The Detention Center
Spalding County Detention Center
- Operated bySpalding County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address401 Justice Blvd, Griffin, GA 30224
- Who is heldPre-trial, post-trial and probationer inmates
- VisitationNo in-person visitation; video visits through JailATM
- FY2027 budgetJail (3350): $13,148,458; Sheriff Administration (3300): $2,603,071
- Rated capacityNot found
- Separate county facilitySpalding County Correctional Institution houses about 225 state inmates under contract with the Georgia Department of Corrections; run by the Board of Commissioners, not the sheriff
- Jail AdministratorMajor Robert Pauls, Detention Commander and Jail Administrator (Detention page: https://www.spaldingsheriff.org/pages/Detention.html)
Source: Spalding County Sheriff's Office — Detention · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
6/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✗Beds and daily population — not published
- ✓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
- ✓How to post bond
- ✓Phone, video and commissary rates
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 Darrell Dix
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office Detention Division operates the Spalding County Detention Center
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term; sheriff's page says he has served since 2017
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Spalding County Sheriff's Office — 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 Spalding County
- Superior Court: the Griffin Judicial Circuit, which also serves Pike, Upson and Fayette. 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 Spalding 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-member Board of Commissioners elected by district.
- The boardSpalding County Board of Commissioners →
- Where the jail money is decidedAgendas and minutes →
Notes on the record
- Directory website first refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED); one search returned the sheriff's Detention page, and the sheriff's pages then opened; confirmed Georgia (Griffin).
- Opened Detention, Sheriff, Inmate Services, Bonding, Phones, Visitation, Messaging, Commissary, Inmate Account, Security Teams, About Us, FAQ, CALEA and Sheriff To Citizen pages.
- Sheriff To Citizen page says the portal shows 'People in custody at the Spalding County Jail and their charges' and bond amounts.
- Bonding page explains cash, property, out-of-county property and professional bonds, and a $20.00 bond fee on all bonds (O.C.G.A. 15-16-21).
- Inmate Account page lists fees charged to inmates: $5.00 medical appointment fee per visit and $5.00 for a replacement ID card.
- Phones moved from Securus to IC Solutions effective May 7, 2025; phone, video-visit and messaging rates are not published (JailATM / IC Solutions).
- County's own page says the Spalding County Correctional Institution houses about 225 state inmates under a contractual obligation to the Georgia Department of Corrections — recorded under contracts.
- FY2027 approved county budget: Jail (3350) $13,148,458; Sheriff Administration (3300) $2,603,071; Correctional Institution (3420) $6,500,000.
- CALEA accreditation (November 11, 2023) is described but no assessment report is posted.
- No capacity, deaths, PREA or inspection-report material found on the sheriff's pages.
- 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 Spalding 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