Early County Booking Releases

Early County booking releases are maintained by the Early County Sheriff's Office in Blakely, Georgia. This small county in the southwest corner of the state handles all jail bookings through its detention facility. The Sheriff's Office logs every arrest and release, keeping records that the public can access under Georgia law. Blakely serves as the county seat and is where the main law enforcement offices are located. While the volume of bookings is lower here than in urban areas, the same state laws govern how records are stored and made available to the public.

Sheriff and Jail Records

The Early County Sheriff's Office is the sole agency responsible for booking releases in the county. Based in Blakely, the office runs the county jail and keeps records for every inmate. You can call the Sheriff's Office to ask about current inmates or past releases.

Under O.C.G.A. § 42-4-7, the sheriff must keep a record of each person held in the county jail. This law applies to every county in Georgia, including Early County. The record must have the person's name, booking date, charges, and release date. These records are part of the jail's management system and go back years.

Because Early County is small, the jail does not hold as many inmates as the metro counties. But the record-keeping rules are the same. Every booking and every release gets logged in the system.

How to Find Booking Releases

Early County does not have a public online inmate search tool. To find booking release records, you will need to contact the Sheriff's Office directly. Call and ask about the person you are looking for. Staff can check the system and let you know if someone is held, has been released, or if a record exists.

For official copies, submit a written open records request. Georgia's Open Records Act at O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 gives you the right to ask for these records. Early County must respond within three business days. The first 15 minutes of search time are free, and copies cost $0.10 per page.

The Georgia Sheriffs' Association website lists contact information for every county sheriff's office in the state.

You can use this directory to find the phone number and address for the Early County Sheriff's Office or any neighboring county.

Put your request in writing and include the person's name. A date of birth or approximate arrest date helps the staff find the right record quickly. You can mail the request to the Sheriff's Office in Blakely or drop it off in person during business hours.

Open Records Process

Open records requests for Early County booking releases follow the same process as the rest of Georgia. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71, you do not need to give a reason for your request. Just describe what records you need, and the county must provide them if they are public.

The three-day response window starts when the county gets your request. They can send you the records, deny the request with a legal basis, or ask for more time if the search is complex. Most booking release requests are straightforward and should not take long.

Standard fees apply. Copies are $0.10 per page, and the first 15 minutes of staff search time are free. Anything over that may come with a reasonable charge for the extra work.

What Booking Releases Include

Early County booking release records contain the person's full name, date of birth, physical description, charges, booking date, arresting agency, and release date. The record also shows how the person was released, such as by bond, transfer, or time served. Each record is tied to a booking number that the jail assigns when someone is brought in.

Booking photographs fall under O.C.G.A. § 35-1-18, which has its own rules about release. Some records may be exempt from public access under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72, particularly if they involve juvenile cases or sealed court orders. Adult booking releases are generally available.

Statewide Booking Release Resources

You can also search state-level databases if you think someone was moved from Early County to a state facility. The Georgia Department of Corrections offender search lets you look up anyone serving a state sentence. This can help track people who were first booked locally and then transferred.

The VINE notification system covers Early County and all Georgia counties. Sign up for free alerts and get notified when an inmate's status changes. The GDC Open Records portal and GBI Open Records portal are also available for state-level records requests.

Nearby Counties

Early County borders several counties in southwest Georgia. If you need booking releases from a nearby area, check with the correct county sheriff's office based on where the arrest happened.