Current:Home > NewsGeorgia lawmakers seek answers to deaths and violence plaguing the state’s prisons -Edge Finance Strategies
Georgia lawmakers seek answers to deaths and violence plaguing the state’s prisons
View
Date:2025-04-16 14:05:36
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia prisons remain understaffed and overwhelmed by violence and deaths, according to statistics presented to state lawmakers Wednesday.
Legislators are seeking solutions to a wide range of problems plaguing prisons that have sparked a federal investigation. Among them: a sharp increase in prisoner deaths; high rates of employee turnover and arrests for criminal activity; and a persistent problem with contraband cellphones and drugs.
A total of 981 people have died in Georgia prisons since 2021, including 207 this year alone, according to numbers that Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver presented to a legislative committee holding its second meeting on the issue. The cause of 98 of those deaths is unknown. Officials are investigating 36 as homicides, Oliver said, a number that is nearly as high as the total number of homicides in the system in all of 2023. There were more prison deaths in the first six months of 2024 than there were during the same time period in past years, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has reported.
Widespread violence and lack of supervision by employees have led to some of the deaths and injuries, but about half of the homicides stem from attacks by prisoners on their cellmates and rampant gang activity, Oliver said. He added that the percentage of incarcerated people convicted of violent offenses in prison has risen in recent decades. A possible solution is to increase the number of single-person cells in the state’s penitentiaries, he added.
Employees are not blameless, however. Some have been charged with sexual assault, battery, participation in gang activity and smuggling drugs. Other employees have directed prisoners to carry out attacks against each other, the AJC reported. Last year, at least 360 employees were arrested on charges of smuggling contraband into prisons, although Oliver said the majority of drugs smuggled in come from visitors.
“It’s not as much as the propaganda out there seems to think it is when it comes to staff,” Oliver said.
Oliver said that he has a “zero tolerance” policy for employees who violate prison rules, and that new hires undergo screening and training. He said the prison system lost more than 2,000 employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the agency’s efforts to increase pay and improve workplace culture have kept more officers in their jobs since the pandemic. However, vacancy rates have dropped only slightly and remain at about 50%.
“I understand the additional sacrifice made by people working inside of prisons ... the pressure and stress and other issues that come along with that and the dangers of being in there,” said Sen. Randy Robertson, a Republican from the community of Cataula who used to run a county jail.
Cellphones are often used both to coordinate attacks outside of the facility and to bring drugs inside, lawmakers noted. So far this year, 10,051 cellphones have been confiscated from prisoners, according to Oliver. Last year, 14,497 were confiscated, up from 7,229 in 2019.
Prison and government employees conduct regular “shakedowns” to rid facilities of cellphones and other contraband, but aging infrastructure makes it easier to smuggle drugs through locks, roofs, and pipes, Oliver said. It’s also difficult for employees at understaffed prisons to confiscate the drones that are landing more frequently throughout the facilities, he said.
To effectively address Georgia’s prison woes, lawmakers need to look at a range of potential solutions, including improving technology, the physical condition of prisons and programs to occupy prisoners, Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Holt told the committee.
“This is a situation where no one silver bullet is going to stop this problem,” Holt said.
___
Charlotte Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon
veryGood! (4158)
Related
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Cowabunga! New England town celebrates being the birthplace of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Florida high school football player dies after collapsing during game
- US higher education advocates welcome federal support for Hispanic-serving institutions
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Man charged in glass bottle attack on Jewish students in Pittsburgh now accused in earlier attack
- Parrots and turtles often outlive their owners. Then what happens?
- Kendrick Lamar will headline 2025 Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- Evacuations ordered as wildfire burns in foothills of national forest east of LA
Ranking
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- YouTuber Nikocado Avocado Debuts 250-Lb. Weight Loss Transformation
- AEW All Out 2024 live updates, results, match card, grades and more
- Why #MomTok’s Taylor Frankie Paul Says She and Dakota Mortensen Will Never Be the Perfect Couple
- What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
- Sharp divisions persist over Walz’s response to the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd
- AEW All Out 2024 live updates, results, match card, grades and more
- Iowa judge rules against Libertarian candidates, keeping their names off the ballot for Congress
Recommendation
South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
Aryna Sabalenka wins US Open, defeating American Jessica Pegula in final
Wynn Resorts paying $130M for letting illegal money reach gamblers at its Las Vegas Strip casino
Which NFL teams could stumble out of the gate this season?
Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
Kendrick Lamar will headline 2025 Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott becomes highest-paid player in NFL history with new contract
Inside the Gruesome Deadpool Killer Case That Led to a Death Sentence for Wade Wilson