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.
Fairfield County, South Carolina, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office, two city agencies and seven 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 Fairfield 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: Fairfield County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Fairfield County
The Fairfield County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Fairfield County. It reported 385 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside two of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Winnsboro, 3,279 residents: 119 arrests reported for 2025.
- Ridgeway, 255 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2023.
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 Fairfield County: the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Fairfield, the Fairfield County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Fairfield County, the Fairfield County State Transport Police and one more (state agency); Foxville and Northern Railroad (other); the Highway Patrol in Fairfield County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Fairfield County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them 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.
- Fairfield County Sheriff's Office: 385 for 2025, 462 for 2024, 395 for 2023, 313 for 2022, 342 for 2021 and 366 for 2020.
- Winnsboro: 119 for 2025, 72 for 2022, 82 for 2021 and 106 for 2019; 2020, 2023 and 2024 are missing months.
- Ridgeway: 0 for 2023.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 504 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 385 in 2025 against 462 in 2024, down 17 percent.
Ridgeway reported only part of 2025 (10 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Fairfield County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Fairfield County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
On an average day in 2019 the jail held about 70 people. Its rated capacity in 2019 was 110 beds, and it ran at 64 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office at fairfieldsc.com/departments/sheriffs-office (page title: Fairfield County SC Sheriff’s Office Details), phone 803-635-4141, 250 N Walnut Street Winnsboro, SC 29180, Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
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 Fairfield County
For Fairfield County the place to look is 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 Fairfield County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. 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 Fairfield County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 803-635-4141.
- An arrest in Winnsboro or Ridgeway: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Fairfield, Foxville and Northern Railroad or the Fairfield County Forestry Commission: 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.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Fairfield County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for two of the three cities in Fairfield County: Winnsboro and Ridgeway. Jenkinsville has 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 Fairfield County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Fairfield County each year?
The Fairfield County Sheriff's Office reported 385 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 504 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Fairfield County?
Ask the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office at 803-635-4141; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at fairfieldsc.com/departments/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Fairfield County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Fairfield County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Fairfield 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 Fairfield County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Fairfield 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.
Is this the official Fairfield 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.