Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones the agency reported to the FBI, through 2025. 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 26, 2026 and October 1, 2026.
Carthage, Texas, in Panola County, has about 6,700 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and its arrests are reported to the FBI by an agency of its own. An arrest in the city 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 files charges, a case in the Panola County District Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts the agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies and common questions.
Related guides: Carthage public records, Panola County arrest records, Texas arrest records and Texas inmate search.
Who Makes Arrests in Carthage
The FBI lists Carthage with an arrest reporting agency of its own, filed as Carthage Police Department. It reported 126 arrests for 2025. A city is listed separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
Outside the city, the Panola County Sheriff's Office is the county agency. It reported 174 arrests for 2025.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Panola County: Panola College (campus police); Panola County Constable at Precinct 2 & 3 and Panola County Constable at Precinct 1 & 4 (other).
How Many Arrests Carthage Reports
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.
- Carthage: 126 for 2025, 143 for 2024, 163 for 2023, 174 for 2022, 180 for 2021 and 205 for 2020.
Carthage's 126 arrests in 2025 were down 12 percent from 143 in 2024.
Through August 2026, Carthage reported 57 arrests, against 79 in the same months of 2025.
Across Panola County, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 300 arrests between them.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Carthage Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Carthage 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 74 people on an average day, up from about 39 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 160 beds, and it is running at 46 percent of it. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Panola County Sheriff's Office at co.panola.tx.us/1204/Sheriffs-Office (page title: Sheriff's Office | Panola County, TX), phone 903-693-0333, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, whose inmate locator is at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Carthage
Whether someone was arrested in Carthage, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Panola County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at co.panola.tx.us/page/panola.District.Clerk, phone 903-693-0306); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.panola.tx.us/1205/District-Attorney, phone 903-693-0310).
Texas is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3 a search, through the Texas Department of Public Safety. 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 Carthage
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Texas Public Information Act the agency must answer within 10 business days, and it may charge the copy rates set by the Attorney General, plus labor for large requests.
- An arrest by the Carthage police: the police records page SearchSystems verified at carthagetexas.us/departments/police_dept/records.php (page title: Carthage, TX), phone 903.693.3866, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 26, 2026.
- An arrest by the Panola County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 903-693-0333.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 903-693-0310, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Panola County District Court, through the court records page at co.panola.tx.us/page/panola.District.Clerk, phone 903-693-0306.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
The Panola County guide covers every agency in the county: Panola County arrest records.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Carthage each year?
Carthage reported 126 arrests to the FBI for 2025, its latest full year.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Carthage?
Ask the Panola County Sheriff's Office at 903-693-0333; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at co.panola.tx.us/1204/Sheriffs-Office.
Where are people arrested in Carthage booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Panola County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Carthage?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Texas Department of Public Safety: the Conviction Database search lets anyone look up convictions and deferred adjudications by name, for $3. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Texas Public Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Carthage?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Carthage police for its own arrests, the Panola County Sheriff's Office for the sheriff's. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Carthage 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.