Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center

A Savannah-area arrest might end up before any of these ten benches.

• Superior Court for felony indictments, twelve-person trials and reserved bonds, with its clerk at 400 West Oglethorpe Avenue, Suite 178, Savannah, GA 31401; 912-434-8920.
• State Court (misdemeanors, prosecuted by the Solicitor-General), clerk in the judicial complex at 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401; 912-652-7224.
• Magistrate Court (warrants, first appearances, preliminary hearings), third floor of 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401; 912-652-7181.
• Recorder's Court (Savannah traffic, ordinance and many citations), first floor of 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401; 912-652-7425.
• Juvenile Court: 197 Carl Griffin Drive, Savannah, GA 31405; 912-652-6700.
• Pooler Municipal Court: 100 US Highway 80 SW, Pooler, GA 31322; 912-748-7333.
• Garden City Municipal Court: 100 Central Avenue, Garden City, GA 31405; 912-963-2708.
• Tybee Island Municipal Court: 78 Van Horne Avenue, Tybee Island, GA 31328; 912-786-5635.
• Thunderbolt Municipal Court clerk: 2821 River Drive, Thunderbolt, GA 31404; 912-629-4667.
• Federal district court, Savannah Division: 8 Southern Oaks Court, Savannah, GA 31405; 912-650-4020.

Port Wentworth and Bloomingdale also run city courts for their own tickets. Look at the ticket, warrant or bond form: the court, courtroom and date printed there decide where to show up.

Enter on the Montgomery Street side of 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401. Deputies screen every visitor with x-ray belts and metal detectors, and knives of any size, scissors, nail clippers, aerosol sprays, tools and firearms are refused. Confiscated items are not returned, so leave them in the car.

Cameras and recording devices are barred, and phones must be off in courtrooms; one that rings can be seized. A screen past security lists the courts in session that day. Magistrate Court is on the third floor, the Recorder's Court cashier on the first, and jury assembly on the second. Arrive early, because security lines grow before morning calendars.

This bench signs arrest and search warrants, runs the daily video first-appearance calendar from Carl Griffin Drive and prices bond on most counts. At a defendant's request, a magistrate also holds a commitment hearing, where prosecutors must show probable cause before a felony moves up to Superior Court.

The office sits on the third floor of 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401 and answers 912-652-7181. It also issues good-behavior and dispossessory warrants and hears small civil claims. When a grand jury indicts first, the commitment hearing is usually skipped. Bring the case number when calling, because the clerk handles a heavy daily docket and searches go faster with it.

Savannah tickets and ordinance citations usually start in Recorder's Court, first floor of 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401, 912-652-7425. Pooler, Garden City and the other towns keep their own tickets in their own courts. A misdemeanor that is formally charged moves to State Court, where the elected Solicitor-General files an accusation rather than seeking an indictment.

Neither Recorder's nor the city courts empanel jurors, so a jury demand ships the case over to State Court. Paying a traffic fine counts as a guilty plea, which can add points or affect a commercial license, so read the citation carefully before paying in person or online.

Many misdemeanor defendants leave within hours on a citation or posted bond. Anybody kept after a warrantless pickup faces a magistrate inside two days. At arraignment in State Court the accusation is read and a plea entered, and most cases are then negotiated with the Solicitor-General.

Newcomers to the system may get diversion, a lesser count, or First Offender status, under which finishing every term leaves no conviction behind. State Court also runs a DUI Court for repeat impaired drivers. Trials use six jurors. Punishment tops out at a year in custody and $1,000, or $5,000 for a high and aggravated misdemeanor.

Felony files pass from the jail calendar to the circuit District Attorney, whose office is on the sixth floor of 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401, 912-652-7308. Grand jurors normally indict, yet negotiated pleas often skip that step through a waiver and an accusation.

Someone held 90 days with no indictment becomes entitled to have bond set. After indictment, arraignment brings a plea and the exchange of discovery. Pleas resolve most of these, frequently mixing time in custody with probation. A unanimous panel of twelve decides any trial, and half a year to a year and a half is a normal span.

Georgia reserves its serious violent felony label for seven offenses; besides murder, the list holds kidnapping, rape, armed robbery and three aggravated sex crimes (sodomy, child molestation and sexual battery). Bond on these rests with Superior Court alone, so many accused people wait out the case at Carl Griffin Drive.

Penalties are steep. Other than murder, each brings ten flat years with no parole or First Offender relief, and a repeat conviction means life without parole. A murder conviction yields life, life without parole or a death sentence. Marsy's Law guarantees victims notice and a voice at each stage. These cases often run one to three years.

Indigent felony clients get the Eastern Judicial Circuit Public Defender, 222 West Oglethorpe Avenue, Suite 130, Savannah, GA 31401, 912-447-4901. Its juvenile division at 197 Carl Griffin Drive answers 912-652-6904. Misdemeanor cases go to the county misdemeanor defense office.

