2021 Georgia Code
Title 42 - Penal Institutions
Chapter 4 - Jails
Article 1 - General Provisions
§ 42-4-1. Appointment of County and Municipal Jailers

1. 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.
2. 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.

(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.)

- Sheriffs generally, T. 15, C. 16.

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).

- 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. §§ 17-6-2(b) and42-4-1(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 (11th Cir. 2018), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 1446, 203 L. Ed. 2d 681 (U.S. 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).

Cited in Chappell v. Kilgore, 196 Ga. 591, 27 S.E.2d 89 (1943); Howington v. Wilson, 213 Ga. 664, 100 S.E.2d 726 (1957).

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.

- 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, §§ 20, 21.

- 72 C.J.S., Prisons and Rights of Prisoners, §§ 12-14, 115. 80 C.J.S., Sheriffs and Constables, § 32.