Lee County Inmate Population Overview
The Lee County inmate population is split between two nearby but legally distinct facilities in Leesburg. The Lee County Sheriff's Office, led by Sheriff Reggie Rachals, operates the Lee County Criminal Justice Center, the local jail for people charged with crimes and waiting for court, sentenced misdemeanants serving one year or less, and people already sentenced but waiting for state or federal transfer. The Georgia Department of Corrections operates Lee State Prison on Pinewood Drive for adult male felons sentenced to state custody.
That split matters for every custody search. A person booked after a Lee County arrest may appear in the sheriff's Citizen Connect Inmate Confinements feed. A person serving a Georgia felony sentence is searched through the GDC offender query instead. Federal sentenced custody uses the Bureau of Prisons locator, and immigration custody uses ICE ODLS. The Lee County inmate population count also changes by source. A live roster count is a point-in-time jail feed, while Vera trend data reports annual county jail measures from a different data set.
Lee County Inmate Population Statistics
The strongest local capacity source is the sheriff's page, which states that the Criminal Justice Center is a 109-bed facility. A session-backed inspection of the official Citizen Connect current-confinements endpoint on June 4, 2026 returned 80 current inmates. Vera's 2024 county trend row reported a total jail population value of 50.25, pretrial custody of 46.75, 60 jail admissions, and a jail population rate of 227.09 per 100,000 residents age 15 to 64. Those values should not be merged into one number because they measure different things.
| Measure | Figure | Source / Year |
|---|---|---|
| Lee County Criminal Justice Center capacity | 109 beds | Sheriff's Office page, crawled 2026 |
| Current public roster count | 80 current inmates | Citizen Connect inspection, June 4, 2026 |
| Roster count compared with 109 beds | About 73.4% | Calculated from the two sourced values |
| Vera total jail population | 50.25 | Vera county CSV, 2024 |
| Vera pretrial custody | 46.75 | Vera county CSV, 2024 |
| Lee State Prison capacity | 762 | GDC facility page |
The Vera Georgia incarceration trends dashboard is useful for long-term context. The screenshot below shows the source environment for those state and county trend measures.
For Lee County, Vera's trend data should be read as an annual research source, not as the live roster or an official jail headcount.
Lee County Inmate Population Trends
Vera's multi-year county table shows the Lee County jail population value falling from 88.5 in 2019 to 50.25 in 2024, with a higher 2022 value between those points. The pretrial figure stayed high relative to the total in each year listed, which fits the sheriff's description of the Criminal Justice Center as a local jail for people waiting on court and short local sentences. The admissions row is uneven and should be treated as a data-series measure, not a booking-log export from the sheriff.
| Year | Vera Total Jail Population | Pretrial Custody | Jail Admissions | Population Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 50.25 | 46.75 | 60 | 227.09 |
| 2023 | 56.75 | 47.75 | 70.25 | 256.46 |
| 2022 | 79.25 | 69.25 | 65 | 360.47 |
| 2021 | 72.5 | 66.75 | 74.75 | 334.73 |
| 2020 | 58.25 | 49.5 | 112 | 268.32 |
| 2019 | 88.5 | 70.25 | 704.44 | 412.24 |
One conflict deserves plain treatment. Vera's 2024 capacity field listed 7, while the Lee County sheriff source states 109 beds for the Criminal Justice Center. For facility capacity, the local sheriff source is the better source. For county trend work, Vera still helps show how the jail population has moved over time.
Who Makes Up Lee County Custody
Lee County does not publish a current aggregate race, sex, age, or charge-level dashboard for the jail population in the sources reviewed. The sheriff does publish custody categories. The Criminal Justice Center holds people charged with criminal offenses while they wait for court, people convicted of certain misdemeanors and sentenced to one year or less, and sentenced people waiting for transfer. Citizen Connect cards show person-level demographics such as age, race code, and sex code, but the public feed does not turn those fields into a countywide demographic table.
- Pretrial custody: Vera's 2024 row reported 46.75 pretrial custody against a total jail population value of 50.25.
- Short local sentences: The sheriff states the CJC holds some misdemeanants sentenced to one year or less.
