Court filings for Madison County criminal cases live in Indiana’s statewide MyCase portal at Indiana MyCase docket search, where you can search by name at no cost. Booking records sit on the Sheriff’s side — the Madison County Sheriff’s Office is located at 720 Central Avenue, Anderson, IN 46016, and its Records Division handles written records requests. The Madison County Government Center, at 16 East 9th Street, Anderson, is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone lines at the Circuit Courts can experience transfers and hang-ups; plan to call more than once if you don’t reach someone immediately.
If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Madison County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.
If you need records outside Madison County
A name search here covers Madison County’s local systems, but arrests in other Indiana counties, federal cases, or records from states where someone previously lived won’t appear in county portals. A nationwide database search may help fill gaps that local systems often leave — particularly for out-of-state filings or records predating a portal’s online window. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.
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How to look up arrest records in Madison County
A family member’s arrest record and your own pull from the same official systems — but the access path differs slightly depending on whether you need court docket entries or the Sheriff’s booking record.
MyCase — court docket entries. Indiana’s statewide court portal, MyCase, is the fastest way to confirm whether a case was filed in Madison County Circuit Court or Superior Court. Search by name, case number, or attorney of record. MyCase shows charges, hearing dates, dispositions, and the attorney of record — useful if you’re helping a family member prepare for an upcoming appearance or verify what a court-appointed attorney has on file. The portal covers Madison County’s Circuit and Superior Courts. Note that MyCase reflects court-side data; it does not display Sheriff’s booking photos or pre-charge detention records.
Sheriff’s Records Division — booking records. The Madison County Sheriff’s Records Division holds booking records, arrest logs, and incident reports generated by the Sheriff’s Office. Reach the Records line at (765) 646-9290. The Sheriff’s Department is at 720 Central Avenue, Anderson, IN 46016. Written records requests are the standard path for obtaining copies; call ahead to confirm the current fee and any required identification before visiting. If you’re helping a family member who has a guardian or attorney of record, that representative can request records directly — the attorney’s bar number or a copy of the guardianship order will typically be required at the window.
Madison County Jail — booking confirmation. For a booking that occurred at the Madison County Jail, call (765) 646-9285. The Jail is also at 720 Central Avenue, Anderson. Jail staff can confirm whether a person is currently in custody; for historical booking records, the Records Division is the correct contact.
Indiana Judicial Branch — Madison County court directory. The Indiana Judicial Branch’s Madison County page lists the county’s courts, judges, and clerk contact information. Use it to identify which court division handled a specific case type — Circuit Court handles felonies and major civil matters; Superior Courts handle additional criminal, civil, and family dockets.
IDOC offender lookup — state prison records. If the person you’re researching was sentenced to an Indiana Department of Correction facility, the IDOC offender search covers state-level incarceration records. The Madison Correctional Facility is an IDOC adult facility; its records are maintained at the state level, not through the county Sheriff.
Anderson Police Department — city arrest records. Arrests made by the Anderson Police Department generate their own incident reports, separate from Sheriff’s records. The Anderson PD non-emergency line is (765) 648-6775; call ahead to confirm records window hours and required identification before visiting in person.
Are Madison County arrest records public?
Ninety-two Indiana counties operate under the same open-records baseline: booking records, including booking photos, are generally public documents.
Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act, Ind. Code § 5-14-3, establishes that government records are presumptively open unless a specific statutory exception applies. Arrest records and booking data generated by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office fall within that default-public category. A person’s name, booking date, charges, and case number are ordinarily available to any requester — you don’t need to be the subject of the record or show a legal interest to request it.
Federal arrest records are a separate matter entirely. An arrest made by the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals, or any other federal agency does not appear in Indiana’s MyCase portal or in the Madison County Sheriff’s records system. Federal criminal cases are filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis Division for Madison County). The federal court’s PACER system at pacer.uscourts.gov is the access point for federal case records; PACER charges per-page fees for document retrieval.
