Suwannee County Jail

Enter the full name on Suwannee County Inmate Search. Suwannee's listing shows the charges and bond once the person is booked. Suwannee can take a while to list a brand-new arrest. Try again after a few hours. When you still cannot find the name, call 386-364-3595 and ask which agency brought the person in.

↑ Back to the question list

The jail is at 305 Pine Avenue, Live Oak, FL 32064, and the Suwannee County Sheriff's Office runs it. The sheriff's headquarters is at 200 Ohio Avenue South, phone 386-362-2222. Suwannee's sheriff contact page also lists 386-364-3778 for the jail, so call either. The jail allows no contact visits; visits are set up online through the jail's video visit service.

↑ Back to the question list

The Third Judicial Circuit's Administrative Order 2026-001, signed January 7, 2026, sets amounts for people released before they see a judge. In Suwannee, it sets a third-degree felony with force or threat at $10,000. Third-degree felony without force, $5,000. First-degree misdemeanor with force, $2,500. First-degree misdemeanor without force, $1,000. Second-degree misdemeanors, $1,000.

These figures are for the pre-hearing release schedule only. They do not bind a judge, and they do not cover the serious offenses listed in the next answers. The order is posted on the Third Circuit website.

↑ Back to the question list

Under the same order, a DUI or boating-under-the-influence charge that is a first-degree misdemeanor carries $5,000. A second offense charged as a second-degree misdemeanor carries $2,500. The order lists $2,000 when a first DUI is charged as a second-degree misdemeanor. Which one applies depends on how the arrest paper reads, so check the inmate search for the actual figure.

↑ Back to the question list

Under the order and Florida Statutes section 903.011, some people cannot be released until a first appearance. The list includes sex offenders and predators, alleged injunction violators, and people arrested repeatedly in six months. Listed serious charges, such as homicide, felony battery, robbery, burglary, and trafficking, are also on the list. For those, the schedule says "None. First appearance required."

↑ Back to the question list

Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.130 calls for a first appearance within 24 hours of arrest, and Suwannee may hold it by video. The judge looks at the charges, sets the release terms, and decides whether the person qualifies for a free lawyer. The order also lets a person it calls an unauthorized alien, arrested on a forcible felony, ask for a delay of up to 48 hours. The person stays in custody during any delay.

↑ Back to the question list

Yes, but only by a judge. Only a Suwannee judge may set, lower, or change bail (section 903.011). A Suwannee lawyer can request a smaller amount, and the judge may weigh whether the person can pay. Bail requests must be truthful and complete under section 903.035, or the judge can revoke or change the release later.

↑ Back to the question list

Suwannee's Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, 200 South Ohio Avenue, 386-362-0500, opens 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Ask the jail desk, 386-364-3595, whether the jail or the clerk takes payment and which kinds of money it accepts. Have a photo ID, the defendant’s legal name, the booking number and every dollar of the bond ready. The same dollar amount applies whether the bond is cash or surety, under section 903.011. Keep every receipt.

↑ Back to the question list

Check that the agent is licensed in Florida. The Florida Department of Financial Services sets the Suwannee premium at 10 percent, so a $5,000 bond costs $500. Once the agent gets the person out, that fee is kept; if the person never leaves jail, the agent must give it back. Any collateral should be returned within 21 days after the court closes the bond. In Suwannee, get all this, plus your duties if the person skips court, on paper before signing.

↑ Back to the question list

Maybe. Suwannee sureties that aren't companies need to live in Florida or hold land there (section 903.05). The clerk must tell you how Suwannee County handles the paperwork and how much equity it wants. Begin by phoning the Suwannee clerk, 386-362-0500; it takes longer than cash.

↑ Back to the question list

The Third Circuit order requires a released person to obey the law and have no contact with any victim, except through pretrial discovery. A violation can lead to bond revocation. For drug arrests, the order adds zero tolerance for illegal drug use, and random testing can be ordered. Every separate charge gets a separate bond.

↑ Back to the question list

The Third Circuit order says the schedule does not apply to pre-set bonds. If the warrant itself carries a bond, plan on that number until a judge changes it. Look on Suwannee County Inmate Search for the bond listed on each charge, and ask the jail whether more than one hold is attached.

↑ Back to the question list

Suwannee County youth are screened by the Department of Juvenile Justice at 3440 NE 39th Avenue, Gainesville, 352-955-2105. The Alachua Regional Juvenile Detention Center at that address serves Suwannee County and holds 45 youth. Visits run Thursday from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., for parents, grandparents, and guardians. Suwannee juvenile cases stay private and off the adult search.

↑ Back to the question list

Suwannee's first appearance judge decides whether the person can afford counsel. Under Rule 3.130, a person who qualifies and wants one gets a lawyer appointed immediately, before anything else happens. The Public Defender for the Third Circuit takes those cases. The circuit office is at 108 North Jefferson Street, Suite 301, Perry, 850-838-2830. Ask there which attorney handles Suwannee County.

↑ Back to the question list

Suwannee courts may forfeit the bond, and the clerk must notify the bonding company (section 903.26). A new warrant can follow, and a person who failed to appear may not be eligible for a recognizance bond the next time (section 903.046). Get a lawyer on the phone, then the agent, before the day is over.

↑ Back to the question list

A Suwannee caller wanting gift cards, wires to a person, or payment within minutes isn't the jail. End the call and dial the Suwannee jail yourself at 386-364-3595. Jail account deposits are not bail and won't get anyone out.

