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.
Hughes County, South Dakota, has about 18,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Hughes County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one state agency. 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 State's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court for Hughes County. 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: Hughes County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Hughes County
The Hughes County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Hughes County. It reported 25 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists one city in Hughes County with a reporting agency of its own:
- Pierre, 13,788 residents: 436 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 one more agency in Hughes County: the Division of Criminal Investigation (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Hughes 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.
- Pierre: 436 for 2025, 451 for 2024, 446 for 2023, 342 for 2022, 215 for 2021 and 500 for 2020.
- Hughes County Sheriff's Office: 25 for 2025, 20 for 2024, 30 for 2023, 50 for 2022, 38 for 2021 and 34 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 461 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 461 in 2025 against 471 in 2024, down 2.1 percent.
Through June 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 189 arrests, against 240 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Hughes County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Hughes 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 2023 the jail held about 120 people, down from about 150 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 156 beds, and it ran at 79 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 Hughes County Sheriff's Office at hughescounty.org/sheriff (page title: Hughes County SD | Sheriff), phone (605) 773-7417, 3200 E Hwy 34, Suite 9 Pierre, SD 57501, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the South Dakota Department of Corrections lists its inmates at doc.sd.gov/adult-corrections/offender-locator.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Hughes County
Whether someone was arrested in Hughes County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court for Hughes County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at dakotaathome.sd.gov/search/efb6ba5a-ae4f-50c9-a483-74bb85426ecb, phone 605-773-3713); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at hughescounty.org/attorney, phone 605 773 7410).
Statewide, UJS Public Access Record Search is the South Dakota courts' statewide search, with a fee per name.
South Dakota does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Hughes 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 Dakota Open Records Law the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge copying and staff time.
- An arrest by the Hughes County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (605) 773-7417.
- An arrest in Pierre: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Division of Criminal Investigation: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, 605 773 7410, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Hughes County, through the court records page at dakotaathome.sd.gov, phone 605-773-3713.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Hughes County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Hughes County: Pierre. Blunt and Harrold 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 Circuit Court for Hughes County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Hughes County each year?
Pierre reported 436 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 461 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Hughes County?
Ask the Hughes County Sheriff's Office at (605) 773-7417; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at hughescounty.org/sheriff.
Where are people arrested in Hughes County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Hughes County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Hughes County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Hughes County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the South Dakota Open Records Law.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Hughes County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Hughes County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the South Dakota Open Records Law the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Hughes 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.