About Putnam County Jail

In Putnam County Florida, the local jail facility is the Putnam County Jail, which is located in the city of Palatka.  It is operated by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.  At this time, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office’s official website is under construction, which can make it difficult to find information about the office.  However, they do maintain a fairly updated Facebook page, which is located at .  You can refer to that page if you have additional questions about the facility.

The Putnam County Jail is a local jail facility, which means that it must be prepared to secure inmates at all security levels.  It is an adult detention facility, and it holds both male and female detainees.  There is also a state prison in Putnam County, but it is not a local jail facility and is run by the State Department of Corrections, not the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.  Many people are confused about the differences between jail and prison facilities.  Jail facilities hold a variety of different types of inmates.  They hold pre-trial detainees, which are people being held in the jail facility while they are awaiting trial.  They may also hold inmates who have been convicted at trial, but are awaiting sentencing; and inmates who have been sentenced and are awaiting transfer to the facility where they will serve their sentences.  Jails are also used as transportation hubs and may hold inmates who are being transferred between other facilities, or who have been brought from a prison facility to the local county facility in order to appear in court.  Furthermore, jails hold inmates who have been sentenced to jail terms of less than a year, which usually, but not always, indicates inmates who have been convicted of less serious offenses. Finally, when space allows, a local jail facility may take prisoners from the federal system, including inmates who are being detained by the U.S. Marshal Service of by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In contrast, state prison facilities hold inmates who have longer jail terms, and who often have been convicted of more serious offenses.  Because of this jail/prison difference, many people think that local jail facilities must be nice or at least more accommodating than prisons.  This is not necessarily the case.  Prisons are able to separate inmates into security levels with better accuracy than jails, because they have a longer time to evaluate the inmates.  This can mean that lower level offenders actually have greater freedom in prisons than they would have in jails.  In addition, prisons are designed for long-term management of inmates, which means that prisons generally have the ability to offer more programming for inmates, including educational programming.

However, inmates in local jails may experience more leniency in Florida than inmates in the prison system would experience.  While they are required to serve at least half of their sentences, the Sheriff has a tremendous amount of discretion in regards to sentencing and housing. People serving sentences in jails, must serve at least half of their non-felony sentences, while prisoners serving time for felonies must serve all of their mandatory minimum sentence and at least 85% of their total sentence.

In addition to traditional jail detention, there are some other punishment and detention alternatives available through the Putnam County jail.  These include work release programs, furlough programs, house arrest (using electronic monitoring), and even weekend sentencing.  Good time behavior can significantly reduce the amount of time a person will serve.  In fact, good behavior time is automatic unless an offender violates jail rules.

The Putnam County Jail handles inmates who are arrested by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, as well as inmates arrested by some of the local municipal law enforcement agencies.  Inmates may be in the jail for a very temporary stay, because some inmates are booked, but then are later not charged.  In addition, many inmates are released on their own recognizance prior to appearing in court or will be able to pay their bail or bond and secure a pre-trial release.

The Putnam County Jail has several different housing areas, which are known as pods.  These pods consist of the jail cells, common areas, and even an outside recreation area.  In the common areas, inmates can sit at tables and engage in recreation.  The cells hold two to three people, and the jail is frequently overcrowded.  As with all local jail facilities, determining security levels for incoming inmates is a challenge to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, because many people who are arrested are high, drunk, or experiencing mental health issues that can make their baseline state difficult to detect.  The Putnam County Jail has medical staff that can help assess incoming inmates.

Putnam County Jail Addresses

Physical Address

The Putnam County Jail is located at the same place as the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. The address for the Putnam County Jail is:

Putnam County Jail
130 Orie Griffin Boulevard
Palatka, Florida 32177

Mailing Address

The mailing address for the Putnam County Jail is the same as its physical address, without any special PO Boxes.  That mailing address is:

Putnam County Jail
130 Orie Griffin Boulevard
Palatka, Florida 32177

Inmate Mailing Address

The Putnam County Jail does not have a special address for inmate mail; you can send inmate mail to the same mailing address as non-inmate mail.  You simply want to indicate that the mail is inmate mail by putting the inmate’s name on the mailing label.  That address is:

Inmate Name
Putnam County Jail
130 Orie Griffin Boulevard
Palatka, Florida 32177

As with all jail facilities, the Putnam County Jail inspects both incoming and outgoing mail.  Mail that violates jail rules will be rejected.  In addition, if you attempt to send contraband items to an inmate, the items may be confiscated and you may be prosecuted for your attempt to send contraband.  This is important to realize, because some contraband items would not be illegal to send to someone outside of a correctional facility.

The types of things that are generally prohibited in inmate mail include, but are not limited to: glitter, glue, tape, stickers, perfumes, lipsticks, letters written in code, clippings from magazines or newspapers, plastic, wood, metal, weapons, things that can be made into weapons, Polaroid or Polaroid type photographs, oversized photographs, cards with moving parts or musical parts, food, drink, drugs, nicotine, cigarettes, medications, writing supplies, art supplies, and published materials. In addition, anything that could be used to plan a crime or a jail break is prohibited, including descriptions of the jail facility or the schedule of jail staff.  Other prohibited content includes gang-related content, sexually explicit materials, nudity, and violent materials.

Inmates can receive books, magazines, newspapers, or other published materials.  However, these materials cannot be sent by an individual, but must be sent, instead, by either the publisher or an authorized book store.  The materials must be new and cannot contain hard bindings or spiral bindings.  In addition, published materials also need to comply with the other rules for jail mail content.

While ordinary correspondence is subject to inspection, there is some confidentiality for legal mail.  While legal mail may still be inspected for contraband, this is done in the presence of the inmate.