- Transfer holds: The CJC can hold sentenced people waiting for state or federal transfer.
- State prisoners: Lee State Prison holds adult male felons in GDC medium-security custody.
Lee County Inmate Population Laws
Georgia law controls what can be inspected, withheld, or restricted. The Georgia Open Records Act presumes public records are open, requires a response within three business days, permits reasonable fees, and requires legal authority for a denial. The same statutory package includes law-enforcement exemptions for pending investigations, but initial police arrest reports and initial incident reports remain treated differently from full investigative files.
Key Statutes:
O.C.G.A. §§ 50-18-70 through 50-18-77 sets Georgia's open-records framework for public agencies.
O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72 explains law-enforcement exemptions and the special treatment of initial arrest and incident reports.
O.C.G.A. § 45-16-20 et seq. requires an inquiry when a person dies as an inmate of a state, county, or city penal institution.
Georgia Board of Corrections Rule 125-2-2 covers building and housing standards for correctional institutions.
For Lee County records, the county open-records page routes sheriff records, arrest records, and police reports to the Sheriff's Office at Pinewood Road. General county records go through the county Open Records Clerk when no specific department is listed.
Search Lee County Inmate Population
The official local search path is the Lee County Citizen Connect Inmate Confinements portal. It is hosted by Southern Software and linked from the sheriff's page. The portal is more specific than a name-only roster because it offers current confinements, last 24-hour admits, last 7-day admits, date-range admits, charge search, and arresting-agency search. It can show mugshots when available and uses a NoMugshot image when no public image is displayed.
The Citizen Connect home page shows the sheriff's online-service hub, including inmate confinements and related public reports.
From that hub, the Inmate Confinements link is the official county path for current jail custody rather than state prison custody.
- Open the Citizen Connect Inmate Confinements portal.
- Choose Current Confinements for the live jail roster, or use last 24-hour and last 7-day admits for recent bookings.
- Use date range, charge text, or arresting agency when a current roster view does not find the person.
- Read the card fields for name, booking date, arresting agency, bond total, charges, and any photo shown.
- If the person has moved to state prison, search the GDC offender query instead of the county roster.
Current Lee County Inmate Lookup
The current-confinements page uses tabs and buttons rather than a simple first-name and last-name form. A public user can load current confinements, last 24-hour admits, last 7-day admits, custom date-range admits, charge searches, and arresting-agency searches. The visible date-range notice says to limit date ranges to 31 days or less. The page also uses reCAPTCHA and access-restriction logic, so heavy automated use can trigger a block or verification step.
| Field Label | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current Confinements | Tab or button | No | Loads current booking and confinement cards. |
| Get Last 24 Hour Admits | Button | No | Loads admissions from the prior day. |
| Get Last 7 Days Admits | Button | No | Loads recent admissions from the prior week. |
| Start date and End date | Date fields | Yes for custom range | Used for admit searches by date range. |
| Charge | Text | No | Placeholder example is DUI. |
| Arresting Agency | Dropdown | No | Includes Lee County, Leesburg, Smithville, GSP, GBI, DOC, and nearby agencies. |
The official Inmate Confinements interface is shown in the captured image below.
The tabs explain why a Lee County inmate lookup may work better through admit date, charge, or agency when the person is not easy to locate from the current list alone.
Lee County Inmate Record Fields
A Citizen Connect confinement card is a public booking record, not a court judgment. It can show the name, mugshot when available, demographic codes, booking row, arresting agency, arrest date and time, bond total, and charge items. It did not confirm housing pod, warrant number, judge, court date, projected release date, or a public booking-number label in the inspected card snippet.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Total Inmates | Current-confinement count at the top of results. |
| Name | Full inmate name in the booking-card header. |
| Mugshot | Booking photo when available or a NoMugshot fallback image. |
| Demographics | Age in years plus race and sex codes. |
| Arresting Agency | The agency that brought or booked the person, such as Leesburg or Lee County. |
| Bond Total | Total bond amount shown on the card, if listed. |
| Charges | Charge text, count, charge agency text, and bond detail where displayed. |
County Jail vs State Prison Lookup
Lee County has a correctional geography that can confuse searches. The county jail and Lee State Prison sit near each other on Pinewood Road, but they do not use the same roster. The sheriff's roster covers local jail custody. The GDC offender query covers sentenced state prisoners. A person can start in the CJC after booking and later move into the GDC system if sentenced to state custody.
