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 October 2, 2026.
West Salem, Wisconsin, in La Crosse County, has about 5,300 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). A person kept in custody after an arrest in West Salem is held at the county jail, run by the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office, and the jail's record of each person held is a public record. This guide says where to look for someone in custody, what the jail holds and who books people into it.
This guide covers the search, the jail, who books people, state prison and common questions.
Related guides: West Salem public records, La Crosse County inmate search, West Salem arrest records, West Salem warrants, West Salem criminal records, West Salem court records, Wisconsin arrest records and Wisconsin inmate search.
Finding Someone in Custody in West Salem
A person kept in custody after an arrest in West Salem is held at the county jail, run by the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office, whichever agency made the arrest.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office at lacrossecounty.org/sheriff/sheriff/inmate (page title: Inmate Locator | Sheriff | La Crosse County), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
That page is the place to look for someone booked recently. A person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
The La Crosse County Jail by the Numbers
On an average day in 2025 the jail held about 110 people, down from about 170 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2025 was 274 beds, and it ran at 41 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
La Crosse County has about 121,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), so the jail holds about 9 people for every 10,000 residents.
Who Books People Into the La Crosse County Jail
The La Crosse County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for West Salem (filed by the FBI as West Salem Police Department) make the arrests that end in a booking in and around West Salem.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in La Crosse County: the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse (campus police).
The largest arrest counts reported to the FBI were La Crosse's 4,985 for 2025, the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office's 738 for 2025 and Onalaska's 502 for 2025.
Together, the five agencies in La Crosse County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 5,628 arrests to the FBI that year. Those kept in custody were booked into the county jail; a person cited and released at the scene was not.
The counts, agency by agency and year by year, are in West Salem arrest records.
From the Jail to State Prison
The jail holds people awaiting trial and people serving short sentences. A person sentenced to prison in La Crosse County serves the sentence in a facility of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/welcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find an inmate in West Salem?
Look on the custody page of the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office at lacrossecounty.org/sheriff/sheriff/inmate. It covers people booked into the county jail.
How many people are in the La Crosse County jail?
About 110 on an average day in 2025, the latest year in the Vera Institute's jail data, against a rated capacity of 274 beds.
Where do people sentenced to prison in La Crosse County go?
To a facility of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections; its inmate locator is at appsdoc.wi.gov/lop/welcome.
Is this the official West Salem 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.