$700 Million More—And Nothing to Show for It

Georgia’s prison budget exploded by $700 million in four years. Every measurable outcome got worse.

As this article was being prepared for publication, the system it describes claimed three more lives.

On Sunday, January 11, gang violence erupted at Washington State Prison in Davisboro. Three men—Jimmy Trammell, Ahmod Hatcher, and Teddy Jackson—were killed. Thirteen more were hospitalized. Bloodied, armed inmates burst into the visitation area while families watched. ¹

Trammell was three days from release. His aunt said he had been calling home every other day: “I’m on my way home. I can’t wait to see y’all.” ²

The next night, violence spread to Hancock State Prison—five more inmates stabbed with shanks, two airlifted to hospitals. ³

The Georgia Department of Corrections called it a “gang-affiliated disturbance.” ⁴ Hatcher’s mother called it something else: “They were the cause of my son getting killed because they weren’t doing their job.” ⁵

Between FY 2022 and FY 2026, Georgia added $700 million to its corrections budget—the fastest spending growth in agency history. ⁶ This is what that money bought.

Lawmakers presented this spending surge as investment. Governor Kemp framed it as reform. The numbers tell a different story.

The Spending Increased. The Deaths Accelerated.

Prison homicides rose from 8-9 annually in 2017-2018 to 37 in 2023—then exploded to 100 in 2024. 333 deaths total for 2024.⁷ Deaths were on pace to exceed that total in 2025. ⁸ And 2026 has now begun with five homicides and dozens hospitalized in the first eleven days.

The $700 million bought body bags, not safety.

The Spending Increased. The Staffing Collapsed.

Correctional officer positions remain 50-76% vacant at most facilities despite successive emergency raises: 10% in FY 2022, $5,000 bonuses in FY 2023, 4% plus $3,000 in FY 2024-2025. ⁹ Georgia is now paying more per officer while employing fewer officers than before the spending surge began.

GDC staff fell from 8,158 full-time equivalents in FY 2020 to 6,169 by FY 2022—a loss of nearly 2,000 positions even as problems escalated. ¹⁰

A criminologist interviewed after the Washington State Prison riot explained the connection: “There’s usually protections in place that failed or broke down and led to this kind of incident.” ¹¹

The Spending Increased. Healthcare Remained Unconstitutional.

The health budget jumped 40% since FY 2022 to $345.8 million annually—yet the Department of Justice found Georgia’s prison medical care still violates the Eighth Amendment. ⁷

Georgia historically ranked among the lowest states in per-inmate healthcare spending. A 2017 Pew Charitable Trusts study found Georgia spent just $3,610 per prisoner annually on healthcare versus a national median of $5,720—placing it 44th out of 50 states. ¹²

Wellpath, the private healthcare contractor that replaced Augusta University’s Georgia Correctional Healthcare in 2021, fled after absorbing $40 million in losses and experiencing 40% staff turnover. ¹³ The company exited in June 2024.

The state’s response: a $2.4 billion, nine-year emergency contract awarded to Centurion Health without competitive bidding. ¹⁴

The Spending Increased. Food Budgets Didn’t.

Georgia still allocates approximately $1.77-$2.20 per prisoner per day for food—roughly 60 cents per meal—while the USDA minimum for adult males is $10 daily. ¹⁵ The budget doubled. The meals didn’t.

Georgia Correctional Industries operates 13,000+ acres of farmland using unpaid inmate labor and produces approximately 40% of all food items used in prisoner meals, serving 39+ million meals annually. ¹⁶ Despite this essentially free labor force, GCI lost $11.5 million over six years (2004-2009) according to state audits. ¹⁷

Where Did the Money Actually Go?

Per-prisoner spending jumped from roughly $23,000 annually in FY 2022 to $36,400 in FY 2026—a 58% increase in four years. ¹⁸

Yet prisoners experience perhaps $21 of that daily: approximately $2 for food and $19 for healthcare (calculated from the $345.8M health budget across approximately 50,000 prisoners). The remaining $79 per day flows into a system the federal government has declared unconstitutionally dangerous.

