Georgia’s prison system is in crisis—and private corporations are profiting from it. While 1,682 people have died in Georgia’s prisons since 2020, companies like CoreCivic continue to extract revenue from every incarcerated person, every day. The question isn’t whether private prisons save money. The question is: who pays the real cost?
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Georgia currently holds 50,250 people in its prisons. The state spends approximately $86.61 per inmate per day—$31,612 annually per person—making it one of the most expensive carceral systems in the Southeast. 1
Private prison operators claim cost efficiency. The data tells a different story:
| Metric | Private Facilities | Public Facilities |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Cost Per Inmate | $49-52 | $44-48 |
| Staff Turnover Rate | 43% | 15% |
| Training Hours | 58 fewer hours | Standard training |
| Salary Gap | $14,901 less annually | Higher compensation |
Private prisons cost more per day while paying staff less. Where does the difference go? Profit margins and executive compensation.
The Georgia Reality: Who Gets Selected, Who Gets Rejected
Private prisons don’t accept everyone. They cherry-pick inmates—avoiding those with expensive medical conditions, serious mental health needs, or complex security classifications. This leaves Georgia’s public facilities holding the most vulnerable and dangerous populations while private contractors take the easier, more profitable cases.
Consider the demographics of Georgia’s prison deaths. The average age at death is 52.1 years—people dying decades earlier than the general population. 2 Many of these deaths involve chronic illness, delayed medical care, and conditions that private facilities systematically avoid accepting.
The result? Public facilities operate at 113% capacity while private facilities run at 82%. Public prisons absorb the hardest cases. Private prisons absorb the profits.
The Staffing Crisis Is By Design
Georgia’s prison staffing shortage isn’t an accident—it’s a business model. Private facilities pay correctional officers up to $14,901 less annually than their public counterparts. Starting salaries are $5,327 lower. The predictable result: 43% staff turnover, compared to 15% in public facilities.
High turnover creates dangerous conditions. Inexperienced officers mean more violence, more contraband, and more deaths. GPS has documented 100+ homicides in Georgia prisons during 2024 alone—a rate 32 times higher than the free population. 3
When staff quit faster than they can be trained, security collapses. The profit motive doesn’t just undermine rehabilitation—it kills.
What Private Prisons Won’t Tell You
Transparency is mandatory for public prisons. They must report on spending, conditions, incidents, and solitary confinement. Private facilities operate under different rules—withholding data on violence, medical outcomes, and financial practices.
Georgia Prisoners’ Speak has spent years fighting for the data the state refuses to release. What we’ve found is damning:
- 1,682 deaths since 2020 in Georgia custody
- 273 deaths in 2025 alone (through October)
- Death rate 70% higher than the national state prison average
- $700 million added to corrections budget (FY2022-2026) with worsening outcomes
Private operators benefit from this opacity. Without public scrutiny, cost-cutting continues unchecked.
The Rehabilitation Gap
Public prisons, despite their problems, offer more rehabilitation programming: education, vocational training, mental health services, substance abuse treatment. Private facilities offer less—because programs cost money and cut into margins.
The consequences extend beyond prison walls. 95% of incarcerated people eventually return to Georgia communities. Without rehabilitation, they return with fewer skills, deeper trauma, and higher likelihood of reoffense. The private prison model doesn’t reduce crime—it perpetuates it.
What Must Change
Georgia has alternatives. Australia and New Zealand have implemented performance-based contracts that tie payments to reduced recidivism, not just bed counts. These models prove that accountability is possible—if the political will exists.
Essential reforms include:
- Mandatory transparency for all facilities receiving public funds
- Staff pay parity between private and public facilities
- Outcome-based contracts measuring rehabilitation, not incarceration
- Independent oversight with authority to investigate and sanction
The Department of Justice has already found Georgia’s prisons unconstitutional. The state can no longer hide behind claims of cost efficiency while people die. 4
Take Action
Use Impact Justice AI to send advocacy emails directly to Georgia lawmakers, parole board members, and oversight agencies. The free tool crafts personalized messages on issues from medical neglect to parole reform—no experience required.
Georgia’s prison crisis won’t solve itself. Contact your state legislators and demand:
- Full transparency from all contracted facilities
- Performance-based contracts tied to rehabilitation outcomes
- Competitive wages for all correctional staff
- Independent oversight with enforcement authority
Report conditions you witness. Georgia Prisoners’ Speak accepts confidential tips from incarcerated people, families, and staff. Your information helps document what the state refuses to acknowledge.
Further Reading
- Parole Theater: How Georgia’s Parole Board Rubber-Stamps Inevitable Releases
- $700 Million More—And Nothing to Show for It
- Cruel and Unusual Dentistry: Inside Georgia’s Prison Dental Crisis
- GPS Mortality Database
- GPS Facilities Database
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.
- GPS Statistics, https://gps.press/gdc-statistics/[↩]
- GPS Mortality Database, https://gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/[↩]
- GPS Investigation, https://gps.press/700-million-more-and-nothing-to-show-for-it/[↩]
- DOJ Report on Georgia Prisons, https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf[↩]