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 23, 2026.
Centre County, Pennsylvania, has about 160,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Centre County is held at the county jail, run by the Centre 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: Centre County public records, Centre County arrest records, Centre County warrants, Centre County criminal records, Centre County court records, Pennsylvania arrest records and Pennsylvania inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Centre County
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Centre County is held at the county jail, run by the Centre County Sheriff's Office, whichever agency made the arrest.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Centre County Sheriff's Office at centrecountypa.gov/232/Inmate-Listing (page title: Inmate Listing | Centre County, PA), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Someone booked recently shows on that page; someone cited and released at the scene, or held a few hours at a city station, does not.
The Centre County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 190 people, down from about 250 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 397 beds, and it ran at 48 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Centre County has about 160,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 12 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Centre County Jail
The Centre County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for State College and Bellefonte make the arrests that end in a booking in Centre County.
The FBI's agency list also places one campus police department, four state agencies and one state police unit in Centre County (the arrest records guide names each one).
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were State College's 1,114 for 2024, Patton Township's 272 for 2025 and Ferguson Township's 181 for 2025.
Together, the four agencies in Centre County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 518 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 Centre 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 Centre County serves the sentence in a facility of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Centre County?
Look on the custody page of the Centre County Sheriff's Office at centrecountypa.gov/232/Inmate-Listing. It covers people booked into the county jail.
How many people are in the Centre County jail?
About 190 on an average day in 2023, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 397 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Centre County go?
To a facility of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at inmatelocator.cor.pa.gov.
Is this the official Centre 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.