Phone Numbers

The main phone number for the Putnam County Jail is 386-329-0855.  The fax number for the Putnam County Jail is 386-329-0861.

Putnam County Jail Log

The Putnam County Jail Log is not maintained by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, but is actually maintained by a third-party provider, Smart Web.  The default view for this website shows inmates who have been detained in the last 24 hours. However, there are parameters you can use to search for additional inmates.  You can expand the days for booking to see all inmates who have been booked over an extended period of time, as long as those inmates are still in custody.  You can search by last name, first name, middle name, booking dates, and for inmates who are in custody and those who have been released.  The information available on the general search screen includes: the inmate’s name, status (in jail or not in jail), booking number, MNI number, booking date, age on booking date, bond amount, and the address given by the inmate.  In addition, you can find a booking photo/ mugshot of the inmate on that site.  You can also get more detailed information about the charges against the inmate, including the statutes that have been violated, the degree of the crime, and the bond for each charge.

Jail Bookings / Recent Arrests

The Putnam County Jail Log works like a booking log because its default setting is to provide information about the arrests in the last 24 hours.

Mugshots

The Putnam County Jail Log contains booking photos/ mugshots for the inmates in the Putnam County Jail.  In addition, you can find mugshots for inmates in the Putnam County Jail at Mugshots.com

Jail Visitation

The Putnam County Jail does not have in person visitation, but offers video visitation.  This video visitation does not actually occur at the jail’s physical location.  Instead, it occurs at a dedicated video visitation location.  You can find the video visitation at 2509 Crill Ave, Ste. 650, which is the Putnam Government Complex.  Visitation hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 7:30am to 4:30pm, except for 11:30am to 12:30pm, when the jail is closed for lunch.  You can call the jail at 386-326-7184 to ask questions about visitation.

Inmate Phone Privileges

As with most local jail facilities, inmates at the Putnam County Jail cannot receive incoming calls.  In addition, you cannot call the Putnam County Jail to rely messages to inmates.  If there is an emergency situation, you may be able to contact the Putnam County Jail and speak with the on-duty jailers and rely the situation to them.  If you have a verifiable emergency, the jailer may choose to relay a message or have the inmate return your phone call.

Inmates can place outgoing phone calls.  These phone calls can be collect calls, and the recipient must pay for the calls.  Inmates may also use the inmate phone calling system, providing by ICSolutions, Inmate Calling Solutions.  You can create an account with ICSolutions by going to their website at http://www.icsolutions.com/.  You can also contact them by calling them at 888-506-8407.  You can also contact them via mail at:

ICSolutions Customer Service
2200 Danbury Street
San Antonio, TX 78217

Inmate Trust Accounts / Commissary

The Putnam County Jail, like most modern jail facilities, uses inmate trust accounts as a way to manage inmate funds.  Inmates can have funds from jobs in jail, but the majority of inmate funds are those deposited by an inmate’s friends and family.  You can make deposits into an inmate’s trust account, which the inmate can then use to make purchases through the jail’s commissary or canteen.  The jail commissary is a jail-specific store, which allows inmates to purchase things that are not provided by the jail.  Inmates may also use money in their trust accounts to pay things like fees for jail services, medical visits, or daily fees.

Commissary or canteen is not usually a physical store, but more like a delivery service.  Inmates place orders and there is a delivery day for commissary orders.  Only inmates who have money in their inmate trust accounts are allowed to make purchases from the commissary or canteen.

Examples of the types of products that an inmate may be able to purchase from the commissary or canteen include: food, snacks, drinks, clothing, shoes, soap, shampoo, lotion, razers, books, magazines, playing cards, radios, headphones, tablets, paper, art supplies, stamps, writing supplies, hygiene items, health and beauty items, and sometimes even over-the-counter medications.

You can send money to an inmate in various ways.  You can make deposits in person at the jail facility.  You can also use services like MoneyGram to send money to inmates who are detained in the jail facility.  You will need the inmate’s full name, id number, and inmate’s location.

Bail Information

You can find information about the bond amounts for an inmate on each of the inmate’s records in the Putnam County Jail Log.  This will let you know whether there is a bond available and, if so, the amount of the bond and whether it has been paid.

If a person has been arrested in Putnam County, then the person will be processed at the Putnam County Jail, prior to being eligible for any type of release.  The defendant who is charged will be booked into jail and given the opportunity to post bail.  Bail can only be posted after a judge has determined whether bail will be available and, if so, the amount of the bail.

Bail can be paid in multiple different ways.  First, you can pay the full amount of the bond.  This is called cash bail. When people pay a cash bail, then the full amount of the bail is refundable to the payer or the defendant as long as the defendant appears at trial and complies with any other conditions of pre-trial release.  This is true whether or not the defendant is convicted at trial.  If you are unable or unwilling to pay the full amount of cash bail, then you can also secure the services of a bail bondsman.  The bail bondsman will charge a percentage of the bond amount as a non-refundable fee, and, in exchange for that fee, will promise to pay the court the full amount of the bond if the defendant fails to appear at trial or otherwise comply with the conditions of release.

Conclusion

The Putnam County Jail is a local jail facility located in Palatka, Florida.  The physical address for the jail is 130 Orie Griffin Blvd.  This is the same location as the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.  The Putnam County Jail is run by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and takes in defendants who have been detained by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, other local law enforcement agencies, and federal agencies like the U.S. Marshals or ICE.  The Putnam County Jail is an adult detention facility that holds both male and female adult inmates across a variety of security levels.  The phone number for the Putnam County Jail is 386-329-0854.