The Detention Center
Not found
- Operated byScreven County Sheriff's Office
- Sheriff's Office address202 Rocky Ford Road, Sylvania, GA 30467 (jail address not separately stated)
- VisitationSaturday and Sunday, 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM, by scheduled time slot (FAQ page)
- StaffAdministration page lists 13 jailers and 3 detail & transport officers; no jail administrator title
Source: Screven County Sheriff's Office — FAQ's · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
0/10Closed- ✗The jail is named — not published
- ✗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 Norman Royal
- Runs the jailYes — the sheriff's Administration page lists a staff of jailers under Sheriff Norman Royal; FAQ page gives jail visitation rules
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; elected November 5, 2024, took office January 1, 2025 (sheriff's About Us page)
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Screven 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 Screven County
- Superior Court: the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit, which also serves Bulloch, Effingham and Jenkins. 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 Screven 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.
- NoteThe sheriff's Links page points to screvencountyboc.com, but that site was refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED).
- The boardNot found
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site opened and confirmed Georgia (Sylvania); Home, About Us, Administration, Join Us, FAQ's, Links, Contact Us and News pages opened.
- The site does not give the jail a name; the About Us page only shows a photo caption of the 'historic Screven county jail'.
- FAQ page: 'How do I look-up an inmate?' has no working answer; visitation is Saturday and Sunday 12:00–4:00 PM; inmate funds accepted by certified check, cashier's check or money order — no fee rates.
- News page mentions a Georgia Criminal Alien Track and Report Act quarterly jail report for 2025 (a state-required report, not an inspection).
- Join Us page is recruiting full-time deputy jailers.
- No roster, capacity, budget, deaths, PREA, inspection, contract, bond or fee material found on the sheriff's pages.
- What was tried: https://www.screvencountyboc.com/ticket (linked from the sheriff's Links page) refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); no search spent on Screven.
- 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 Screven 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