Chatham County Busted Mugshots

Chatham County covers the Savannah area on the Georgia coast and is one of the state's most active counties for arrest and booking activity, with a detention center that holds an average of nearly 1,800 inmates on any given day. To search Chatham County busted mugshots and arrest records, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office runs a public inmate search tool at its website where you can look up current inmates by name and see booking dates, charges, bond amounts, arresting officer, and custody status.

Chatham County Sheriff Inmate Search and Arrest Data

The Chatham County Sheriff's Office provides a public inmate search at chathamsheriff.com/inmateSearch. You can search by name and see a range of details for each inmate: name, custody status, sex, height, weight, arrest date and time, number of days in custody, arresting officer, and bond amount. This is one of the more detailed public inmate search tools available at the county level in Georgia. No fee or account is needed to use it.

The Chatham County Sheriff's website is the main hub for all public services related to the jail. Sheriff John T. Wilcher oversees the office, which is located at 1050 Carl Griffin Dr, Savannah, GA 31405. The main phone numbers are (912) 652-7609 and (912) 660-1012. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The detention center itself uses a separate direct line at (912) 652-7700.

With an average daily population of 1,739 inmates, the Chatham County Detention Center is one of the larger county jails in Georgia. This high average reflects Chatham County's role as a major population center in coastal Georgia. Arrests in Savannah and surrounding communities all flow through this facility. The volume of bookings means the public inmate search tool is updated frequently and is generally a reliable way to check current custody status for anyone arrested in the county.

The screenshot below shows the Chatham County Sheriff's Office inmate search interface, which displays detailed booking data for current inmates in the Savannah area jail.

The Chatham County inmate search shows name, arrest date, arresting officer, days in custody, bond amount, and status for each person currently booked into the detention center.

Chatham County Booking Photos and Open Records Requests

Georgia law limits how the Chatham County Sheriff can share booking photos online. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-1-19 (enacted in 2014), law enforcement agencies in Georgia cannot post mugshots on the internet. The Chatham County Sheriff's inmate search reflects this: you see names, charges, and booking data, but not photos. If you need a specific booking photo from a Chatham County arrest, a formal open records request is the right path.

Open records requests for Chatham County are processed through the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, located at 124 Bull St, Suite 220, Savannah, GA 31401. You can reach that office at (912) 652-7175. Under the Georgia Open Records Act (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70), agencies must respond within three business days. The first 15 minutes of staff time and the first 20 pages are free. Pages beyond that run $0.10 each. Having the inmate's name and booking date ready will speed up the process.

Note: For email-based open records inquiries tied to the sheriff, you may also contact the sheriff's office directly. The Board of Commissioners handles general county records requests, while the sheriff's office handles jail and arrest-specific records separately.

The screenshot below shows the Chatham County Sheriff's homepage, the central resource for Savannah-area arrest records, inmate lookup, and public safety services.

The Chatham County Sheriff's website provides access to the inmate search, sex offender registry, and contact information for the Savannah detention center and open records requests.

Chatham County Sex Offender Registry and Related Tools

The Chatham County Sheriff's Office participates in the OffenderWatch sex offender tracking system. You can search the local sex offender registry by address, city, state, or zip code. This tool is separate from the inmate search and covers people who are registered sex offenders living in Chatham County, not just those currently in custody.

At the state level, the Georgia Sex Offender Registry run by the GBI is free and includes photos. It is searchable by name and address and covers all 159 Georgia counties. If someone is a registered offender in Chatham County, they should appear in both the local OffenderWatch system and the statewide GBI registry. The GBI registry is often the easier tool to use for broader searches.

Mugshot Removal Rights Under Georgia Law

If a Chatham County booking photo of you or someone you know appears on a third-party mugshot website, Georgia law gives you a way to get it removed at no charge. Under O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.5 (passed in 2013), mugshot removal companies must delete photos for free within 30 days when the arrest is eligible for record restriction. This applies to arrests where charges were dropped, the case was dismissed, or the person was found not guilty. The removal request must be sent by certified mail.

The Georgia Consumer Protection Division has a guide explaining which mugshot sites are covered by this law and exactly how to submit a removal request. It's worth checking before paying any third-party removal service, since the law requires the sites to act for free when the legal criteria are met. Chatham County arrests that appear on these sites fall under the same rules as any other Georgia county.

The screenshot below shows the Georgia Consumer Protection page that explains your rights under state law when it comes to mugshot website removal for Chatham County and all other Georgia arrests.

Georgia's 2013 mugshot law requires removal sites to act for free within 30 days when an arrest qualifies for record restriction, covering Chatham County bookings along with all other Georgia counties.

Statewide Resources for Chatham County Arrest Records

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and its GCIC division maintain statewide criminal history records that include Chatham County arrests. The GCIC database covers all 159 Georgia counties and is the state's central repository for criminal history data. Criminal history queries run through GCIC will reflect Chatham County arrest and conviction records submitted through standard law enforcement reporting channels.

The Georgia Department of Corrections offender search covers people in state prison and shows photos automatically. It does not cover local jail inmates, but it is useful for checking whether someone arrested in Chatham County has a prior state prison record. The Georgia Felon Search at georgia.gov provides instant felony conviction results for a $15 fee. The GBI also runs a formal open records portal at gbigeorgia.govqa.us for statewide records requests covering Chatham County and all other Georgia jurisdictions.

The screenshot below shows the GBI's GCIC division information page, which explains the Georgia criminal history system that includes Chatham County arrest and booking records.

The GCIC database is the backbone of Georgia's criminal history system, and it includes arrest data submitted by Chatham County law enforcement after each booking at the Savannah detention center.

Cities in Chatham County

The following cities in Chatham County have their own pages with local arrest record and inmate search information.

Nearby Counties

Chatham County is in coastal southeast Georgia and borders several nearby counties in the region.