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 23, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Madison County, Tennessee, has about 100,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Madison County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and two 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 District Attorney General files charges, a case in the Madison County Circuit and Chancery Courts. 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: Madison County public records, Tennessee arrest records, Tennessee inmate search and Tennessee criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Madison County
The Madison County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Madison County. It reported 2,256 arrests for 2025.
One city in Madison County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Jackson, 69,303 residents: 3,850 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 Humboldt Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Madison County, so its arrests are not broken out for Madison County here.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Madison County: Jackson State Community College (campus police); the Wildlife Resources Agency's Region 1 (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Madison 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.
- Jackson: 3,850 for 2025, 3,661 for 2024, 3,316 for 2023, 4,126 for 2022, 3,819 for 2021 and 3,859 for 2020.
- Madison County Sheriff's Office: 2,256 for 2025, 2,292 for 2024, 2,046 for 2023, 2,223 for 2022, 2,239 for 2021 and 1,943 for 2020.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 6,106 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 6,106 in 2025 against 5,953 in 2024, up 2.6 percent.
Through August 2026, the two agencies with every month so far on file reported 3,898 arrests, against 4,166 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Madison County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Madison 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 2024 the jail held about 650 people, up from about 610 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2024 was 448 beds, and it ran at 144 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 Madison County Sheriff's Office at sheriffrandytucker.com/madison-county-detention-center (page title: Madison County Detention Center | Madison County Sheriff's Department), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Tennessee Department of Correction, whose inmate locator is at foil.app.tn.gov/foil/search.jsp.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Madison County
An arrest in Madison County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Madison County Circuit and Chancery Courts, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk and the Clerk and Master, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date; the District Attorney General, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at madisoncountytn.gov/79/District-Attorney-General, phone (731) 423-5800).
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at madisoncountytn.gov/151/General-Sessions-Court (page title: General Sessions Court | Madison County, TN), phone (731)423-6128, belongs to a lower court, not to the Madison County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
Tennessee is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29 a search, through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. 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 Madison 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 Tennessee Public Records Act the agency must answer within 7 business days, and it may charge copying, and labor after the first hour.
- An arrest by the Madison County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Jackson: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by Jackson State Community College or the Wildlife Resources Agency's Region 1: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney General, (731) 423-5800, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: in the Madison County Circuit and Chancery Courts it is kept by the Circuit Court Clerk and the Clerk and Master. The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county, at madisoncountytn.gov, phone (731)423-6128, is a lower court's.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madisoncountytn.gov (page title: PUBLIC RECORDS POLICY FOR MADISON COUNTY, TENNESSEE).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
Cities in Madison County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for one of the three cities in Madison County: Jackson. Three Way and Medon 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 Madison County Circuit and Chancery Courts.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Madison County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Jackson (69,303)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Madison County each year?
Jackson reported 3,850 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the two agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 6,106 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Madison County?
Ask the Madison County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at sheriffrandytucker.com.
Where are people arrested in Madison County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Madison County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Madison County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation: TORIS lets anyone run a name-based criminal history search online, for $29. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Tennessee Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Madison County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Madison County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Tennessee Public Records Act the answer is due within 7 business days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madisoncountytn.gov.
Is this the official Madison 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.