Habersham County, Georgia — The Jail, the Sheriff, the Judges

The Detention Center

Habersham County Detention Center

Operated byHabersham County Sheriff's Office — Jail Division
Jail address1000 Detention Drive, Clarkesville, GA 30523
Rated capacity130 inmates
Daily populationBetween 150 and 230, with up to 60 or more held in out-of-county facilities
BuiltMid-1990s
Visitation and phonesPaytel video visitation and telephones
Commissary depositsJailATM
State certificationFirst certified by the State of Georgia in June 2013 (Sheriff's Office)
Jail AdministratorCaptain Amber Chastain, Captain of Jail Division (Major Les Hendrix over Jail/Court Services)

Source: Habersham County Sheriff's Office — Jail Division · 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
✗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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Habersham County publishes about a jail its taxpayers own, checked 2026-09-29. Nothing here says the jail is run well or badly. Every mark moves the moment the county posts the document.

The Building

You paid for it. Here is what the record says it cost.

Year builtMid-1990s
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds130 (daily population 150-230; overflow held out of county)

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Robin Krockum

Runs the jailYes — Georgia sheriffs are the jailers of their counties by law (O.C.G.A. 42-4-1)
CurrentNamed on the Sheriff's Office administration page and the county's Sheriff page
Took officeJanuary 1, 2025 (per Sheriff's Office administration page)
How the office is filledElected, four-year term

Still needed

Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail

Source: Habersham County Sheriff's Office — Administration · 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 Habersham County

Superior Court: the Mountain Judicial Circuit, which also serves Banks, Rabun and Stephens. 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 Habersham County Magistrate Court. For most charges a magistrate sets bail soon after arrest.

Still needed

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.
NoteFive commissioners elected at-large for staggered four-year terms
The boardHabersham County Board of Commissioners →
Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →

Notes on the record

Sheriff site habershamsheriff.com confirmed Habersham County, Georgia (Clarkesville).
Jail page: built mid-1990s with capacity for 130; daily count 150-230 with up to 60 or more in out-of-county facilities. No roster link found.
County Year In Review (FY ended June 30, 2025) lists a Jail Fund (special revenue) and Sheriff vehicle/equipment project budget; it notes the Sheriff identified the need for a new jail.
Bonding page explains professional, property, online cash and transfer bonds; a $20 cash-only sheriff's bonding fee applies to all but municipal bonds.
Paytel phone/video and JailATM named, but no call, video or commissary rates published.
State certification page (first certified June 2013) posts no inspection or audit report. Quarterly Immigration Report PDFs (HB1105) are posted.
No PREA, deaths-in-custody or contract material found.
What was tried: http://www.habershamga.com root refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); county pages reached via one search. FY2026 budget document-center links did not render budget content.
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 Habersham 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