Transfers & Finding Someone in Georgia (GDC)

State prison or county jail

Whether someone is in a GDC state prison or a county or city jail depends on their case. A felony state sentence places a person in GDC custody. Pretrial detention and short local or misdemeanor sentences are served in a county or city jail run by a sheriff — not GDC, and not in the GDC locator. Each jail sets its own visiting, mail, phone, and money rules; this guide and the Georgia guides cover the GDC state system.

A complication specific to Georgia: there is often a gap where a sentenced person sits in the county jail for weeks while already counted as “in GDC custody” on paper, before GDC takes physical custody.

Diagnostic and classification

After sentencing, a person stays in the county jail — where their security classification is now done — until GDC picks them up and takes them to a diagnostic prison for about ten business days of medical, mental-health, and programming assessment:

• Men: Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GDCP) in Jackson.
• Women: Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto.

After diagnostics, the person transfers to a permanent prison matched to their security level and remains there until release or an administrative transfer.

Finding someone

State prisoners appear in GDC’s Find an Offender tool, which searches by name or GDC ID. Records under the First Offender Act are not published, so some people will not appear there.

Transfers and current location

GDC does not generally notify families when a person is transferred between prisons. Check the locator for the current location. This also matters because the visiting application goes to the specific facility, so the current prison determines where that application must be sent.

Verify Before Acting

For the general, nationwide overview of this topic, see the national guide: Know Your Rights.