, in Orange County, has about 21,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Carrboro is held at the county jail, run by the Orange 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: Carrboro public records, Orange County inmate search, Carrboro arrest records, Carrboro warrants, Carrboro criminal records, Carrboro court records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Carrboro
The county jail, run by the Orange County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in Carrboro, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office at ocsonc.com (page title: Orange County Sheriff's Office, NC), phone (919) 245-2900, 106 E. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC 27278, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
That page is the office's jail information page rather than a roster, so a search for a particular person goes through the office at (919) 245-2900.
The Orange County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2024 the jail held about 92 people, down from about 140 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 129 beds, and it ran at 109 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Orange County has about 153,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 6 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Orange County Jail
The Orange County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Carrboro (filed by the FBI as Carrboro Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around Carrboro.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Orange County: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (campus police); North Carolina Memorial Hospital (other agency).
The Mebane Police Department and the Durham Police Department are each listed by the FBI across several counties including Orange County, so their arrests are not broken out for Orange County here.
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Chapel Hill's 677 for 2025, the Orange County Sheriff's Office's 595 for 2025 and Carrboro's 262 for 2025.
Together, the four agencies in Orange County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,731 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 Carrboro 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 Orange County serves the sentence in a facility of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, whose inmate locator is at dac.nc.gov/dac-services/criminal-offender-searches.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Carrboro?
Ask the Orange County Sheriff's Office at (919) 245-2900; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at ocsonc.com.
How many people are in the Orange County jail?
About 92 on an average day in 2024, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 129 beds.
What is the phone number for the Orange County jail?
(919) 245-2900, the number on the page of the Orange County Sheriff's Office SearchSystems verified.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Orange County go?
To a facility of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction; its inmate locator is at dac.nc.gov.
Is this the official Carrboro 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.