Reviewed and updated October 11, 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 11, 2026.
Columbia, South Carolina, in Richland County, has about 145,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Columbia is held at the county jail, run by the Richland 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: Columbia public records, Richland County inmate search, Columbia arrest records, Columbia warrants, Columbia criminal records, Columbia court records, South Carolina arrest records and South Carolina inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Columbia
The county jail, run by the Richland County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in Columbia, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Richland County Sheriff's Office at jail.richlandcountysc.gov (page title: Web Jail Viewer), 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 Richland County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 800 people, down from about 810 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 1,022 beds, and it ran at 78 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Richland County has about 431,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 19 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Richland County Jail
The Richland County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Columbia (filed by the FBI as Columbia Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around Columbia.
The FBI's agency list also places seven state agencies, three campus police departments, one other agency and one state police unit in Richland County (the arrest records guide names each one).
The Cayce Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Richland County, so its arrests are not broken out for Richland County here.
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Columbia's 2,628 for 2025, the Richland County Sheriff's Office's 2,479 for 2025 and Irmo's 502 for 2025.
Together, the four agencies in Richland County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5,800 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 Columbia arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison, not the jail; the South Carolina Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.sc.gov/inmate-search-disclaimer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Columbia?
Look on the custody page of the Richland County Sheriff's Office at jail.richlandcountysc.gov. It covers people booked into the county jail.
How many people are in the Richland County jail?
About 800 on an average day in 2023, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 1,022 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Richland County go?
To a facility of the South Carolina Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at doc.sc.gov/inmate-search-disclaimer.
Is this the official Columbia 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.