The Detention Center
Jeff Davis County Detention Center
- Operated byJeff Davis County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address222 Lumber City Hwy, Hazlehurst, GA 31539
- StaffingJail Administrator, Assistant Jail Administrator, a nurse and a doctor, and jailers numbered J3–J28
- Inmate depositscommissarydeposit.com and a 24/7 lobby kiosk
- Video visitationHomeWAV
- Jail AdministratorDexter Conaway, Jail Administrator
Source: Jeff Davis County Detention Center — home page · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
1/10Closed- ✓The jail is named
- ✗Who is in custody — not published
- ✗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 builtNot found
- Original costNot found
- Paid for byNot found
- BedsNot found
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Preston Bohannon
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office runs the Jeff Davis County Detention Center; the detention center staff page lists the Sheriff at the top
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- Office address15 Public Safety Drive, Hazlehurst, GA 31539 (county page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Jeff Davis County Sheriff's Office — Our Officers · 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 Jeff Davis County
- Superior Court: the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, which also serves Appling, Camden, Glynn and Wayne. 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 Jeff Davis 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.
- NoteFive district commissioners; minutes posted for 2019–2022 only
- The boardJeff Davis County Board of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Sheriff site jdsoga.com opened and confirmed Jeff Davis County, Georgia; it names Preston Bohannon as Sheriff, matching the directory lead. The county's own Sheriff's Office page names him too.
- Sheriff's detention center site jdsodc.com names the Jeff Davis County Detention Center at 222 Lumber City Hwy, Hazlehurst, and its staff page names the Jail Administrator and Assistant Jail Administrator.
- Detention center Bondsman Info page lists two bonding companies only; no guidance on how to post bond, bond types or a schedule, so bond_info is scored no.
- Public Links page points to commissarydeposit.com and HomeWAV video visitation; no rates published. No roster, capacity, PREA, deaths, inspection or contract material found.
- County site jeffdaviscountyga.gov opened after one search: gives Hazlehurst as county seat and posts BOC minutes for 2019–2022; no budget or audit documents found on the pages opened.
- Sheriff posts a Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report quarterly jail report on its blog (not 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 Jeff Davis 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