The money went to emergency pay raises that failed to fill vacancies, healthcare contracts that failed to provide care, and construction of a $436 million mega-prison in Davisboro to replace facilities that decades of neglect destroyed. ¹⁹

This is not investment. This is compound interest on institutional debt—Georgia paying premium prices for problems it created through decades of underfunding, and receiving no structural improvement in return.

The Uncomfortable Math

The prison population peaked around 2012 at approximately 54,400 and has never returned to that level. Current population hovers near 50,000—roughly 8% below the peak. ²⁰

Yet the budget is now 60% higher than 2012.

Fewer prisoners. Far more spending. Worse outcomes across every metric.

This exposes the lie at the center of Georgia’s corrections politics: the problem was never insufficient funding. The problem is a system designed to warehouse human beings as cheaply as possible, then hemorrhage emergency spending when that design inevitably fails.

Georgia isn’t underfunding its prisons. Georgia is overpaying for a broken system—one that converts $1.8 billion annually into escalating death counts, 50% staff vacancies, unconstitutional medical care, and 60-cent meals.

Twenty Years of Budget Growth

Georgia corrections spending first crossed the $1 billion threshold in FY 2007, driven by tough-on-crime policies that doubled the prison population during the 1990s and early 2000s. ²¹

Governor Nathan Deal’s landmark 2012 criminal justice reforms (HB 1176) temporarily stabilized costs, avoiding an estimated $264 million in projected spending by reducing sentences for nonviolent offenses and expanding accountability courts. ²² The prison population fell from 54,400 in 2012 to approximately 52,000 by 2016, and budgets held near $1.1-1.2 billion through the late 2010s.

The pandemic triggered steep cuts—$82.9 million below FY 2020 levels—but what followed was unprecedented. The corrections budget increased by roughly $700 million from FY 2022 to FY 2026, a 44% jump that represents the fastest growth in agency history. ⁶

What Actually Drove the $700 Million Surge

Six interconnected factors explain the post-2022 budget explosion:

Staffing collapse required emergency pay increases. Correctional officer vacancy rates reached 50-76% at most facilities by 2022-2023. The state responded with successive pay raises, culminating in Governor Kemp’s January 2025 announcement of $600 million in total proposed corrections investments. ²³

Healthcare privatization backfired spectacularly. The 2021 switch from Augusta University to Wellpath, followed by Wellpath’s 2024 exit and the emergency $2.4 billion Centurion contract, created budget chaos. Healthcare costs rose even as care quality declined.

Facility infrastructure reached critical failure. Seven close-security prisons exceeded 30 years old, and the state’s oldest facility (Georgia State Prison, built 1938) closed in 2022. The $436 million Davisboro mega-prison construction drove major capital spending through the Georgia Building Authority.

Violence escalated despite spending increases. Prison homicides jumped from 8-9 annually in 2017-2018 to 37 in 2023, 66 in 2024, and were on pace to exceed that in 2025. Trauma care costs, security measures, and the downstream effects of gang control over housing units all drove spending upward while failing to achieve safety.

The DOJ investigation created legal pressure. Following an eight-year investigation, the Department of Justice’s October 2024 report found Georgia prisons violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The threat of federal lawsuit and potential consent decree has accelerated spending commitments.

Post-COVID population rebound hit a depleted system. Prison population fell 23% during COVID (from 55,000 to 43,000) but has since rebounded to approximately 51,000—hitting a system that shed staff, deferred maintenance, and accumulated institutional damage during the pandemic years. ²⁴

What Would $700 Million Actually Buy?

For context: $700 million is more than Georgia spends annually on its entire public defender system. It exceeds the combined budgets of multiple state agencies. It represents approximately $14,000 per current prisoner.

Redirected toward sentence reform, reentry services, community supervision, and mental health diversion, $700 million could reduce the prison population enough to close facilities rather than build new ones—breaking the cycle of crisis spending that has consumed Georgia corrections for decades.

Instead, Georgia chose to pour $700 million into a system the DOJ found unconstitutional, and the only measurable result was more death.

The Question for Georgia Taxpayers

The question is no longer whether prisons receive enough funding. The question is why Georgians are paying $1.8 billion annually for results this catastrophic—and how long they’ll accept being told the answer is simply to pay more.

