The sheriff, an elected constitutional officer, is responsible for county detention. Voters choose the sheriff countywide. For a question about one person in custody, the jail line above is the right first call; the office line handles administrative business. The website also lists a chief deputy and a colonel. Its divisions include Corrections and Detention, Court Services, Criminal Investigations, Patrol, Warrants and Forensics, so one agency handles both the arrest side and the custody side. The sheriff's home page has an Important Numbers box with a main number of 478-751-7500, administration at 478-746-9441, and a separate Jail Information line, 478-621-5611. The sheriff's warrant page also points callers to the administrative line. Questions about one person in custody go to the Jail Information line, while the office line handles administrative business such as records and civil papers.

The sheriff's site sends visitors to an inmate lookup for anyone currently housed in its correctional facilities, at inmate.bibbsheriff.us. Search by last name, and try variations if nothing comes back, since a hyphenated or misspelled name can hide a record. The sheriff's corrections page says the adult jail holds men and women 17 and older, so a younger youth is absent from this lookup. When the site is unavailable, 478-621-5611 can answer from the roster if you give the legal name and birth date.

The Bibb sheriff's headquarters is at 668 Oglethorpe Street, Macon, GA 31201, its postal box is P.O. Box 930, Macon, GA 31202-0930, and the civil division works from 1130 Second Street, Macon, GA 31201. Personal letters go to neither Macon address; since July 15, 2025 they are sent to the digital mail box in Tampa described in the mail answer below. Lawyers, bondsmen and families dropping off property should bring photo identification and the person's Jacket ID from the inmate search. Before driving over, phone 478-621-5611 to ask which entrance and building to use and what hours apply that day.

The Bibb County Detention Center handles visits by video, from a kiosk at the jail, a home computer or the provider's phone app, as the Bibb jail visitation page lays out. On-site video sessions at the jail are free and run 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with extra 5:30 to 9 p.m. sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday; Monday and Thursday have none. Remote visits from home cost $8.99 for 30 minutes, are offered daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m., and must be booked at least 24 hours ahead. Register with the video provider first; its help lines are 972-734-1111 and 877-578-3658. Call 478-621-5611 to confirm the visit schedule for that person's housing unit.

Since July 15, 2025, the facility no longer accepts personal mail; under the sheriff's Notice of Change to Mail Procedures, letters go to a digital mail center addressed to the person's name and ID number, Bibb County GA, PO Box 25414, Tampa, FL 33622. The ID number is the Jacket ID shown in the sheriff's inmate search. Scanned letters reach the person on tablets or kiosks, pictures and drawings are scanned when no bigger than a letter-size sheet, and originals are discarded 60 days after scanning unless a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Packages, certified mail, checks and money orders are returned, and legal mail and publications must not go to the Tampa box. More detail is on the Bibb jail mail page. Call 478-621-5611 for the facility's process for legal mail and publications.

Commissary money for a Bibb inmate goes through the jail's commissary supplier, online, or by phoning in a card payment at 800-822-9388, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the Bibb jail deposits page. The largest single deposit is $300, and the card fee runs $3.95 for $10 to $25, $6.95 up to $100, $8.95 up to $200 and $10.95 up to $300. Once a month, families may buy a commissary care package of snacks and sundries from the jail's approved package program, priced at about $11 to $27 plus $4.95 shipping. Money orders and checks are not accepted at the Tampa mail address. Call 478-621-5611 to check deposit limits before sending a large amount.

After an arrest by a deputy, Macon police or another agency, the person is brought to the sheriff's detention facility to be photographed, fingerprinted and checked for warrants and holds. Property is inventoried and stored. Georgia sets the deadline for that first judge appearance at 72 hours on a warrant arrest (17-4-26) and 48 hours without one (17-4-62). In Macon that first hearing is usually before the Civil and Magistrate Court, which can set bond on most charges. Supervised inmates prepare the meals and handle laundry, cleaning and building maintenance, according to the sheriff's corrections page.

The sheriff's Warrant Department serves warrants ranging from misdemeanors to felonies, transports fugitives from local and out-of-state agencies, and processes court-ordered production orders. The warrant page itself points callers to 478-746-9441. Arrest warrants are signed by judges, and in Macon the Civil and Magistrate Court at 478-621-5801 issues many of them. The State Court site warns that missing a criminal court date may itself bring a warrant, and under 16-10-51 skipping court on a felony bond is a separate felony.

