In 2012, Georgia became a national model for criminal justice reform. Governor Nathan Deal signed HB 1176, the centerpiece of a Justice Reinvestment Initiative developed with the Council of State Governments and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The results were remarkable: Georgia’s prison population dropped 6%, the state avoided an estimated $264 million in projected prison costs, and $57 million was reinvested directly into programs that reduced recidivism — accountability courts, substance abuse treatment, and community supervision improvements. Crime did not increase. Public safety was maintained. The policy worked.
Then Governor Brian Kemp took office in January 2019. What followed was not merely a policy shift — it was a systematic dismantling of evidence-based reform and a return to the incarceration-first approach that created Georgia’s crisis in the first place. Between FY 2022 and FY 2026, Georgia added approximately $700 million to its corrections budget, pushing annual spending from roughly $1.1 billion to over $1.8 billion. Every measurable outcome worsened. Prison homicides exploded from 8-9 annually in 2017-2018 to 66 in 2024. Correctional officer positions remain 50-76% vacant. The U.S. Department of Justice documented constitutional violations across the system. And Georgia’s recidivism numbers — the very metrics that justified the spending — are built on a methodology so flawed it borders on fraud.
This week, Georgia Prisoners’ Speak is mailing postcards to every member of the General Assembly with a simple message: the evidence for reform is on your desk. The question is whether you will read it.
The Deal Era: Reform That Delivered Results
Governor Deal’s justice reinvestment initiative was not soft on crime. It was smart on crime. HB 1176 restructured sentencing for nonviolent offenses, expanded accountability courts, strengthened community supervision, and invested in evidence-based treatment programs. The legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support because the data was unambiguous: Georgia was spending billions to warehouse people in conditions that made them worse, and the state could achieve better public safety outcomes at lower cost by investing in alternatives to incarceration. 1
The numbers confirmed what the research predicted. Georgia’s prison population declined by approximately 6% without any corresponding increase in crime. The state avoided $264 million in projected prison construction and operational costs. And $57 million of those savings were reinvested into programs specifically designed to reduce recidivism — creating a virtuous cycle where reduced incarceration funded better outcomes, which further reduced incarceration. 2
State officials attributed the low reported recidivism rate to Deal-era Second Chance programs, reductions in employment barriers, and expanded use of alternative sentencing. The data backed them up: people who completed vocational programs in Georgia’s prisons had a recidivism rate of approximately 13% — roughly half the state’s general rate.
This was not an experiment. It was proof of concept at scale.
The Kemp Reversal: $700 Million and Nothing to Show
When Governor Kemp took office, Georgia’s corrections trajectory reversed. The budget did not merely grow — it exploded. Georgia’s corrections spending has nearly doubled from approximately $900 million in FY 2005 to over $1.8 billion in FY 2026, with the most dramatic acceleration occurring under Kemp. Between FY 2022 and FY 2026 alone, spending increased by roughly $700 million. 3
What did that money buy?
Prison homicides rose from 8-9 annually in 2017-2018 to 37 in 2023, then exploded to 66 in 2024. The Department of Justice investigated and found conditions so brutal they violated the Eighth Amendment — documenting 142 homicides across GDC facilities between 2018 and 2023, widespread sexual violence, gang-controlled dormitories, and a staffing crisis so severe that entire housing units operated without any correctional officer presence. 4
Correctional officer positions remain 50-76% vacant at most facilities despite successive emergency pay raises: 10% in FY 2022, $5,000 bonuses in FY 2023, and 4% plus $3,000 in FY 2024-2025. 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 the crisis escalated.
The $700 million bought body bags, not safety.
Georgia’s Recidivism Lie: How the State Hides a 50% Failure Rate Behind a 25% Number
Georgia reports a three-year felony reconviction rate of approximately 25-27%, placing the state among the lowest in the nation. State officials cite this number as evidence that the system is working. But that number is a product of methodological choices designed to minimize the appearance of failure — not to measure actual outcomes.
Georgia’s recidivism methodology has at least four critical flaws that systematically undercount returns to prison:
A three-year measurement window that misses late failures. Georgia tracks recidivism for only three years after release. People who return to prison in years four, five, and beyond — a substantial population — simply disappear from the data. National research consistently shows that recidivism continues well beyond three years, and that a significant percentage of returns occur in years four through ten.
