O.C.G.A.
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
(a) By virtue of their offices, sheriffs are jailers of the counties and
have the authority to appoint other jailers, subject to the supervision of the county governing authority, as prescribed by law. (b) By virtue of their offices, chiefs of police are the jailers of the municipal corporations and have the authority to appoint other jailers, subject to the supervision of the municipal governing authority, as prescribed by law. Each jailer of a municipal corporation shall maintain the records required of sheriffs by subsection (a) of Code Section 42-4-7.
History
Orig. Code 1863, § 331; Code 1868, § 392; Code 1873, § 356; Code 1882, § 356; Penal Code 1895, § 1120; Penal
Code 1910, § 1149; Code 1933, § 77-101; Ga. L. 1988, p. 266, § 1.
Annotations
Cross references. Sheriffs generally, § 15-16-1 et seq.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS Liability of sheriff for prisoner’s death. - After a prisoner has been placed in the custody of and accepted by a sheriff through the sheriff’s deputy, the jailor of the county, and when the prisoner is drunk and as a result of the prisoner’s drunkenness sets fire to himself and is burned to death, the sheriff and the sureties on the sheriff’s official bond are not liable to the dependents of the deceased prisoner, upon the ground that the jailor was negligent in incarcerating the prisoner in a cell by alone without first searching the prisoner and removing from the prisoner’s any object or article with which the prisoner might inflict injury upon himself or others, such as matches, and on the ground that the jailor did not respond to the drunken cries of the prisoner for help. Kendrick v. Adamson, 51 Ga. App. 402, 180 S.E. 647, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 713 (1935). Liability of municipality for bail policy. - In Georgia, a municipality had
power under O.C.G.A. § 36-35-3(a) and Ga. Unif. Mun. Ct. R. 18.1 and under the municipality’s charter to set a bail policy for its municipal court, and its police also had authority under O.C.G.A. §§ 17-62(b) and 42-4-1(b); therefore, the municipality could be held liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for constitutional violations relating to the municipality’s bail policy. Walker v. City of Calhoun, 901 F.3d 1245, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 23570 (11th Cir. 2018), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 1446, 203 L. Ed. 2d 681, 2019 U.S. LEXIS 2446 (2019). Sheriff of county has a statutory duty to accept all city prisoners and the county commissioners have authority to require the sheriff to do so. Griffin v. Chatham County, 244 Ga. 628, 261 S.E.2d 570, 1979 Ga. LEXIS 1354 (1979).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Person arrested by a campus police officer for violation of a state criminal law should be incarcerated in the county jail as the sheriff is, by virtue of the sheriff’s office, the county jailer; whether the accused is to be admitted to bail and the amount thereof are matters which are addressed to the commitment court. 1970 Op. Att’y Gen. No. 70-69.
No surcharge payment as condition to serving sentence. - Sheriff must accept into custody those individuals convicted of criminal offenses who have been sentenced to a term of incarceration, and the sheriff may not require payment of a surcharge as a condition precedent to service of the sentence. 1992 Op. Att’y Gen. No. U92-4.
RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 60 Am. Jur. 2d, Penal and Correctional Institutions, § 17 et seq. C.J.S. 72 C.J.S., Prisons and Rights of Prison-
ers, §§ 12 et seq., 114. 80 C.J.S., Sheriffs and Constables, § 32.
Notes of Decisions
City of Hapeville Et Al. v. Grady Mem'l Hosp. Corp., 761 S.E.2d 871 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014).
· cites it 12× “17 And OCGA § 42-4-1 et seq. contains a separate section addressing medical charges for emergency medical care services provided to inmates by medical facilities, and this subsection includes “municipal and county jail” in its definition, thereby making some provisions contained…”
Maurice Walker v. City of Calhoun, GA, 901 F.3d 1245 (11th Cir. 2018).
“§ 17-6-2 (b) ; see also Ga. Code Ann. § 42-4-1 (b) ("[C]hiefs of police are the jailers of the municipal corporations.”
Michael Leslie Lake v. Michael Skelton, 840 F.3d 1334 (11th Cir. 2016).
“See Ga. Code Ann. § 42-4-1 (b) (“[C]hiefs of police are the jailers of the municipal corporations and have the authority to appoint other jailers, subject to the supervision of the municipal governing authority, as prescribed by law.”
Manders v. Lee, 285 F.3d 983 (11th Cir. 2002).
· cites it 3× “For example, O.C.G.A. § 42-4-1 provides: “By virtue of their offices, sheriffs are jailers of the counties and have authority to appoint other jailers, subject to the supervision of the county governing authority, as prescribed by law.”
Jeffrey Stanley v. Broward Cnty. Sheriff, 843 F.3d 920 (11th Cir. 2016).
“Ga. Code Ann. § 42-4-1 (a). In sharp contrast, Florida creates a separate position of CCO that is responsible for overseeing county jails.”
Boyd v. Nichols, 616 F. Supp. 2d 1331 (M.D. Ga. 2009).
· cites it 4× “, O.C.G.A. §§ 42-4-1 and 42-5-2(a). Those statutes led the Dukes court to find that the sheriff was not an “arm of the State” for the particular function of providing medical care.”
Oqueshia Andrews v. Carmel Biggers, Jr., 996 F.3d 1235 (11th Cir. 2021).
“” O.C.G.A. § 42-4-1(a). Georgia courts also have consistently held that “a lawsuit against a sheriff in his official capacity is considered a suit against the county[.”
Davis v. State, 353 S.E.2d 7 (Ga. Ct. App. 1987).
· cites it 2× “shall award good-time allowances to such inmates based on institutional behavior.”
Colquitt Elec. Membership Corp. v. City of Moultrie, 399 S.E.2d 497 (Ga. Ct. App. 1990).
· cites it 2× “(See OCGA § 42-4-1 et seq.) Additionally, the hearing officer found that the City and Colquitt County had agreed that city prisoners will be housed in the county jail, and the City will pay the county an agreed per-prisoner per diem rate.”
Willie Santonio Manders v. Thurman Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2002).
· cites it 5× “O.C.G.A. § 42-4-1 provides: "By virtue of *1312 their offices, sheriffs are jailers of the counties and have the authority to appoint other jailers, subject to the supervision of the county governing authority, as prescribed by law.”
City of Hapeville Et Al. v. Grady Mem'l Hosp. Corp., 783 S.E.2d 372 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016).
· cites it 2× “[And] while there seems to be some distinction made by the Legislature in its treatment of municipal jailers and county jailers, OCGA § 42-5-2 (b) specifically covers inmates to whom OCGA § 42-4-1 et seq. applies, thereby including inmates held by municipal corporations.”
— 42-4-1(a) — 2 cases
Oqueshia Andrews v. Carmel Biggers, Jr., 996 F.3d 1235 (11th Cir. 2021).
“” O.C.G.A. § 42-4-1(a). Georgia courts also have consistently held that “a lawsuit against a sheriff in his official capacity is considered a suit against the county[.”
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