The Detention Center
Catoosa County Jail
- Operated byCatoosa County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address5842 Highway 41, Ringgold, GA 30736
- Capacity248 inmates (as published)
- OpenedSeptember 2002
- Size54,000 square feet
- VisitationDaily 9:30 a.m.–9:30 p.m., 20-minute visits
- Bookings, Q2 2026913 inmates booked (sheriff's Criminal Alien Track quarterly report)
- Jail AdministratorCindy Graham, Jail Administrator
Source: Catoosa County Sheriff's Office — General Information · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗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
- ✗Phone, video and commissary rates — not published
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year builtOpened September 2002
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds248 inmates
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Gary Sisk
- Runs the jailYes — Georgia sheriffs are the jailers of their counties (O.C.G.A. 42-4-1)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term (current term 2025–2028)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Catoosa County Sheriff's Office — home page · 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 Catoosa County
- Superior Court: the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, which also serves Dade, Chattooga and Walker. 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 Catoosa 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.
- NoteCounty home page names the board but our reader could not see its agenda/minutes links.
- The boardCatoosa County Board of Commissioners
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's own home page names Sheriff Gary Sisk.
- General Information page names the Catoosa County Jail, 5842 Highway 41, Ringgold: 248-inmate capacity, opened September 2002, 54,000 sq ft; Jail Administrator Cindy Graham.
- Inmate Related page links the sheriff's Zuercher portal for current inmates.
- Bonding Information page has Types of Bonds, Bonding Companies and Bond Fees sections (our reader saw the headings but not their text); First Appearance Hearings page explains that a magistrate sets bonds and conditions at daily 1:00 p.m. hearings; General Information states the $20 State of Georgia bond fee (cash only).
- Phone, commissary and kiosk messaging run through vendors (inmatesales.com, inmatecanteen.com); messaging is 'fee-based and set by the commissary provider' — no rates published, so fees left 'no'.
- Criminal Alien Track quarterly report (Q2 2026): 913 booked, 40 immigration detainers.
- Strategic Plan sets a goal of completing bond releases within one hour of authorization; no PREA, inspection, deaths, contract or budget material found on the sheriff's site.
- Home page links a CALEA accreditation record (cimrs2.calea.org), which is not the county posting an inspection report; not opened.
- Ringgold is the jail's and sheriff's address; county site did not expose a page stating the county seat.
- What was tried: catoosacountysheriff.com (opened; Inmate Related, General Information, Bonding Information, First Appearance Hearings, Criminal Alien Track report, Strategic Plan opened); catoosacountyga.gov home opened but our reader could not see its link URLs. No search spent.
- 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 Catoosa 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