The Detention Center
Berrien County Sheriff's Office Jail
- Operated byBerrien County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address500 County Farm Rd, Nashville, GA 31639
- Jail phone229-686-7664
- BuiltNew Sheriff's Department and jail facility constructed in 2004 (per the sheriff's Old Jail page)
- Earlier jailsHistoric jail built 1903; a replacement jail built 1965
- VisitationVideo only, by appointment made 24 hours in advance
Source: Berrien County Sheriff's Office — Inmate Mail · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
2/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✗PREA audits — not published
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✗How to post bond — not published
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built2004
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Ray Paulk
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's page describes his 'law enforcement and jail operation duties'
- Budget statedSheriff's page cites a 3.6 million dollar budget for law enforcement and jail operations
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Berrien County Sheriff's Office — Sheriff Paulk · checked 2026-09-29
The Judges
Georgia's superior court judges are elected state judges who hear felony cases. For most charges a county magistrate sets bail soon after arrest; for the most serious felonies only a superior court judge can.
Who sets bail in Berrien County
- Superior Court: the Alapaha Judicial Circuit, which also serves Atkinson, Clinch, Cook and Lanier. Superior court judges are elected circuit-wide in nonpartisan elections to four-year terms and hear felony cases; for the most serious felonies only a superior court judge can set bail.
- Magistrate Court: the Berrien County Magistrate Court. For most charges a magistrate sets bail soon after arrest.
- The county's bond schedule
- Share of the jail population held pretrial
- Median time from booking to first appearance
Source: the state judiciary · checked 2026-09-29
The Board of Commissioners
They pay for the jail. The sheriff runs it.
- What they controlThe county budget that funds the sheriff's office and the jail, and the jail building itself. Some small counties have a sole commissioner; consolidated governments such as Athens-Clarke, Augusta-Richmond, Columbus and Macon-Bibb have a commission instead.
- What they don'tDay-to-day operations. By law the sheriff is the jailer of the county and appoints the other jailers, subject to the governing authority's supervision (O.C.G.A. 42-4-1). No state agency inspects the jail.
- The boardBerrien County Board Of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff site and county site (berriencountygeorgia.com) both confirmed Berrien County, Georgia; county site names Nashville as county seat.
- Both sites name Sheriff Ray Paulk. Sheriff site links an 'Inmate Information' lookup (offenderindex.com/berriencoga).
- FAQ publishes visitation (video, by appointment), commissary deposit methods and phone-account vendor, but no rates.
- No bond guidance, capacity, PREA, deaths, inspection or contract material found.
- County document library pages (Forms & Documents, Archived, County Notices) did not render their lists to our reader; no budget document could be seen.
- Search used: 1 (to find the county government site).
- State inspection/oversight: Georgia law makes the sheriff the county's jailer. The Georgia Sheriffs' Association, an association of the state's sheriffs rather than a state agency, publishes jail standards and a statewide monthly jail report.
These three offices decide who sits in a cell in Berrien County and what it costs the people who live here. Nationally, almost 77% of the people who died in local jails in 2019 had not been convicted of anything, and suicide was the leading single cause of those deaths (Bureau of Justice Statistics, Mortality in Local Jails, 2000–2019).
How much is your sheriff — and your judge — costing you?
Your VOTE is POWERFUL.
The sheriff is elected. So are the commissioners who pay for the jail, and the judges who set bail.
Names verified 2026-09-29 · dollars and outcomes still being gathered