Only new felony convictions are counted. Georgia’s metric captures only new felony convictions, excluding technical violations of probation or parole conditions. Technical violations are a primary driver of returns to incarceration — people sent back to prison not for new crimes but for failed drug tests, missed appointments, or curfew violations. By excluding them, Georgia eliminates one of the largest categories of reincarceration from its numbers.
Dead people are removed from the dataset. People who die during the measurement period are removed rather than being analyzed as a reentry outcome. This is not a neutral methodological choice. Post-release mortality is dramatically elevated — research published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the risk of death in the first two weeks after release is 12.7 times higher than for the general population, with overdose risk 129 times higher. Removing deaths from the denominator artificially inflates the “success” rate. 5
No tracking of out-of-state recidivism. Georgia does not systematically track whether people released from its prisons are subsequently convicted in other states, creating another significant gap in the data.
When these methodological exclusions are accounted for, independent estimates suggest Georgia’s actual recidivism rate is closer to 50% — nearly double the officially reported figure. The national average, depending on methodology, ranges from 39% to 44%. Georgia’s 25-27% number is not evidence of success. It is evidence of strategic measurement.
The Vocational Proof: What Actually Reduces Recidivism
Buried within Georgia’s own data is the answer to the question legislators should be asking. People who complete vocational programs in Georgia’s prisons have a recidivism rate of approximately 13% — roughly half the state’s already-underreported general rate. This is consistent with decades of national research showing that education and vocational training are among the most effective interventions for reducing reincarceration.
Yet Georgia’s investment in these programs is negligible. The GDC’s vocational education budget is approximately $172,000 — for a system holding nearly 50,000 people. That works out to roughly $3.44 per incarcerated person per year for vocational training, compared to $31,612 per person per year for the cost of incarceration itself. Georgia spends more on a single commissary snack item than it does training someone for a career.
“People leave prison worse than when they came in.” — U.S. Department of Justice, Investigation of Georgia’s Prisons, October 2024
The DOJ’s finding was not an opinion. It was a documented conclusion based on years of investigation. Georgia’s prison system does not rehabilitate. It does not prepare people for reentry. It warehouses human beings in unconstitutional conditions and then releases them with no support, no skills, and no plan — into a world where they face a 12.7-fold increased risk of death in the first two weeks.
The Reentry Void
Georgia releases approximately 14,000-16,000 people from prison annually. The state’s reentry infrastructure is virtually nonexistent. No dedicated line items for comprehensive reentry programming, transition planning, or post-release support services are visible in publicly available GDC budget documents.
The Reentry Partnership Housing program, operated through the Board of Pardons and Paroles, provides up to 3-6 months of transitional housing — but its capacity relative to the number of annual releases is not publicly disclosed. The Transitional Housing Opportunities for Reentry program, or THOR, is not a housing program at all — it is an online directory of available beds that does not fund, create, or guarantee housing.
Approximately 78% of people leaving prison are uninsured. Georgia was approved for a Section 1115 Medicaid reentry waiver, making it one of only four non-expansion states with such a waiver — but implementation has been slow and limited. Meanwhile, adverse prison opioid treatment experiences create aversion to medication-assisted treatment at exactly the moment when it is most lifesaving. Research from the University of Georgia found that people who had negative experiences with opioid treatment in prison were less likely to seek treatment upon release — even when they knew their overdose risk was elevated.
Rhode Island demonstrated that providing medication for opioid use disorder to incarcerated people reduced post-release overdose deaths by 75%. Georgia has made no comparable investment.
The Math on Legislators’ Desks
Georgia currently holds approximately 49,860 people in state prisons, with another 2,304 backed up in county jails awaiting transfer. Over 5,641 people — nearly 11% of the prison population — are 60 years or older. Research consistently shows that people age out of criminal behavior; recidivism rates for those over 50 drop to single digits. Yet Georgia continues housing thousands of elderly people at costs that can exceed $100,000 per year when chronic illness and end-of-life care are factored in — three to four times the cost of younger prisoners. 6
Over 8,019 people are serving life sentences with an average age of 48.3 years. Another 2,320 are serving life without parole. More than 50% of the prison population has zero disciplinary reports on record. Over 15% are classified as minimum security. These are not numbers that describe an irredeemable population. They describe a population that includes thousands of people who could safely return to their communities — if Georgia had the political will to let them.
