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.
Sully County, South Dakota, has about 1,500 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Sully County Sheriff's Office. 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 Sully 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: Sully County public records, South Dakota arrest records, South Dakota inmate search and South Dakota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Sully County
The Sully County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Sully County. It reported 8 arrests for 2020, its latest complete year.
How Many Arrests The Sully County Sheriff's Office Reports
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.
- Sully County Sheriff's Office: 8 for 2020 and 8 for 2019.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Sully County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Sully 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 10 people, down from about 11 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023 was 12 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 Sully County Sheriff's Office at sully.sdcounty.gov/offices/registerofdeeds/sheriff (page title: Sheriff | Sully County SD), phone (605) 258-2244, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison 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.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Sully County
An arrest in Sully County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Circuit Court for Sully County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at ujs.sd.gov/cases-and-records); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at sully.sdcounty.gov/offices/statesattorney, phone (605) 258-2546).
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 Sully 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 Dakota Open Records Law the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge copying and staff time.
- An arrest by the Sully County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at (605) 258-2244.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney, (605) 258-2546, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court for Sully County, through the court records page at ujs.sd.gov/cases-and-records.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Division of Criminal Investigation.
Cities in Sully County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists no city in Sully County with an arrest reporting agency of its own; the counts above are the county agencies'.
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 Sully County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Sully County each year?
The Sully County Sheriff's Office reported 8 arrests to the FBI for 2020, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Sully County?
Ask the Sully County Sheriff's Office at (605) 258-2244; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sully.sdcounty.gov.
Where are people arrested in Sully County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Sully County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Sully County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Sully 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 Sully County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Sully 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 Sully 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.