Applications are taken by the Indigent Defense Unit, 133 Montgomery Street, Savannah, GA 31401, Suite 505, 912-652-3091, and processing takes at least five business days. A $50 application fee may apply, though a judge can waive it. When a conflict arises, such as co-defendants, private counsel is appointed. Once prosecutors seek death, Georgia's Capital Defender Division generally steps in.

Superior Court runs a Drug Court, an Adult Mental Health Court and a Veterans Treatment Court, each pairing close supervision with treatment instead of a standard prison or probation term. State Court adds a DUI Court for repeat impaired-driving cases. The Drug Court office answers 912-652-7128.

Admission hinges on the offense, prior record and a clinical assessment, and the District Attorney or Solicitor-General usually must agree. Participants attend frequent hearings, submit to drug testing and complete counseling. Graduates may see charges reduced or dismissed, while those who fail can be sentenced on the original plea. Ask the defense lawyer early, since referrals take time.

Juvenile Court, 197 Carl Griffin Drive, Savannah, GA 31405, 912-652-6700, handles delinquency for children under 17 and dependency matters. A detained youth goes to the regional detention center next door, and a detention hearing must follow promptly.

Hearings are closed to the public and records are sealed, so outside callers get little information. Parents should attend every setting and bring school and medical records. For serious violent felonies, teens 13 and older can be charged in Superior Court instead. The public defender's juvenile division in the same complex represents children whose families cannot afford a lawyer.

The Southern District of Georgia hears federal cases in its Savannah Division courthouse, 8 Southern Oaks Court, Savannah, GA 31405. The clerk's office answers 912-650-4020, and the court asks that mail go to 124 Barnard Street, Savannah, GA 31401. A federal magistrate judge handles the initial appearance and any detention hearing.

Detention rulings there apply 18 U.S.C. 3142, the Bail Reform Act, instead of state bond statutes. Prosecutors come from the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the federal defender or a panel attorney represents those who qualify. Defendants held before trial stay in U.S. Marshals custody, often in rented county beds. Sentences are served under the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Noncitizens keep the right to a lawyer and a bond hearing, but even a small plea can trigger removal. Defense lawyers owe a Sixth Amendment duty to explain deportation fallout ahead of a plea, which is why status should come up at the first interview.

Intake staff ask the nationality question that section 42-4-14 demands, and the sheriff posts month-by-month referral tallies online. A detainer under 8 CFR 287.7(d) can extend custody by 48 hours, with Saturday, Sunday and holiday time excluded from the count. Reach ICE Atlanta at 404-893-1290; the ICE detainee locator follows anyone moved.

A probation sentence starts with a report to the supervising office named in the order. A prison sentence means the person stays at the detention center until state corrections has room, then goes to a diagnostic center before a permanent placement. Track that move in the state corrections offender search.

Release-date and parole questions belong with Georgia's parole board, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta, GA 30334, 404-657-9450. Fines, fees and restitution are paid through the clerk of the sentencing court. Windows for appeal or a new-trial motion close fast, frequently after 30 days, so raise them with counsel the day of sentencing.

Eleven agencies account for nearly every person brought to Carl Griffin Drive; dial 911 whenever lives are at risk.

• Sheriff's Office, which runs the detention center and courthouse security: 1050 Carl Griffin Drive, Savannah, GA 31405; corrections line 912-652-3878; administration 912-652-7634.
• Chatham County Police Department, patrolling unincorporated areas and handling non-emergency calls for Thunderbolt: 295 Police Memorial Drive, Savannah, GA 31405; headquarters 912-652-6920; 24-hour non-emergency 912-652-6500.
• Savannah Police Department: 201 Habersham Street, Savannah, GA 31401; information desk 912-651-6675.
• Garden City Police Department: 100 Central Avenue, Garden City, GA 31405; 912-966-7770.
• Pooler Police Department: 100 US Highway 80 SW, Pooler, GA 31322; 912-748-7333.
• Port Wentworth Police Department: 323 Cantyre Street, Port Wentworth, GA 31407; 912-964-4360.
• Tybee Island Police Department: 78 Van Horne Avenue, Tybee Island, GA 31328; 912-786-5600.
• Thunderbolt Police Department: 2821 River Drive, Thunderbolt, GA 31404; weekday office 912-354-3818.
• Bloomingdale Police Department: 6 Adams Road, Bloomingdale, GA 31302; 912-748-8302.
• Georgia State Patrol Post 42, covering Bryan, Chatham and Effingham: 2792 Highway 21 South, Rincon, GA 31326; 912-754-1180.
• Immigration removal officers for Savannah work out of ICE's Atlanta field office, Suite 522 at 180 Ted Turner Drive SW, Atlanta, GA 30303; 404-893-1290.

Every adult arrest from these departments is booked at the same detention center, and the public booking list names the arresting agency beside each person. Incident reports, towed vehicles and seized property stay with the department that made the stop, so request paperwork there rather than at the jail.