| Custody Type | Who Is Covered | Where to Search |
|---|---|---|
| County jail | Pretrial detainees, sentenced misdemeanants, transfer waits | Citizen Connect Inmate Confinements |
| State prison | Sentenced Georgia felons | GDC Offender Query |
| Federal sentenced custody | People in BOP custody from 1982 to present | BOP Inmate Locator |
| Immigration custody | Current ICE custody and CBP custody over 48 hours | ICE ODLS |
Georgia's VINELink service is also available for custody-status notification searches and registration, but a Lee-specific feed should be verified before relying on alerts for one case.
Lee County Records Request Fallback
When the roster does not answer a current or past inmate question, the records route is local. The county open-records page sends Sheriff's Office records, arrest records, and police reports to the Sheriff's Office. The sheriff GovQA portal identifies Cherrie McAbee, Director of Central Records Division, as the Lee County Sheriff's Office Custodian of Public Records and provides request categories for public records, media, attorneys, and background checks.
The county open-records instructions say the county or holding department will contact the requester within three business days with a timeline. Fees may include labor for searching, retrieving, copying, redacting, or supervising inspection. The first 15 minutes are free, letter and legal copies are listed at $0.10 per page, and the PDF form lists CD/DVD, flash drive, envelope, and postage costs.
The Lee County open-records page shows the local routing and fee framework for requests that are not resolved by the live roster.
For sheriff records, route the request to the sheriff or GovQA channel rather than the court clerk unless the request is for a filed court case.
Lee County Detention Facilities
The Lee County inmate population map includes one county jail facility and one state prison. The primary jail is the Criminal Justice Center, and its facility page covers local custody, booking, bond, records, and visitation gaps. The state prison page covers GDC custody, medium-security housing, state visitation, programs, and the statewide offender locator.
- Lee County Criminal Justice Center holds local pretrial detainees, sentenced misdemeanants, and people waiting for state or federal transfer.
- Lee State Prison is a GDC medium-security state prison for adult male felons sentenced to state custody.
Lee County Custody Terms
Common jail and court terms are easy to mix up because they appear close together on roster cards, bond records, and court files. These short definitions help separate the custody record from the court case.
- Confinement
- Citizen Connect's term for a current jail custody event.
- Admit
- A booking or admission into the Lee County jail during a selected date range.
- Bond
- Money or conditions set to allow release while the case is pending.
- Detainer
- A hold from another agency or jurisdiction that may block release.
- DOC
- The Georgia Department of Corrections, which holds sentenced state prisoners.
Lee County Inmate Population FAQ
How large is the Lee County inmate population?
The live Citizen Connect roster returned 80 current inmates on June 4, 2026. Vera's 2024 county trend row reported a total jail population value of 50.25. Those are different measures, so the roster count is best for live custody and Vera is best for trend context.
Where is the Lee County jail roster?
The official county jail roster is the Citizen Connect Inmate Confinements portal linked from the Lee County Sheriff's Office page. It includes current confinements, recent admits, date-range admits, charge search, and arresting-agency search.
Does Lee State Prison use the county roster?
No. Lee State Prison is a Georgia Department of Corrections facility. Sentenced state prisoners are searched through the GDC offender query, not the county jail roster.
Can released or past inmates be searched?
Citizen Connect has admit searches by date range and recent-admit shortcuts, but the research did not find a county-published historical archive period. For older booking records, use the sheriff records request process.
Are mugshots always shown?
No. Citizen Connect can show a booking photo when available, but it also uses a NoMugshot fallback. Georgia law limits law-enforcement website posting of booking photos, and local retention timing was not published.
Who handles court records after booking?
Magistrate Court handles bond, first appearance, preliminary, and warrant matters. Superior Court files criminal cases and maintains criminal warrants for its case records.