Prisons house people who are serving sentences, and not people awaiting trial. There are state run and private prisons all over the Georgia, run by the Department of Corrections. Jails are run by the county sheriff and house people who are awaiting trial, may be waiting to go to another jail or prison, who are awaiting a probation revocation hearing or who have been sentenced to months or days, not years, in custody. Nobody goes to prison until a case is resolved with the defendant being found guilty – either after a trial or plea.