Exceptions to Indiana’s default-public rule are narrow but real. Juvenile records are confidential under Indiana law and are not accessible through public records requests. Cases that have been expunged under Ind. Code § 35-38-9 are removed from public view — the docket entry may still show that a case existed, but case details are sealed. Victim-identifying information in certain offense categories (sexual assault, domestic violence) may be redacted before records are released. Ongoing investigations may also have portions withheld if disclosure would compromise law enforcement activity.
Practically speaking, if a name search in MyCase returns no results, it means either no case was filed in Madison County’s courts, or the case has been expunged and the public record removed. A no-result in MyCase does not rule out a Sheriff’s booking record that predates a court filing, or a case handled in a different county or federal court.
What’s in a Madison County arrest record?
Pull up a Madison County case in MyCase and you’ll see the court-side record — which is different from what the Sheriff’s booking system holds.
The court docket, accessible through MyCase, typically shows: the case number (formatted as 48D01-YYMM-CM-XXXXXX for Madison County), the defendant’s name, the charges as filed by the prosecutor, the filing date, hearing dates, bond amount set at first appearance, the attorney of record (appointed or retained), and the disposition — guilty plea, dismissal, acquittal, or conviction with sentence. If a case was dismissed or the defendant was acquitted, that disposition appears in the docket. If the case was later expunged, the docket entry may still be visible but case details will be sealed — you’ll see that a case existed at a given case number, but the charge description and parties will not display.
The Sheriff’s booking record, held by the Madison County Sheriff’s Records Division, contains different fields: the booking date and time, the arresting agency, the charges at the time of arrest (which may differ from what the prosecutor later filed), the booking photo, physical descriptors, and the bond amount set at booking. Booking records are generated at arrest — before any court filing — so a booking record can exist even when no case was ever filed in court.
These two systems don’t always match. A charge listed on a booking record may be reduced or dropped by the time the prosecutor files. The attorney of record appears only on the court docket, not in the booking record. Disposition data lives entirely on the court side.
For the Madison County Courthouse’s mugshot release policy, call the Madison County Sheriff’s Office Records Division at (765) 646-9290 — the policy governing public release of booking photos is not posted in detail online. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling any Madison County office.
How to expunge an arrest record in Madison County
If the arrest you’re researching ended without a conviction — a dismissal, a not-guilty verdict, or charges that were never filed — the path to clearing that record in Madison County is relatively straightforward under Indiana law.
Indiana handles all criminal record relief through a single statute: Ind. Code § 35-38-9 (Indiana “Second Chance Law”). There is no separate sealing statute. The law is tiered by offense level, and the tier determines both the waiting period and whether the court must grant the petition or may exercise discretion.
Arrests without a conviction. A person arrested but never convicted — whether because charges were dismissed, the case was acquitted, or no charges were ever filed — can petition to expunge the arrest record one year after the arrest date. Dismissals and acquittals are expunged automatically under the statute, with the order taking effect no sooner than 60 days after entry. This is the most accessible tier: no conviction means no waiting for a sentence to be completed.
Misdemeanor convictions. A misdemeanor conviction can be expunged five years after the date of conviction, provided the person has no other pending criminal charges and has not been convicted of another crime during the waiting period. The court must grant a qualifying petition — it is not discretionary.
Class D and Level 6 felony convictions. These lower-level felonies carry an eight-year waiting period from the conviction date. The court must grant a qualifying petition, same as misdemeanors.
More serious felonies. Higher-level felony convictions may be expunged after the later of eight years from conviction or three years from completing the sentence. The court has discretion to grant or deny. The most serious felonies — those requiring the prosecutor’s written consent — carry a waiting period of the later of ten years from conviction or five years from completing the sentence. Sex offenses, violent offenses, and official-misconduct offenses are excluded from the Second Chance Law entirely.
