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 September 30, 2026.
Clarendon County, South Carolina, has about 31,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and six campus, state or other agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the Solicitor files charges, a case in the Clarendon County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Clarendon County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Clarendon County
The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Clarendon County. It reported 343 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists two cities in Clarendon County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Manning, 3,832 residents: 270 arrests reported for 2025.
- Summerton, 781 residents: 90 arrests reported for 2024.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Clarendon County: the Clarendon County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Clarendon, Clarendon County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Clarendon County Forestry Commission and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Clarendon County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Clarendon County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Clarendon County Sheriff's Office: 343 for 2025, 352 for 2024, 393 for 2023, 414 for 2022, 526 for 2021 and 488 for 2020.
- Manning: 270 for 2025, 282 for 2024, 242 for 2023, 332 for 2022, 338 for 2021 and 370 for 2020.
- Summerton: 90 for 2024, 42 for 2023, 19 for 2022 and 9 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 613 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 613 in 2025 against 634 in 2024, down 3.3 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 321 arrests, against 324 in the same months of 2025.
Summerton reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Clarendon County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Clarendon County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 55 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 152 beds, and it ran at 36 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the South Carolina Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.sc.gov/inmate-search-disclaimer.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Clarendon County
Whether someone was arrested in Clarendon County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Clarendon County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at clarendoncountysc.gov/our-government/clerk-of-court, phone (800) 768-5858); the Solicitor, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sccourts.org/courts/court-officials/solicitors).
South Carolina is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the CATCH service lets anyone run a name-based criminal record search online, for $25 a search, through the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Clarendon County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, or 20 for records more than two years old, and it may charge search, retrieval and copying at the agency's actual cost.
- An arrest by the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Manning or Summerton: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Clarendon County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Clarendon or Clarendon County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the Solicitor handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Clarendon County Circuit Court, through the court records page at clarendoncountysc.gov, phone (800) 768-5858.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clarendoncovoterregistration.sc.gov/foia (page title: FOIA | Clarendon County Voter Registration).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Clarendon County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the four cities in Clarendon County: Manning and Summerton. Turbeville and Paxville have no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Clarendon County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Clarendon County each year?
The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office reported 343 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 613 between them.
Where are people arrested in Clarendon County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Clarendon County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division: the CATCH service lets anyone run a name-based criminal record search online, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Clarendon County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days, or 20 for records more than two years old; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clarendoncovoterregistration.sc.gov/foia.
Is this the official Clarendon 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.