Lawmakers get jump on prison budget during rare subcommittees meeting – AJC.com

Lawmakers get jump on prison budget during rare subcommittees meeting
This article originally appeared in Politically Georgia AM.
Gov. Brian Kemp won’t reveal his budget for another week. But we’ll get a sneak peek at a big part of it today during a special meeting at the state Capitol.
Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver is set to present his troubled agency’s budget request today during a joint hearing of some House and Senate budget subcommittees.
This isn’t normal. Lawmakers usually don’t hold hearings like this until the week after the governor reveals his budget. But they’re getting a head start on the prison budget, in part, because its problems are much more difficult to solve.
The AJCs Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins have chronicled those issues in detail, including a record number of killings behind the bars and a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that said conditions inside the prisons were “unconstitutional.”
A big question heading into this session is how the Kemp administration would respond. We’ll get a better idea of that today.
“The governor is making an exceptional investment in the Department of Corrections,” said state Rep. Matt Hatchett, a Republican from Dublin and chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
We expect the hearing to last about three hours, which will include lots of questions and commentary from lawmakers. State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Republican from Vidalia and chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, signaled he wants to focus on inmates smuggling cellphones behind bars.
“The public is tired of watching prisoners post dance videos on TikTok while serving time. Prisons are meant for rehabilitation and accountability, not for viral trends and social media stardom,” Tillery said. “We’re taking this seriously, and change is coming.”
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By Adam Beam