Henry County Sheriff Reginald Scandrett has taken his own county government to court, filing an action in Henry County Superior Court that seeks mandamus and injunctive relief over funding for law enforcement and jail operations. The move follows what Scandrett describes as repeated warnings to county officials that his office is stretched thin by population growth, rising demand for services, and overcrowding at the county jail.
Sheriff Says He Ran Out of Options
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, Scandrett is seeking a court order requiring Henry County to meet its legal obligations to the sheriff's office. Per the announcement, Scandrett said he exhausted every other option before filing the court action, and that he had already warned county officials about staffing and infrastructure concerns before the case landed in front of a judge.
Scandrett said Henry County has not provided enough support for law enforcement and detention operations, per the same announcement. He added that the sheriff's office will continue providing services to residents while the case proceeds through the court system.
Growth and Jail Crowding Cited as Pressure Points
The station's report ties the dispute to several strains building on the sheriff's office: population growth in Henry County, increased demand for the office's services, and overcrowding at the county jail. Those factors are described in the reporting as pressures that have built up over time, though Scandrett's announcement does not specify a dollar figure he is seeking, a number of positions he wants funded, or which facility changes he wants a court to require.
Not the First Georgia District Attorney to Sue Over Funding
Henry County is not the only Georgia jurisdiction where a law enforcement official has turned to the courts over money. In Glynn County, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins filed his own writ of mandamus lawsuit in Glynn County Superior Court, according to The Current, alleging county leaders failed to properly fund his prosecutorial agency. That dispute reportedly stemmed from an $880,000 budget overage tied to an accounting error, after which the county withheld around $785,0000 in payroll funding and began charging the district attorney's office overhead expenses, per Higgins' lawsuit.
The Glynn County case shows a similar legal path being used elsewhere in Georgia to force a funding standoff into court, though the underlying facts and dollar figures in that dispute are distinct from what has been disclosed in the Henry County filing so far.
