2020 Georgia Code
Title 42 - Penal Institutions
Chapter 4 - Jails
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 42-4-12. Penalty for Refusal by Officer to Receive Persons Charged With or Guilty of Offense
Except as otherwise provided in this Code section, any sheriff, constable, keeper of a jail, or other officer whose duty it is to receive persons charged with or guilty of an indictable offense who refuses to receive and take charge of such a person shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.00. A sheriff, constable, keeper of a jail, or other officer whose duty it is to receive persons charged with or guilty of an indictable offense shall be authorized to refuse acceptance of any person who has not received medical treatment for obvious physical injuries or conditions of an emergency nature. Upon such refusal, it shall be the responsibility of the arresting agency to take the individual to a health care facility or health care provider in order to secure a medical release. Upon medical release by the health care facility or health care provider, the sheriff, constable, or keeper of the jail must assume custody of the individual; provided, however, that in all cases the sheriff, constable, or keeper of the jail must assume custody where no health care facility is located in the county in which the arrest occurred and, in such instances, the governing authority of the arresting agency shall pay all costs related to the medical release.
(Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 807; Code 1863, § 4380; Code 1868, § 4418; Code 1873, § 4486; Code 1882, § 4486; Penal Code 1895, § 285; Penal Code 1910, § 289; Code 1933, § 77-9902; Ga. L. 1996, p. 1638, § 1.)
Law reviews.- For review of 1996 legislation relating to jails, see 13 Ga. U. L. Rev. 269 and 273 (1996).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Implied right to refuse persons not charged with indictable offense.
- This section by implication gives the sheriff a right to refuse to receive any prisoner who is not charged with or guilty of an indictable offense, in that the only penalties provided are for refusal to receive persons charged with or guilty of indictable offenses. Tate v. National Sur. Corp., 58 Ga. App. 874, 200 S.E. 314 (1938).
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).
Cited in Smith v. Glen Falls Indem. Co., 71 Ga. App. 697, 32 S.E.2d 105 (1944); Manders v. Lee, 338 F.3d 1304 (11th Cir. 2003).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
No surcharge payment as condition of 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.
