The Detention Center
Charles Durst Detention Center
- Operated byToombs County Sheriff's Office
- Jail address357 N.W. Broad St, Lyons, GA 30436
- Rated capacity"220-bed facility"
- Jail phone912-526-6778
- VisitationRemote visits 7am–11pm daily; free onsite kiosk visits Tue/Wed/Fri, scheduled via Correct Solutions
Source: Toombs County Sheriff's Office — Detention Center · checked 2026-09-29
Transparency rating
4/10Partial- ✓The jail is named
- ✓Who is in custody
- ✓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
- ✗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
- Beds220 (sheriff's Detention Center page)
Since then
- Not found
The Sheriff
Sheriff Jordan Kight
- Runs the jailYes — the Sheriff's Office runs the Charles Durst Detention Center (O.C.G.A. 42-4-1)
- How the office is filledElected, four-year term
- CurrentSheriff's own site shows 'Sheriff Kight' ('A Word From The Sheriff'); first name from the Georgia Sheriffs' Association 2026 Directory
- Detention budget requested vs. approved, by year
- Jail staffing levels and vacancy rate
- Lawsuits and settlements involving the jail
Source: Toombs County Sheriff's Office — A Word From 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 Toombs County
- Superior Court: the Middle Judicial Circuit, which also serves Emanuel, Jefferson, Washington and Candler. 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 Toombs 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.
- NoteCounty government site toombscountyga.gov could not be opened (refused / rate-limited); governing body not confirmed on a county page.
- The boardNot found
- Where the jail money is decidedNot found
Notes on the record
- Sheriff's site confirmed as Toombs County, Lyons, Georgia; Detention Center page names the Charles Durst Detention Center, a 220-bed facility.
- Detention Center page links the Sheriff's inmate search at toombs-so-ga.zuercherportal.com.
- Approved Bonding Agencies page: bonds over $15,000 approved during business hours; property bonds need address, lien signature and proof of ownership; approved bonding companies listed. No bond schedule.
- Helpful Information page names phone (CSG), video (JailATM) and messaging vendors but publishes no fee rates.
- A 'Quarterly Jail Report HB 1105' page exists, but its content is images our reader could not read; no figures recorded from it.
- Detention Center page refers to a Chief Jailer/Jail Administrator without a name.
- County seat recorded from the sheriff's Lyons address; the page does not use the words 'county seat'.
- What was tried: toombscosheriff.org home, A Word From The Sheriff, Administration, Detention Center, Helpful Information, Ways to Send Money, After Release, Quarterly Jail Report, Approved Bonding Agencies, Public Services. toombscountyga.gov: http refused (PROVENANCE_REQUIRED), https rate-limited (HTTP 429) — county budget and minutes not examined.
- 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 Toombs 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