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.
Box Elder, South Dakota, in Pennington County, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in Box Elder is held at the county jail, run by the Pennington 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: Box Elder public records, Pennington County inmate search, Box Elder arrest records, Box Elder warrants, Box Elder criminal records, Box Elder court records, South Dakota arrest records and South Dakota inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in Box Elder
The county jail, run by the Pennington County Sheriff's Office, holds everyone kept in custody after an arrest in Box Elder, from every agency.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office at pennco.org/law_public_safety/jail/current_inmates.php (page title: Pennington County, SD), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 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 Pennington County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2023 the jail held about 630 people, down from about 1,070 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 662 beds, and it ran at 95 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
Pennington County has about 116,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 54 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the Pennington County Jail
The Pennington County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Box Elder (filed by the FBI as Box Elder Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around Box Elder.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Pennington County: South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (campus police).
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were Rapid City's 6,586 for 2025, the Pennington County Sheriff's Office's 3,608 for 2025 and Box Elder's 547 for 2025.
Together, the three agencies in Pennington County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 10,741 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 Box Elder arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in Pennington County serves the sentence in a facility of the South Dakota Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at doc.sd.gov/adult-corrections/offender-locator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in Box Elder?
Look on the custody page of the Pennington County Sheriff's Office at pennco.org. It covers people booked into the county jail.
How many people are in the Pennington County jail?
About 630 on an average day in 2023, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 662 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in Pennington County go?
To a facility of the South Dakota Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at doc.sd.gov/adult-corrections/offender-locator.
Is this the official Box Elder 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.