The Saint Joseph County Jail, operated by the Saint Joseph County Sheriff's Office (commonly referred to as the St. Joseph County Police Department), serves as the central booking facility for arrests made within the county. The facility processes bookings from the South Bend Police Department, Mishawaka Police Department, Saint Joseph County Police, the University of Notre Dame Security Police, and other local law enforcement agencies. Booking records are publicly accessible under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (IC 5-14-3), and the county provides an online inmate search system for public lookups.

The jail has been the focus of capacity discussions in recent years, with county officials evaluating both expansion and alternatives-to-incarceration programs to manage the facility's population. The county has invested in pretrial services and electronic monitoring as tools to reduce the number of individuals held in pretrial detention for low-level offenses, a trend consistent with criminal justice reform efforts across Indiana's larger counties.

About Saint Joseph County

Saint Joseph County is the northernmost major population center in Indiana, located just south of the Michigan border. South Bend, the county seat and largest city, has a population of approximately 103,000 and gained national attention when former Mayor Pete Buttigieg ran for president in 2020. The city's economy has diversified from its historical reliance on the Studebaker automobile company (which closed in 1963) to a more balanced mix of healthcare, education, technology, and advanced manufacturing.

The University of Notre Dame, located in the unincorporated community of Notre Dame just north of South Bend, is a dominant presence in the county. With approximately 13,000 students and a multi-billion-dollar endowment, the university is the county's largest private employer and drives significant economic activity. Mishawaka, the county's second-largest city with approximately 50,000 residents, sits east of South Bend and has its own distinct commercial districts and police department. The county also includes smaller communities such as Osceola, Granger, and Walkerton.