Grady County Booking Reports and Inmate Records

Grady County booking reports are public records maintained by the Grady County Sheriff's Office in Cairo, Georgia. These records document every person booked into the county jail, including charges, dates, and custody status. Cairo sits in southwest Georgia near the Florida border. This page explains what booking records are available in Grady County and how to access them.

Grady County Sheriff and Jail Records

The Grady County Sheriff's Office in Cairo holds all booking records for the county detention facility. Georgia law at O.C.G.A. § 42-4-7 requires the sheriff to keep a jail docket logging every person in custody, what charges they face, and when they came in and out. This docket is public and cannot be withheld without a specific legal reason.

Grady County is in southwest Georgia along the Florida state line. The county seat is Cairo. The sheriff's office handles most county law enforcement, with the Cairo Police Department handling arrests within the city. Bookings from both agencies are processed at the county jail.

Grady County does not appear to maintain a public online inmate search portal. Phone contact with the sheriff's office in Cairo is the best way to check on current custody status. Staff can confirm whether someone is in custody and what they are charged with during business hours. After hours, calling the jail directly may still get you basic status information.

Note: A booking record only tells you someone was arrested. It does not tell you how the case ended in court. Always check court records for case outcomes.

How to Request Grady County Booking Records

Georgia's Open Records Act gives the public the right to access booking records from the Grady County Sheriff's Office. The exemptions are listed at O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72. Routine jail intake data is not among those exemptions. The agency must respond to a written request within three business days.

You can request records in person at the sheriff's office in Cairo during business hours, by phone for quick custody checks, or by formal written Open Records request submitted by mail. Written requests are best when you need documentation or are searching older records that are not easy to pull over the phone. Include the person's name and approximate arrest date in your request.

Copy fees are permitted at a reasonable per-page rate for reproduction. The agency cannot charge for the time spent locating records beyond what the law allows. Ask for an itemized cost estimate if the volume of records is large.

What Grady County Booking Records Contain

A booking record from the Grady County jail will include the person's full legal name, date of birth, booking date and time, charges filed at intake, arresting agency, and bond information if a bond was set. The record will also show whether the person is still in custody or has been released.

Booking photos are taken during intake. Georgia law at O.C.G.A. § 35-1-19 restricts how these photos can be commercially used and distributed. Third-party websites face legal constraints on profiting from mugshot publication. Individuals can seek removal of their photos from certain commercial sites under the law.

Charges in a booking record come from the arresting officer and are preliminary. A prosecutor can change, reduce, or drop them after reviewing the full case. For the final resolution of any case, check with the clerk of superior court in Cairo. That office holds all case records from the point of the first court appearance forward.

Statewide Resources for Grady County

State-level tools supplement local Grady County records. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation's GCIC at 404-244-2639 holds statewide criminal history records covering all 159 Georgia counties. GCIC includes both arrest records and court dispositions, making it more comprehensive than any single county's booking docket.

The GCIC FAQ explains who can request criminal history records, what documentation is needed, what the records include, and how fees are structured. This is useful if you need statewide history rather than just a single county's records.

VINE at vinelink.com covers Grady County. Register for free to receive automatic alerts when an inmate is released or transferred. Alerts come by phone, email, or text at any hour.

Court Records After a Grady County Booking

After booking, the case moves through the Grady County court system. The Superior Court handles felony matters and is part of the South Georgia Judicial Circuit. Magistrate Court handles bond hearings and lesser charges. Both courts are open to the public and keep records that can be accessed by name or case number.

The clerk of superior court in Cairo holds all criminal case files. Georgia Courts at georgiacourts.gov provides contact information for Grady County courts. Cases handled under the First Offender Act (O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60) may be restricted after sentence completion. Record restriction rules appear at O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Grady County in southwest Georgia. Check them if you need to search adjacent jurisdictions for booking records.