Chatham County Jail

The Chatham County Jail has been in operation for over 90 years in Savannah, Georgia. The jail housed approximately 300 inmates with the average being around 270 inmates per day in its early days. The jail was moved to Montgomery Street in 1978 to be located next to the Chatham County Judicial Complex.

The facility is not large enough to house the number of inmates required, this resulted in a federal court order being placed that sets the maximum amount of inmates, therefore the jail required expansion.

The jail opened a new extension to the facility off Chatham Parkway in 1988, and then in 1989 required another expansion to facilitate the number of inmates arriving at the jail. Construction began on another facility next to the current Detention Center and in 1993 the Detention Center comprised of 5 units.

Even with the expansions the jail had the capacity to house 1224 inmates, it was realized in 2010 that the jail was running over capacity and another extension was required. A temporary housing unit was created to ease the overcrowding, although ongoing construction is in the process to be able to house up to 2800 inmates by the year 2012.

The Chatham County Jail continues to increase the size of their premises to unfortunately cope with the increase in crime rates, although the jail is continuing to work on other ways to diver inmates from incarceration such as work release programs and mental heath centers.