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 1, 2026.
Marion County, South Carolina, has about 28,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Marion County Sheriff's Office, four 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 Marion 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: Marion County public records, South Carolina arrest records, South Carolina inmate search and South Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Marion County
The Marion County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Marion County. It reported 297 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists four cities in Marion County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Marion, 6,068 residents: 220 arrests reported for 2025.
- Mullins, 3,846 residents: 179 arrests reported for 2025.
- Nichols, 221 residents.
- Sellers, 146 residents.
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 Marion County: the Marion County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Marion, the Marion County Forestry Commission, Marion County South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Marion County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Marion 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.
- Marion County Sheriff's Office: 297 for 2025, 242 for 2024, 272 for 2023, 250 for 2022 and 435 for 2019; 2020 and 2021 are missing months.
- Marion: 220 for 2025, 289 for 2024, 314 for 2023, 226 for 2022, 238 for 2021 and 305 for 2020.
- Mullins: 179 for 2025, 161 for 2024, 83 for 2023, 98 for 2022, 100 for 2020 and 176 for 2019; 2021 is missing months.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 696 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 696 in 2025 against 692 in 2024, up 0.6 percent.
Through July 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 505 arrests, against 398 in the same months of 2025.
Nichols and Sellers reported only part of 2025 (10 months and 7 months) and are left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Marion County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Marion 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 2021 the jail held about 76 people, down from about 120 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 136 beds, and it ran at 86 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Marion County Sheriff's Office at marionsc.org/departments/detention_center/current_inmates_and_relea... (page title: Marion County, SC), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was 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.
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 Marion County
Whether someone was arrested in Marion County, and what came of it, shows up in three places: the custody page of the Marion County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Marion County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at marionsc.org/government/clerk_of_court, phone (843) 423-8240); 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 Marion 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 Marion County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Marion, Mullins, Nichols or Sellers: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Marion County State Transport Police, the Department of Health and Environmental Control Drug Control at Marion or the Marion 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.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Marion County Circuit Court, through the court records page at marionsc.org/government/clerk_of_court, phone (843) 423-8240.
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Marion County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the four cities in Marion County: Marion, Mullins, Nichols and Sellers.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Marion County Circuit Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Marion County each year?
The Marion County Sheriff's Office reported 297 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 696 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Marion County?
Look on the custody page of the Marion County Sheriff's Office at marionsc.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Marion County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Marion County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Marion 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 Marion County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Marion 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 Marion 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.