Where the people who run Georgia’s justice system stand on its prisons
Every statewide constitutional office is on the November ballot. Below, each nominee’s documented record on prison conditions, the 2024 U.S. DOJ findings, sentencing, parole, and the death penalty — or, where there is none, that silence, reported as we found it.
What we found
Of 18 statewide nominees, only three have a developed prison-reform record — Josh McLaurin (Lt. Governor), Tanya Miller (Attorney General), and Jon Ossoff (U.S. Senate, on federal prisons). No Republican statewide nominee has taken a documented position on the 2024 U.S. Department of Justice finding that Georgia’s prisons are unconstitutional — including the nominees for Attorney General, the office that would defend the State in that case.
Governor
Sets the corrections budget, appoints the GDC commissioner, and signs criminal-justice bills.First-time candidate (Jackson Healthcare CEO). A general law-and-order platform, but no stated position on prison conditions, GDC funding, the 2024 U.S. DOJ finding that Georgia's prisons are unconstitutional, sentencing, parole, the death penalty, or clemency.
As Atlanta mayor she ended cash bail for city-ordinance violations, deployed body cameras, moved to close the city jail, and ended its ICE-detention contract. Her 2026 plank backs diversion for nonviolent cases and “Prison-to-Work” reentry — but takes no stated position on GDC conditions, the DOJ findings, the death penalty, or clemency.
Attorney General
Prosecutes cases and defends the State in the 2024 U.S. DOJ prison-conditions matter; handles habeas and the death penalty.Senate Judiciary chairman. Sponsored early termination of felony probation (SB 105) and a 2025 law easing the intellectual-disability standard in death-penalty cases (HB 123); in 2026 sponsored a bill to restrict public access to mugshots and body-camera footage (SB 482, which died in the House). Platform: gang and drug task forces, “ending soft-on-crime.” No statement on the 2024 DOJ findings — the case the Attorney General defends.
Former federal and Fulton County homicide prosecutor — the only attorney-general nominee with a documented prison-conditions stance. She has called Georgia's prisons a “constitutional crisis” and says she sued the Department of Corrections over an in-custody stabbing. In the legislature she voted against the 2024 cash-bail expansion (“a criminalization of poverty”) and sponsored bills on police body cameras (HB 325) and sentencing credit (HB 535).
Lieutenant Governor
Presides over the State Senate and steers which criminal-justice bills advance.A senior Senate Republican; his documented legislative priorities are education, taxes, and transportation. No documented position on prison conditions, GDC oversight, the 2024 DOJ findings, sentencing, parole, or the death penalty.
The most extensive prison-reform record in the statewide field. He has called Georgia's prison crisis “the human-rights crisis of our time,” voted against the 2024 cash-bail expansion, sponsored voting-rights restoration for people with felony convictions, opposes new-prison construction and longer sentences, and backs expanded parole.
US Senate
Federal oversight of prisons and the Bureau of Prisons; federal sentencing law.U.S. Representative (GA-10); his federal record centers on immigration and crime enforcement (sponsor of the Laken Riley Act). No documented position on prison conditions or oversight, sentencing reform, or the death penalty.
Among the Senate's most active members on prison oversight: he co-authored the bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act (signed 2024), led a subcommittee that found roughly 990 uncounted deaths in custody, investigated the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, and held a 2024 hearing on the treatment of incarcerated women in Georgia jails. (His oversight targets the federal system and county jails, not the state GDC.)
Secretary of State
Runs elections — little direct nexus to the prison system.State representative and former chief of staff to Gov. Kemp; his criminal-justice record is from his time as a Newton County commissioner (local bond reform, trafficking ordinances), not state prison policy.
A former Fulton County state-court judge — a relevant legal and judicial background — though her Secretary-of-State campaign centers on elections, not prison policy.
Insurance · Agriculture · Labor · Schools
No documented criminal-justice or prison-reform positions — these offices have little direct nexus to the prison system. (John King, R-Insurance, has a law-enforcement career background; Nikki Porcher, D-Labor, mentioned reentry jobs for formerly incarcerated people in one interview — neither is a developed corrections platform.)| Office | Republican | Democrat |
|---|---|---|
| Commissioner of Insurance | John King | Keisha Sean Waites |
| Commissioner of Agriculture | Tyler Harper | Katherine E. Juhan-Arnold |
| Commissioner of Labor | Bárbara Rivera Holmes | Nikki Porcher |
| State School Superintendent | Richard Woods | Lydia Powell |
Nominees: Georgia Secretary of State official results (results.sos.ga.gov), May 19 primary + June 16 runoff. Position research compiled June 2026 from candidate platforms, the Georgia General Assembly record, news reporting, and GPS’s 2026 candidate guide; full sourcing on file. General election November 3, 2026.