Lew Sterrett employs magistrates around-the-clock to arraign incoming inmates. Arraignmemt is simply the process of taking inmates before a magistrate where they are informed of their charges, and bail, if any, is set.
In recent years Lew Sterrett has gone from having one magistrate around-the-clock to two magistrates. Magistrate A arraigns people who come in through central intake while Magistrate B handles those in the towers and medical wards.
The magistrates are not tasked with ensuring all inmates are arraigned. Rather, they only arraign those the sheriff’s employees bring before them.
Inmates are typically arraigned before they leave the main floor but sometimes reach the towers without being arraigned. This can be because of medical issues, disruptive or unruly behavior, backlogs or scheduling issues or any number of other reasons.
If you have someone who has not been arraigned within 12 hours of their book-in, feel free to call us and we can check and see where they are in that process.