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 4, 2026.
Lee County, South Carolina, has about 16,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lee County Sheriff's Office, one city agency 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 Lee 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: Lee County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lee County
The Lee County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lee County. It reported 131 arrests for 2025.
One city in Lee County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Bishopville, 2,880 residents: 56 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Lee County: Lee County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Lee County Forestry Commission, the Department of Natural Resources in Lee County, the Lee County State Transport Police and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Lee County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lee 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.
- Lee County Sheriff's Office: 131 for 2025, 113 for 2024, 120 for 2023, 158 for 2022, 178 for 2021 and 141 for 2020.
- Bishopville: 56 for 2025, 77 for 2024, 60 for 2023, 55 for 2022, 54 for 2021 and 63 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 187 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 187 in 2025 against 190 in 2024, down 1.6 percent.
Through July 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 122 arrests, against 113 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lee County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lee 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 2023 the jail held about 43 people, up from about 31 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 47 beds, and it ran at 91 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 Lee County Sheriff's Office at leecountysc.org/directory/departments___elected_officials/sheriff_s... (page title: Welcome to Lee County), phone (803) 484-5353, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Lee County
Whether someone was arrested in Lee County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Lee County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at matrix.leeclerk.org); 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 Lee 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 Lee County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (803) 484-5353.
- An arrest in Bishopville: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by Lee County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, the Lee County Forestry Commission or the Department of Natural Resources in Lee County: 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 Lee County Circuit Court, through the court records page at matrix.leeclerk.org.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Lee County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the two cities in Lee County: Bishopville. Lynchburg 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 Lee County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lee County each year?
The Lee County Sheriff's Office reported 131 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 187 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lee County?
Ask the Lee County Sheriff's Office at (803) 484-5353; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at leecountysc.org.
Where are people arrested in Lee County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lee County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lee 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 Lee County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lee 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 Lee 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.