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

The Detention Center

Gary Yochum, Sr. Law Enforcement Complex

Operated byRandolph County Sheriff's Office
Rated capacity118-bed facility
Year builtCompleted in March 2014
FeaturesMedical services, holding cells, suicide watch, four isolation cells and an intoxication tank; interior visitation area with phone at each window
Sheriff's Office address216 Recreation Camp Road, Cuthbert, GA 39840
Jail AdministratorColonel GaBriell Grier, Jail Administrator (Major Frandsen, Assistant Jail Administrator)

Source: Randolph County Sheriff's Office — Detention Center · checked 2026-09-29

Transparency rating

2/10Closed

✓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 — 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

This rates disclosure, not conduct — what Randolph 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 built2014 (completed March 2014)
Original costNot found
Paid for byNot found
Beds118

Since then

Not found

The Sheriff

Sheriff Eddie L. Fairbanks

Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office runs the detention center; its Jail Administrator is on the Sheriff's command staff
How the office is filledElected, four-year term
In office sinceServed as Sheriff of Randolph County since 2013 (per the Sheriff's Office page)
Office address216 Recreation Camp Road, Cuthbert, GA 39840

Still needed

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

Source: Randolph County Sheriff's Office — Office of 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 Randolph County

Superior Court: the Pataula Judicial Circuit, which also serves Clay, Early, Miller, Quitman, Terrell and Seminole. 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 Randolph 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-member commission with staggered terms; 51 Court Street, Cuthbert. BOC minutes 2016–2026 are in the county Document Center.
The boardRandolph County Board of Commissioners →
Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →

Notes on the record

Sheriff's site randolphgasheriff.org opened; confirmed Randolph County, Georgia (Cuthbert). Sheriff Eddie L. Fairbanks named; county site's Sheriff page also names him.
Detention Center page names the Gary Yochum, Sr. Law Enforcement Complex, a 118-bed facility completed in March 2014, under Colonel Grier; Command Staff page lists Colonel GaBriell Grier as Jail Administrator.
No inmate roster, bond guidance, fee rates, PREA, deaths, inspection or contract material found on the sheriff's pages opened.
Budget: the county Document Center's Budget folder shows 'Folder contains no files'; minutes include budget work sessions but no adopted budget document was found.
What was tried: randolphgasheriff.org home, /detention-center-officers, /office-of-the-sheriff, /command-staff, /contact; randolphcountyga.com /board-of-commissioners, /departments, /sheriff, document_center fid=416 and fid=480. The http:// county link from the sheriff site was refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); the https:// version from one search 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 Randolph 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