Filing in Madison County. The petition must be filed in the Madison County court where the conviction occurred. For non-conviction records, file in the county of arrest — Madison County Circuit or Superior Court, located at the Madison County Government Center, 16 East 9th Street, Anderson, IN 46016. Indiana requires that all petitions in a given county be filed together in a single filing. A person effectively gets one lifetime expungement petition per county, so timing matters. Confirm the current filing fee with the Madison County Clerk before submitting; the Clerk’s office accepts cash, money order, cashier’s check, or credit/debit card, and no refunds are issued.
You can file the petition yourself — Indiana’s courts provide self-help forms — or work with a licensed attorney. The Indiana Roll of Attorneys lets you search for licensed counsel, and the Indiana Public Defender Council can point you toward low-cost representation options. After expungement, law enforcement agencies retain access to the sealed record; the public does not. Background checks run through public databases will not show an expunged case.
Quick-contacts decision table
| Resource | What it confirms | What it cannot confirm | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCase — Indiana Courts | Case filings, charges, dispositions, attorney of record, hearing dates in Madison County courts | Booking photos, pre-charge detentions, federal cases, expunged case details | Search by name or case number; free, no account required |
| Madison County Sheriff’s Records Division · (765) 646-9290 | Booking records, arrest logs, incident reports, booking photos (policy — call to confirm) | Court dispositions, attorney of record, expunged records | Call to confirm fee and ID requirements; 720 Central Ave, Anderson, IN 46016 |
| Madison County Jail · (765) 646-9285 | Current custody status | Historical booking records, court case details | Call for custody confirmation; historical records go to Records Division |
| Indiana Judicial Branch — Madison County | Court directory, judge assignments, Clerk contact information | Individual case records (use MyCase for those) | Use to identify the correct court division before filing or calling |
| IDOC Offender Search | State prison incarceration records, IDOC facility assignments | County jail bookings, court docket entries, federal incarceration | Search by name or DOC number; covers IDOC adult facilities including Madison Correctional Facility |
| Nationwide database search | May surface records from other states, federal data, or records predating online portals | Cannot guarantee completeness; not a substitute for official county records | Use as a supplemental check for out-of-state or multi-jurisdiction research |
Sources used for this page, verified 2026-07-23:
- Madison County Sheriff’s Records Division — official records request information and contact details
- Madison County Jail — jail information, booking procedures
- MyCase — Indiana Courts — statewide court case search portal
- Indiana Judicial Branch: Madison County — court directory and clerk contact information
- Madison County Government Center — Hours & Contacts — office hours and general contact information
- Indiana Department of Correction Offender Search — state-level incarceration records
- IDOC: Madison Correctional Facility — facility-level information for state inmates
- Anderson Police Department — city-level arrest records and reporting
- Indiana Access to Public Records Act, Ind. Code § 5-14-3 — open-records framework governing booking record access
- Indiana Second Chance Law, Ind. Code § 35-38-9 — expungement eligibility, waiting periods, and petition procedures
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Frequently asked questions about Madison County arrest records
What’s the fastest way to confirm what’s on a Madison County arrest record?
A name search in MyCase returns court-filed cases immediately — charges, dispositions, and the attorney of record are all visible at no cost. For the booking record itself (which may predate any court filing), contact the Madison County Sheriff’s Records Division at (765) 646-9290; the Records Division is at 720 Central Avenue, Anderson, IN 46016. MyCase covers court-side data; the Sheriff holds the booking-side data. Checking both gives you the complete picture.
How do I get a Madison County arrest record expunged under Indiana’s Second Chance Law?
Under Ind. Code § 35-38-9, an arrest that did not result in a conviction can be petitioned for expungement one year after the arrest date. Dismissals and acquittals are expunged automatically, with the order effective no sooner than 60 days after entry. For conviction-based petitions, the waiting period is five years for misdemeanors and eight years for Class D or Level 6 felonies from the conviction date. File a verified petition in the Madison County court where the conviction occurred — or, for non-conviction records, in the county of arrest. Indiana requires all county petitions to be filed together in a single submission, and each person effectively gets one lifetime petition per county. Confirm the current filing fee with the Madison County Clerk before submitting. The Indiana Roll of Attorneys can help you find licensed counsel if you want attorney-assisted filing.
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