Most bonds are set at first appearance by a Bibb magistrate, and the jail cannot finish a release until the bond is posted and approved. Under 17-6-1, the sheriff decides on any sureties and property offered, so payment and paperwork go through the detention side. A bondsman may charge no more than 15 percent of the bond or $50 per count, whichever is greater, under 17-6-30. For the 17-6-1 list, murder and armed robbery among them, bond must come from a Macon Circuit superior court judge. The bail guide explains each bond type in detail.

Defendants without money for a lawyer can seek help from the Macon Circuit Public Defender, which covers Bibb, Crawford and Peach from 201 Second Street, Suite 550, Macon, GA 31201, 478-621-5950. Under 17-12-2 the public defender looks at income and assets, and a Bibb defendant already out on bond is still asked for a financial affidavit. Jail staff monitor calls, letters and video visits, and only exchanges with an attorney are exempt, so facts about the charge are best kept for the defense. For jailed defendants in State Court, arraignments, pleas and probation revocations are heard virtually on Tuesdays at 8:15 a.m.

Youth arrested in Bibb are not placed in the adult jail. The Juvenile Court, at the Juvenile Justice Center, 560 Oglethorpe Street, Macon, GA 31201, serves Bibb, Crawford and Peach and has two full-time judges; its number is 478-621-6448. When secure custody is ordered, Bibb youth go to Macon's regional youth detention center at 4164 Riggins Mill Road, Macon, GA 31217. The county's juvenile court page says delinquency cases cover youths under 17, and under 15-11-560 a youth aged 13 to 16 accused of one of the Seven Deadlies violent felonies is tried in superior court; Georgia treats a 17-year-old as an adult.

Georgia law requires the jailer to make a reasonable effort to determine the nationality of each person confined, under 42-4-14, and to contact ICE when someone appears to be a foreign national held on certain charges. ICE opens a hold by sending the jail Form I-247A, which asks staff to alert the agency before release and to keep the person in custody past that point. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), an ICE detainer can keep a person in the Bibb jail for as long as 48 hours after they would otherwise walk out, and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays are not part of that count. Macon-Bibb cannot adopt a sanctuary rule; 36-80-23 prohibits it. Once ICE takes custody, search its online detainee locator.

Federal charges from Bibb are filed in the Macon Division of Georgia's middle federal district; 28 U.S.C. 90 groups Bibb there with Crawford, Peach, Houston, Jones and others. Someone charged federally after an arrest in Macon is in U.S. Marshals custody, not sheriff custody, even if housed in a local jail for a time, so the Bibb lookup may not show them. Following sentencing, the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator names the federal prison where the term is served. Federal defendants who cannot pay for counsel get an appointed lawyer through the federal court rather than the state public defender.

A person sentenced to prison by a Macon Circuit superior court judge remains in Macon until state corrections arranges a move, often to a diagnostic center first. During the wait, the county jail rules for calls, mail and visits still apply. After transfer, the state's offender search gives the prison, and the department answers family questions at 404-656-4661; its headquarters mailing address is 300 Patrol Road, Forsyth, GA 31029. Our Georgia state prisons page sets out visiting and mail details one prison at a time. Keep the GDC number handy, since it is the main way to track the person through the system.

Bibb mugshots are not on the internet: 35-1-19 bars Georgia arresting agencies from posting booking photographs on a website, although incident reports remain open records. The sheriff's site lets people request background checks, accident reports and open records online, so a mugshot request can start there; the agency may charge for copies and may withhold material tied to an active investigation. Someone whose Bibb charges were dropped or who was found not guilty can use 10-1-393.5 to send a certified-mail demand to a commercial site that charges for removal, and the site must take the photo down free within 30 days. Records for a person moved into immigration custody go through the ICE FOIA portal. Mugshots from a federal case are not Bibb's to hand out; the U.S. Marshals Service keeps them with the arrest file and seldom releases them. The Office of Professional Standards, at 704 Hawthorne Street, takes complaints at 478-621-5503. Useful police and public-safety contacts:

• Civil and Magistrate Court, for warrants: 478-621-5801
• Bibb sheriff, main: 478-751-7500
• Bibb sheriff, administration: 478-746-9441
• Bibb jail information (sheriff's site): 478-621-5611