Current:Home > MarketsGeorgia lawmakers seek answers to deaths and violence plaguing the state’s prisons -Aspire Money Growth
Georgia lawmakers seek answers to deaths and violence plaguing the state’s prisons
View
Date:2025-04-13 06:06:44
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! (26559)
Related
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- Alaska man killed in moose attack was trying to take photos of newborn calves, troopers say
- Defrocked in 2004 for same-sex relationship, a faithful Methodist is reinstated as pastor
- What is in-flight turbulence, and when does it become dangerous for passengers and crews?
- Hackers hit Rhode Island benefits system in major cyberattack. Personal data could be released soon
- 'Bachelor' alum Colton Underwood and husband expecting first baby together
- Tornadoes wreak havoc in Iowa, killing multiple people and leveling buildings: See photos
- Riley Keough Slams Fraudulent Attempt to Sell Elvis Presley's Graceland Property in Lawsuit
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Trump’s lawyers rested their case after calling just 2 witnesses. Experts say that’s not unusual
Ranking
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- Former Trump adviser and ambassadors met with Netanyahu as Gaza war strains US-Israel ties
- Detroit could be without Black representation in Congress again with top candidate off the ballot
- When is Pat Sajak’s last show on ‘Wheel of Fortune’? Release date, where to watch
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Who is Jacob Zuma, the former South African president disqualified from next week’s election?
- Israel’s block of AP transmission shows how ambiguity in law could restrict war coverage
- Russia is waging a shadow war on the West that needs a collective response, Estonian leader says
Recommendation
Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
Iran’s supreme leader to preside over funeral for president and others killed in helicopter crash
The bodies of 4 men and 2 women were found strangled, piled up in Mexican resort of Acapulco
Family says Alaska photographer killed in moose attack knew the risks, died doing what he loved
Small twin
Get Ready to Turn Heads: The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Collection Makes Waves on Amazon
Kathryn Dennis of 'Southern Charm' arrested on suspicion of DUI after 3-car collision
How to get a free 6-piece chicken nugget from McDonald's this Wednesday