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 on September 23, 2026.
Jim Wells County, Texas, has about 39,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office, three city agencies and one other 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Jim Wells County District Court. 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: Jim Wells County public records, Texas arrest records, Texas inmate search and Texas criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Jim Wells County
The Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Jim Wells County. It reported 170 arrests for 2025.
The FBI lists three cities in Jim Wells County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported:
- Alice, 17,595 residents: 611 arrests reported for 2025.
- Premont, 2,401 residents: 31 arrests reported for 2025.
- Orange Grove, 1,182 residents: 31 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 San Diego Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Jim Wells County, so its arrests are not broken out for Jim Wells County here.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Jim Wells County: the Jim Wells County Constable's Precinct 1 (other).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Jim Wells 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.
- Alice: 611 for 2025, 628 for 2024, 968 for 2023, 1,277 for 2022, 1,255 for 2021 and 1,573 for 2020.
- Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office: 170 for 2025, 220 for 2024, 251 for 2023, 265 for 2022, 216 for 2021 and 549 for 2020.
- Premont: 31 for 2025, 70 for 2024, 39 for 2023, 361 for 2020 and 105 for 2019; 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Orange Grove: 31 for 2025.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 843 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 812 in 2025 against 918 in 2024, down 12 percent.
Through April 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 270 arrests, against 277 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Jim Wells County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Jim Wells 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.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 50 people on an average day, down from about 64 in 2019. Its rated capacity is 88 beds, and it is running at 57 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 Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office at jimwellscounty-tx.gov/jail.html (page title: Jail), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists its inmates at inmate.tdcj.texas.gov/InmateSearch/start.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Jim Wells County
An arrest in Jim Wells County can be traced in two places, depending on where the case stands: the case index of the Jim Wells County District Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at courtportal.co.jim-wells.tx.us/eservices/home.page); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at co.jim-wells.tx.us/page/co.district.attorney, phone 361-668-5716).
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 Jim Wells 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 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 Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Alice, Premont or Orange Grove: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the Jim Wells County Constable's Precinct 1: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney, 361-668-5716, handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Jim Wells County District Court, through the court records page at courtportal.co.jim-wells.tx.us.
- Your own statewide record: a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Cities in Jim Wells County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for every one of the three cities in Jim Wells County: Alice, Premont and Orange Grove.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Jim Wells County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Jim Wells County each year?
Alice reported 611 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 843 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Jim Wells County?
Ask the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at jimwellscounty-tx.gov/jail.html.
Where are people arrested in Jim Wells County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Jim Wells County?
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 Jim Wells County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Jim Wells County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Texas Public Information Act the answer is due within 10 business days.
Is this the official Jim Wells 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.