Spending growth addresses crisis, not improvement. The $700 million increase from FY 2022 to FY 2026 has not built new programming, expanded rehabilitation, or improved conditions—it has funded emergency staffing bonuses, healthcare contract bailouts, and the construction of replacement prisons.

Georgia’s correctional system has entered a fundamentally unsustainable phase where spending increases do not produce proportional improvements in safety, health, or outcomes. The state is not underfunding its prisons. The state is overpaying for a system that was designed to fail—and is now failing at premium prices.

Jimmy Trammell learned that three days before he was supposed to come home.

Call to Action: What You Can Do

Awareness without action changes nothing. Here are the most effective ways you can help push for accountability and real reform:

Contact Your Representatives

Your state legislators control GDC’s budget, oversight, and the laws that created these failures. Demand accountability and transparency.

• Find your Georgia legislators: https://openstates.org/findyourlegislator
• Governor Brian Kemp: (404) 656-1776
• Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner: (478) 992-5246

Demand Media Coverage

Journalists need to know these stories matter. Contact newsrooms at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, local TV stations, and national outlets covering criminal justice. More coverage means more pressure for reform.

Use Impact Justice AI

Our free tool at https://impactjustice.ai helps you instantly draft and send personalized emails to lawmakers, journalists, and agencies. No expertise required—just your voice and your concern.

Amplify on Social Media

Share this article and call out the people in power.

Tag: @GovKemp, @GDC_Georgia, your local representatives

Use hashtags such as #GAPrisons, #PrisonReform, #GeorgiaPrisonerSpeak

Public pressure works—especially when it’s loud.

File Public Records Requests

Georgia’s Open Records Act gives every citizen the right to access government documents. Request:

• Incident reports
• Death records
• Staffing data
• Medical logs
• Financial and contract documents

Transparency reveals truth.

Attend Public Meetings

The Georgia Board of Corrections holds public meetings. Legislative committees review corrections issues during session. Your presence is noticed.

Contact the Department of Justice

For civil rights violations in Georgia prisons, file a complaint with the DOJ Civil Rights Division:

https://civilrights.justice.gov

Federal oversight has forced abusive systems to change before.

Support Organizations Doing This Work

Donate to or volunteer with Georgia-based prison reform groups fighting for change on the ground.

Vote

Research candidates’ positions on criminal justice. Primary elections often determine outcomes in Georgia. Your vote shapes who controls these systems.

Contact GPS

Georgia Prisoners’ Speak exists because incarcerated people and their families deserve to be heard. If you have information about conditions inside Georgia’s prisons, contact us securely at GPS.press.

About Georgia Prisoners’ Speak (GPS)

Georgia Prisoners’ Speak (GPS) is a nonprofit investigative newsroom built in partnership with incarcerated reporters, families, advocates, and data analysts. Operating independently from the Georgia Department of Corrections, GPS documents the truth the state refuses to acknowledge: extreme violence, fatal medical neglect, gang-controlled dorms, collapsed staffing, fraudulent reporting practices, and unconstitutional conditions across Georgia’s prisons.

Through confidential reporting channels, secure communication, evidence verification, public-records requests, legislative research, and professional investigative standards, GPS provides the transparency the system lacks. Our mission is to expose abuses, protect incarcerated people, support families, and push Georgia toward meaningful reform based on human rights, evidence, and public accountability.

Every article is part of a larger fight — to end the silence, reveal the truth, and demand justice.

Further Reading

• Starved and Silenced: The Hidden Crisis Inside Georgia Prisons *Investigation into how Georgia feeds prisoners on 60 cents per meal while operating thousands of acres of free prison labor farms.*

• Exposed: Georgia’s Prison Crisis—DOJ Report Reveals Systematic Failures and Constitutional Violations *Comprehensive analysis of the Department of Justice findings that Georgia prisons violate the Eighth Amendment.*

• The Hidden Crisis of Dental Neglect in Georgia Prisons *How Georgia’s extraction-only dental policy leaves prisoners in chronic pain while violating constitutional standards.*

• What Happens When the State Decides You Don’t Deserve to Eat *First-person accounts of hunger and malnutrition inside Georgia’s correctional facilities.*

