Find Tattnall County 72 Hour Booking Records

Tattnall County 72 hour booking records are maintained by the Tattnall County Sheriff's Office in Reidsville. The county jail handles all local arrests, and Tattnall County is also home to a major Georgia state prison facility.

Tattnall County Sheriff's Office

Sheriff Kyle Sapp leads the Tattnall County Sheriff's Office. The mailing address is PO Box 545, Reidsville, GA 30453. Call 912-557-6777 for booking inquiries. The sheriff's office is the sole agency that processes bookings in the county. Local police departments bring their arrests to the county jail for booking.

Tattnall County does not have an online inmate lookup tool. You need to call the jail directly or visit in person. Give the staff the full name of the person you are looking for and the approximate arrest date. They can tell you if someone is in custody, the charges, and the bond amount. Have a pen handy because they may give you the info all at once.

One thing that makes Tattnall County different from most Georgia counties is the presence of Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. This is a state facility, not a county jail. People housed there have already been convicted and sentenced. The county jail is separate and handles pretrial detainees and recent bookings. Do not confuse the two. If you are looking for someone who was just arrested, you want the county jail. If they were convicted and sentenced to state time, the Georgia State Prison is a different system entirely.

Tattnall County sits in the Middle Judicial Circuit. The magistrate court in Reidsville handles first appearances, bond hearings, and warrant reviews. All of these tie back to the booking record created at the county jail.

The 72 Hour Booking Process

Georgia's O.C.G.A. § 17-4-26 requires a first appearance hearing within 72 hours of a warrant arrest. This is the legal basis for 72 hour booking records. The magistrate judge reads the charges, tells the person their rights, and may set bond. In Tattnall County, these hearings take place at the courthouse in Reidsville.

Warrantless arrests have a 48 hour deadline under O.C.G.A. § 17-4-62. Deputies may arrest someone without a warrant when they witness a crime. Drug stops on the highways that run through Tattnall County lead to a fair number of these. The 48 hour hearing must happen regardless of weekends or holidays.

At booking, jail staff record everything. Name, date of birth, charges, arresting agency, time of arrest, and personal details all go on the booking sheet. They take a photo and fingerprints too. The booking record is a permanent file. It stays in the system even after the person bonds out or gets released.

Because Tattnall County has Georgia State Prison within its borders, some people confuse county bookings with state prison records. County bookings happen when someone is first arrested. State prison records are for convicted inmates serving time. The Georgia Department of Corrections offender search handles the state side.

Use that tool to look up anyone who has been sentenced and sent to state prison. It is free and shows current facility, sentence length, and projected release.

Public Access to Tattnall County Records

Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72, booking records in Georgia are open to the public. The Georgia Open Records Act lets anyone request these documents. You do not need to explain why you want them. The sheriff's office has three business days to respond to your request.

You can submit a request by calling 912-557-6777, mailing a letter to PO Box 545, Reidsville, GA 30453, or going to the office in person. Include the person's name and arrest date. Specify which records you want. The office may charge a fee for copies. The cost is low, usually a few cents per page.

Booking photos have extra rules under O.C.G.A. § 35-1-19. The sheriff cannot give booking photos to anyone who will post them on a site that charges people to remove the image. Standard open records requests for photos still work if you have a legitimate purpose.

For a statewide criminal history check that goes beyond Tattnall County, contact the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) at 404-244-2639. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37, the GCIC can pull records from all 159 Georgia counties.

Statewide Search Resources

The VINE notification system is a free way to track someone after a Tattnall County booking. Register for alerts by phone, text, or email. You will be notified when the person is released, transferred, or has a court date. The VINE phone line is 833-216-6670.

The Georgia Sheriffs' Association has a county-by-county directory of all sheriff offices. This is useful for reaching out to any of the counties around Tattnall if you think the arrest may have happened elsewhere.

That directory provides quick access to phone numbers and addresses for every sheriff in the state. Use it alongside the GDC and VINE tools to build a full picture of an arrest and its outcome.

72 Hour Booking Record Restriction

Georgia's First Offender Act, covered under O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60, allows some booking records to be restricted. If someone completed their sentence under this act, they can petition the court to hide the record from public view. Once granted, the booking will not appear on most background checks.

Not every offense qualifies. Violent crimes and sex offenses are typically excluded. The person must have completed all terms of their sentence, including any probation and fines. The clerk of superior court in Reidsville can provide details on whether a specific Tattnall County record has been restricted.

Restricted records still exist in law enforcement databases. Police and prosecutors can see them. But for a regular public search, the booking will not come up. This is one reason why you might not find a record you expected to see.

Nearby Counties

Tattnall County is in southeast Georgia. Several counties border it, and some arrests near the edges of the county may end up in a different jail. Check these if you cannot find the booking you need.