↑ Back to the question list

• With Form I-247A, ICE can ask the Suwannee jail to keep a person.
• That extra hold in Suwannee lasts up to 48 hours.
• In Suwannee, weekends and holidays count toward those 48 hours.
• Posting bond in Suwannee does not end an ICE hold.
• Under F.S. 908.105, the Suwannee judge setting bond must hear about it.
• The Suwannee prosecutor is told too.
• Every Florida jail sheriff, Suwannee included, must join 287(g) (F.S. 908.11).
• For Suwannee, ICE's 287(g) list shows:
  • Task Force Model
  • Warrant Service Officer
• If ICE takes someone from Suwannee, search the ICE detainee locator.

↑ Back to the question list

Deputies, Live Oak police and state troopers can give a notice to appear for many small offenses. It tells you when to come to the Ohio Avenue courthouse and lets you skip jail. If you are booked at the Pine Avenue jail, Florida’s Rule 3.130 says you get first appearance with a judge within 24 hours. Before that hearing, bond is set from the Florida Supreme Court’s 2026 statewide schedule (AOSC25-69), a list of minimum amounts that the Third Circuit can raise. Some charges, such as domestic violence, mean waiting in jail for the judge. Your bond is a guarantee you’ll keep coming to court. Bondsmen can post it for you if you pay them 10% of the amount, with $100 as the lowest fee, and you don’t get that money back.

From Perry to Jasper to Live Oak, the Third Circuit’s voters pick a single State Attorney, and that office prosecutes all state crimes. One elected Public Defender serves the same area and is appointed when a judge finds a defendant too poor to hire a lawyer. Conflict cases, where that office can’t ethically take a Suwannee client, go to lawyers from Florida’s Regional Counsel. Under Statute 938.29, a Live Oak judge may assess repayment of appointed-lawyer costs, which can turn into a lien.

Penalties depend on the misdemeanor level. For a first-degree misdemeanor, the most a Live Oak judge can order is a year on Pine Avenue and a $1,000 fine. Second-degree misdemeanors cap out lower, at 60 days and $500. A Suwannee misdemeanor trial must start within 90 days of formal charging, unless the defendant waives that speedy-trial right. If there is a trial, six local jurors decide. Many first offenders can use pretrial diversion, which lets the charge be dropped once they finish the requirements.

Under 18: Children’s cases are heard by a Circuit judge in juvenile court at the Live Oak courthouse. A Branford or Live Oak teenager with a first minor charge is often eligible for a civil citation (Statute 985.12): a few weeks of volunteer work or counseling, and no arrest record. Suwannee has no youth lockup of its own. Kids who must be held travel to Gainesville’s Alachua Regional Juvenile Detention Center. That center belongs to the state Department of Juvenile Justice. A Third Circuit juvenile judge then has 24 hours to rule on whether the child can return home.

↑ Back to the question list

Felony charges are the ones that could put a Suwannee resident in state prison past the one-year mark. After a Suwannee felony arrest, the first appearance judge sets bond and pretrial release rules, such as a curfew, drug tests, or staying away from the alleged victim. Next, the Third Circuit prosecutor assigned to Live Oak weighs the evidence and may file an information, the court paper that formally lists felony counts. Pleas are entered at a Live Oak hearing called the arraignment.

Suwannee felony charges come in degrees. Third-degree crimes, like stealing a cow or forging a check, can carry up to 5 years. Second-degree crimes, like burglary of a home, can carry up to 15. First-degree crimes, like trafficking in large amounts of meth, can carry up to 30. Next, a Criminal Punishment Code scoresheet assigns points for the Suwannee offense and earlier convictions, and the sum marks the lowest legal sentence. Florida prisoners can’t be released until they’ve served 85% of their term.

Felony defendants are owed a trial within 175 days, a deadline Suwannee defense lawyers often waive. Six Suwannee jurors decide a felony, and every one of them has to vote the same way.

Under 18: Teens charged with felonies in Suwannee normally stay in juvenile court, which uses probation, treatment and juvenile programs. Prosecutors hold a power called direct file (Statute 985.557) to move a 16- or 17-year-old’s felony to adult court; for 14- and 15-year-olds, that option exists only for the gravest crimes the statute names. Since 2019, Florida never requires this; the prosecutor makes the call for each Suwannee teen.

↑ Back to the question list

Violent Suwannee cases move through Ohio Avenue’s courtrooms in the same order, with much heavier punishments at stake. A life felony can mean life behind bars. A capital felony, like first-degree murder, means death or life without any chance of parole. When the proof is strong in these cases, a judge can deny bond completely.

Firearms trigger Florida’s 10-20-Life rules in Statute 775.087. Holding a gun during a robbery means a ten-year floor; a fired shot means twenty; a death or crippling wound means 25 years up to life.

Twelve jurors sit on a Florida death penalty case. A 2023 law lets them recommend death if 8 or more agree. The men’s death row is about an hour southeast of Live Oak at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. Lowell Correctional Institution near Ocala houses the women’s death row.

Victims in Suwannee cases have rights under Marsy’s Law, part of Article I of the Florida Constitution. Suwannee victims may get notice of each hearing, sit in court, and speak about release, plea deals, and sentences. The Third Circuit State Attorney’s victim staff can explain the process.

Under 18: A Suwannee grand jury is allowed by Statute 985.56 to indict (formally accuse) a child, at any age, of a crime carrying death or life, so the trial happens in adult court. Youth under 18 when they offended can never be sentenced to death, and a Third Circuit judge can’t give a juvenile life without first holding a separate hearing.

↑ Back to the question list

The quickest answer comes from the jail on Pine Avenue, run by the Sheriff's Office; deputies at (386) 362-2222 search warrants by full name and birth date. Third Circuit case records, reached from the clerk's website, flag a capias when a judge signs one. Many people walk in with a lawyer on Pine Avenue after a phone call, which tends to help at first appearance. South Ohio Avenue houses the clerk who resets dates, and Branford and Wellborn files are kept there too. For the rest of the picture, try FDLE's statewide wanted persons lookup.

↑ Back to the question list