• From Cells to Coffins: Georgia’s Hidden Prison Death Toll *Tracking the rising death count and documenting the lives lost inside Georgia’s prison system.*

1. WJCL report on Washington State Prison riot, https://www.wjcl.com/article/washington-state-prison-georgia-riot/69986501 [↩]
2. Georgia Public Broadcasting coverage of Washington State Prison violence, https://www.gpb.org/news/2026/01/12/three-dead-and-dozen-hospitalized-after-violence-at-georgias-washington-state [↩]
3. The Union-Recorder report on Hancock State Prison attacks, https://unionrecorder.com/2026/01/13/five-inmates-injured-at-hancock-state-prison-in-attacks/ [↩]
4. GDC press release on Washington State Prison disturbance, https://gdc.georgia.gov/press-releases/2026-01-12/disturbance-washington-state-prison [↩]
5. WRDW report on Washington State Prison deaths, https://www.wrdw.com/2026/01/12/new-details-how-3-inmates-were-killed-washington-state-prison/ [↩]
6. Georgia Budget and Policy Institute FY 2026 corrections budget overview, https://gbpi.org/overview-2026-fiscal-year-budget-for-the-georgia-department-of-corrections/ [↩][↩]
7. DOJ Investigation of Georgia’s State Prisons October 2024, https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1371406/dl [↩][↩]
8. Associated Press report on Georgia prison violence, https://www.corrections1.com/riots-and-crowd-control/3-inmates-killed-co-injured-in-ga-prison-fight [↩]
9. GBPI FY 2025 corrections budget overview, https://gbpi.org/overview-2025-fiscal-year-budget-for-the-georgia-department-of-corrections/ [↩]
10. The Marshall Project prison staffing data analysis, https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/01/10/prison-correctional-officer-shortage-overtime-data [↩]
11. Times Union coverage of Georgia prison violence, https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/3-inmates-dead-corrections-officer-and-others-21290667.php [↩]
12. Pew Charitable Trusts prison healthcare costs report, https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/reports/2017/10/prison-health-care-costs-and-quality [↩]
13. AJC investigation on Wellpath costs and violence, https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/georgia-prison-medical-provider-cites-millions-in-extra-costs-due-to-violence/RZH5DDKJ75HJJALOSWP5A3GUXA/ [↩]
14. AJC report on Centurion healthcare contract lawsuit, https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/lawsuit-accuses-georgia-prison-system-of-violating-law-to-replace-healthcare-provider/HW6BADMSFZEXTJKCW3RRO6BO2Q/ [↩]
15. GPS investigation Starved and Silenced, https://gps.press/starved-and-silenced-the-hidden-crisis-inside-georgia-prisons/ [↩]
16. GDC Georgia Correctional Industries overview, https://gdc.georgia.gov/organization/about-gdc/divisions-and-org-chart/executive-operations/georgia-correctional-industries [↩]
17. Corrections1 report on Georgia inmate labor costs, https://www.corrections1.com/jail-management/articles/ga-inmates-free-work-has-a-price-DIk1ohX32ozd07ek/ [↩]
18. GDC Cost Per Day Consolidated Summary FY 2024, https://gdc.georgia.gov/document/document/cost-day-consolidated-summary/download [↩]
19. AJC report on Georgia prisons $600M overhaul, https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/georgia-prisons-get-600m-for-overhaul-lawmakers-say-its-a-start/3FPAMXLSPBA27EEKYF5CTHGM5E/ [↩]
20. GDC Year-End Population Since 1925, https://gdc.georgia.gov/media/19916/download [↩]
21. GBPI Tough on Crime and the Budget report, https://gbpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20080111_ToughOnCrimeandTheBudget.pdf [↩]
22. CSG Justice Center Georgia Justice Reinvestment overview, https://csgjusticecenter.org/projects/justice-reinvestment/past-states/georgia/ [↩]
23. Governor Kemp corrections system assessment announcement, https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-01-07/gov-kemp-unveils-recommendations-system-wide-corrections-system [↩]
24. WJCL report on Georgia prison population and staffing, https://www.wjcl.com/article/georgia-prison-population-rising-staffing-shortages/69776087 [↩]