The Detention Center
Chatham County Detention Center (Chatham County Sheriff's Complex)
- Operated byChatham County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address1050 Carl Griffin Dr, Savannah, Georgia 31405
- Opened1993
- Rated capacity1,224 permanent beds (as stated on the sheriff's Corrections overview)
- Population stated1,455 inmates (2005); 1,739 average (2008) — older figures on the overview page
- ExpansionOverview describes a first phase adding 769 beds (total 1,992), anticipated late 2011 or early 2012, plus kitchen, warehouse, commissary, medical, receiving and discharge, laundry and engineering
- Temporary housingOverview says that in 2005 the county contracted for a 300-bed temporary housing unit
Source: Chatham County Sheriff's Office — Corrections Overview · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
5/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✓Beds and daily population
- ✗What it costs taxpayers — not published
- ✗Deaths in custody — not published
- ✓PREA audits
- ✗Independent inspection — not published
- ✗Who else it holds, and for how much — not published
- ✓How to post bond
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
The Building
You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.
- Year built1993
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- Beds1,224 permanent beds (sheriff's Corrections overview)
Since then
- First phase of 769 beds described as anticipated late 2011 or early 2012 (sheriff's Corrections overview); completion not confirmed on pages opened
The Sheriff
Sheriff Richard S. Coleman
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office operates the Chatham County Detention Center (Corrections division) at 1050 Carl Griffin Dr, Savannah
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- BackgroundDescribed on the sheriff's site as a Savannah native and 30-year Georgia-certified peace officer
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Chatham County Sheriff's Office — Meet the Sheriff · 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 Chatham County
- Superior Court: the Eastern Judicial Circuit, which serves Chatham County alone. 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 Chatham 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 site says agendas, minutes and videos have moved to a Commission portal.
- The boardChatham County Board of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site names the Detention Center, its address, 1993 opening and 1,224 permanent beds; population figures on that page date from 2005 and 2008.
- Roster: the sheriff publishes 24-hour and 72-hour booking lists (https://sheriff.chathamcountyga.gov/Corrections/Bookings?days=1), not a list of everyone currently in custody, so roster is recorded no.
- Bond page lists bonding companies, cash, card, online, property and out-of-county bonds, and a $20 non-refundable bonding fee.
- Fees: video visits from home cost 11 cents per minute ($2.20 for 20 minutes); deposits and ATM transactions carry a $2.50 fee; the inmate handbook lists $5 medical visit and $5 prescription charges.
- PREA: the inmate handbook (August 2023 edition, hosted on the county CDN) has a PREA section with zero-tolerance policy and reporting channels.
- Budget: the county's current budget is on a ClearGov page that our reader could not render; the county-hosted budget PDFs could not be opened (rate-limited / refused), so budget is recorded no.
- What was tried: https://cccdn.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/Files/ChathamCounty/Finance/Revenue%20Ordinance/Revenue_Ordinance_2026_Adopted_06-26-26.pdf refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); https://cccdn.blob.core.windows.net/cdn/Files/ChathamCounty/Finance/Adopted%20Budgets/2019-2020/FY2020AdoptedBudget.pdf refused (HTTP 429 rate limit).
- No PREA audit, inspection report, death-in-custody record or published contract found on the pages opened.
- 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 Chatham 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