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 October 2, 2026.
Thurston County, Nebraska, has about 6,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Thurston County is held at the county jail, run by the Thurston 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: Thurston County public records, Thurston County arrest records, Thurston County warrants, Thurston County criminal records, Thurston County court records, Nebraska arrest records and Nebraska inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Thurston County
The county jail, run by the Thurston County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in Thurston County, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office at thurstonsheriff.org/inmate-search (page title: Thurston County Correctional Facility Inmate Search, Jail Rosters), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
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 Thurston County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 28 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 34 beds, and it ran at 82 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Thurston County has about 6,600 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 42 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Thurston County Jail
The Thurston County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Walthill make the arrests that end in a booking in Thurston County.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Thurston County: the State Patrol in Thurston County (state police).
The Emerson Police Department is listed by the FBI across three counties including Thurston County, so its arrests are not broken out for Thurston County here.
Walthill reported 1,188 arrests to the FBI for 2025. 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 Thurston County 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 Thurston County serves the sentence in a facility of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, whose inmate locator is at dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov/Corrections/COR_input.jsp.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Thurston County?
Look on the custody page of the Thurston County Sheriff's Office at thurstonsheriff.org/inmate-search. It covers people booked into the county jail.
How many people are in the Thurston County jail?
About 28 on an average day in 2019, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 34 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Thurston County go?
To a facility of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services; its inmate locator is at dcs-inmatesearch.ne.gov.
Is this the official Thurston 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.