Greetings:
This week is about the distance between the numbers Georgia reports and the numbers its own records hold. Two former corrections commanders say the state hides its staffing collapse by manipulating the figures it puts in public. Across 273 PREA facility audits spanning eleven years, not a single standard was ever marked “not met” — while those same facilities logged hundreds of abuse allegations a year. At one prison, at least nineteen men have been killed since 2020, and we could find no record that anyone was ever prosecuted.
The spending is not in dispute either: about $12.2 billion since 2020, $2.4 billion of it new money since 2021, with no drop in population and the deadliest years on record. We compiled the state’s PREA data into a searchable database, published an accounting of $50.6 million paid across 261 settlements, and named who built and runs the crisis.
We don’t ask anyone to take our word for it. We built the databases, filed 130 records requests, and mailed the receipts into legislators’ hands. The record was always the point.
| 14 articles · 44 stories to legislators · 758 emails · 19 new advocates |
New from GPS
GPS This Week now has a public signup. The weekly newsletter finally has a front door at gps.press/newsletter (English and Spanish) — a name and email is all it takes. You’ll also find it in the site menu under “Join Our Movement” and on the Action Center.
Significant work this period
Published “Who Is Responsible” — our accountability brief on Georgia’s prison crisis
GPS’s flagship brief names who built and runs the crisis across four institutions: a General Assembly and Governor who funded an unsustainable system (about $12.2 billion since 2020, with no drop in population), a Parole Board that releases roughly 4.5% of people serving life, and a Department of Corrections that has refused no-cost reforms like gang separation and quoted $96,715 for basic public records. It rests on months of GPS research and the DOJ’s October 2024 investigation. Read more
We compiled GDC’s own Prison Rape Elimination Act records into a searchable database: eleven years of system-wide allegation data (2014–2024) alongside all 273 facility audit reports across five audit cycles. Across every one of those 273 audits, not a single standard was ever marked “not met” — even as facilities logged hundreds of allegations a year and substantiated only a fraction. Read more
Launched “What Georgia Pays” — a public accounting of prison-settlement payouts
A public accounting of what Georgia has paid to settle lawsuits and claims over deaths and injuries in its prisons: $50.6 million across 261 settlements, drawn entirely from the state’s own records — money spent after the harm while the conditions that caused it go unfixed. The data is searchable by facility and shows on each linked death record. Read more
Mailed the full “Buried Alive” investigation to every Georgia legislator
We sent all 251 members of the Georgia General Assembly a printed copy of our investigation into O.C.G.A. § 9-14-42 — the four-year deadline that guts habeas corpus for everyone but death row — with a letter asking them to take it up when the session reconvenes.
Postcards to every Georgia prison warden: “Separate the Gangs”
We mailed personalized postcards to 44 GDC wardens and top administrators laying out the state’s own statutory duty under O.C.G.A. § 42-5-52 to classify and separate inmates — and the concrete steps to keep rival gang members apart, with no new law, beds, or budget required.
Filed a wave of open records requests. We filed 130 open records requests with Georgia agencies this period.
GPS meetings with Legislators
Georgia Prisoners’ Speak met with several legislators this week to discuss both Vision2027 and End The Warehouse campaigns.
Featured story
What’s Really Behind Georgia’s Prison Crisis?
Georgia poured $2.4 billion in new money into its prisons since 2021 — on top of $12.2 billion spent since 2020 — and bought the deadliest years in the system’s history. Follow the money to see who really built the crisis, and why firing one commissioner fixes nothing.
Every one of these stories starts with someone willing to speak. Share yours through Tell My Story, or refer a loved one inside.
Articles published
- Two Commanders Say Georgia Hides Its Prison Staffing Crisis — Jul 15, 2026
Two former GDC commanders independently say Georgia hides its prison staffing collapse by manipulating the numbers it reports to the public. - The Punishment for Speaking Up in Georgia’s Prisons — Jul 15, 2026
A review of GPS’s own case files shows retaliation isn’t a series of accidents — it is a system, and its purpose is silence. - The Abuse Provision: Georgia’s Forgotten Prison Clause — Jul 12, 2026
An 1868 constitutional ban on abusing anyone under arrest or in prison, cited only ten times since, may be the most powerful untested legal tool against the crisis. - The Crisis Georgia’s Prison Leaders Call ‘Propaganda’ — Jul 12, 2026
The DOJ found Georgia’s prisons unconstitutional; the state’s own consultant called it an emergency. Corrections leaders had a different word: propaganda. - The Georgia Prison Commander Who Warned the State — Jul 11, 2026
An emergency-response commander warned leadership in a sworn statement that conditions were unconstitutional. Twelve days later the state marked him “resigned.” - At Least Nineteen: The Murders the State Didn’t Prosecute — Jul 6, 2026
At least nineteen men have been killed by other prisoners inside Ware State Prison since 2020. GPS could find no record that anyone was ever prosecuted.
Spanish-language editions of these articles are also published on gps.press.
Mailings this period
253 advocacy letters mailed this period.
We also put 44 firsthand stories from inside directly into Georgia legislators’ hands — real accounts mailed as Tell My Story postcards, each carrying a pull-quote and a QR code to the full story, delivered as physical mail so lawmakers can’t look away.
Have a story that belongs in a legislator’s hands? Share it at gps.press/tellmystory.
Emails sent on your behalf
758 emails sent this period:
- Legislative: 725
- Advocacy: 29
Open records requests filed this period: 130.
New advocates
19 new subscribers joined this period.
Explore GPS
Two corners of GPS worth a look:
Look up exactly who represents you under the Gold Dome and how to reach them — the first step to making your voice count on prison policy.
See how Georgia legislators have actually voted on the bills that shape life inside GDC — accountability you can check.
— The GPS Team — accountability@gps.press