The math is straightforward. Georgia proved under Governor Deal that evidence-based reform reduces the prison population, saves money, and does not increase crime. Georgia is proving under Governor Kemp that spending more on incarceration without reform produces more deaths, more violence, more constitutional violations, and worse outcomes by every measurable standard.
The postcards arriving at the General Assembly this week carry a simple message: the evidence is clear. Governor Deal’s approach worked. Governor Kemp’s approach has failed catastrophically. The question is no longer whether reform is possible — Georgia already proved it is. The question is how many more people have to die before legislators choose what works over what polls well.
The Path Forward
The solutions are not mysterious. GPS has outlined them repeatedly: separate gangs, bring back tablets, provide daily yard time, end triple bunking, fix the food, and indict in-prison murders. Until these basic steps are taken, the bloodshed will continue. 7
But there is an even more effective solution: decarceration. Georgia should parole people who have demonstrated they are ready to return to society. The parole rate has declined from nearly 70% in 1993 to just 37.5% today. Average time served has more than doubled from 1.94 years to 4.15 years. Georgia’s Parole Board — every member appointed by Governor Kemp — has become a bottleneck that keeps people imprisoned long past any public safety justification. 8
The math is unavoidable: GDC cannot safely manage 50,000+ prisoners with 50-76% staffing vacancies and a workforce that lacks both the training and leadership to run an organization of this scale. No amount of tactical deployments or budget increases will change that equation. The only sustainable path forward is reducing the population to a level the system can actually supervise, house, and care for humanely.
Georgia did it before. Under Governor Deal, evidence-based reform saved money, reduced the prison population, reinvested in what works, and did not compromise public safety. Every dollar spent on vocational training returns more than a dollar in reduced recidivism. Every person safely paroled reduces the burden on a system that is collapsing under its own weight.
The evidence is not ambiguous. The precedent exists. The money is already being spent — just on the wrong things. What Georgia needs is not more spending. It is leadership willing to follow the evidence.
Explore the Data
GPS makes GDC statistics accessible to the public through several resources:
- GPS Statistics Portal — Interactive dashboards translating complex GDC reports into accessible formats, updated within days of official releases.
- GPS Lighthouse AI — Ask questions about Georgia’s prison system and get answers drawn from GPS’s investigative archive and data analysis.
- Machine-Readable Pages for Researchers — GPS maintains AI-optimized pages for data analysis:
- AI Content Index — https://gps.press/ai-index/
- Facilities Data — https://gps.press/facilities-data/
- Statistics Data — https://gps.press/statistics-data/
- Release Statistics Data — https://gps.press/release-statistics-data/
- Mortality Data — https://gps.press/mortality-data/
- Blog Data — https://gps.press/blog-data/
- GPS News Data — https://gps.press/gps-news-data/
- FAQ Index — https://gps.press/faq-index/
- Featured Articles Index — https://gps.press/featured-index/
- Length of Stay Data — https://gps.press/los-data/
- Drug Admission Profiles — https://gps.press/drug-data/
- Commissary Pricing Data — https://gps.press/commissary-data/
Contact GPS at media@gps.press for access to underlying datasets used in this analysis.
Call to Action: What You Can Do
Awareness without action changes nothing. Here’s how you can help push for accountability and real reform:
Use Impact Justice AI — Our free tool at https://impactjustice.ai lets you instantly draft and send personalized emails to lawmakers, journalists, and agencies. No expertise required.
Contact Your Representatives — Your state legislators control GDC’s budget, oversight, and the laws that created these failures. Find your Georgia legislators at https://open.pluralpolicy.com/ga/ or call Governor Kemp at (404) 656-1776 or the GDC Commissioner at (478) 992-5246.
Demand Media Coverage — Contact newsrooms at the AJC, local TV stations, and national criminal justice outlets. More coverage means more pressure.
Amplify on Social Media — Share this article and tag @GovKemp, @GDC_Georgia, and your local representatives. Use #GAPrisons, #PrisonReform, #GeorgiaPrisonerSpeak.
File Public Records Requests — Georgia’s Open Records Act gives every citizen the right to request incident reports, death records, staffing data, medical logs, and financial documents at https://georgiadcor.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/SupportHome.aspx.
Attend Public Meetings — The Georgia Board of Corrections and legislative committees hold public meetings. Your presence is noticed.
Contact the Department of Justice — File civil rights complaints at 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.
Contact GPS — If you have information about conditions inside Georgia’s prisons, reach us securely at GPS.press.
Further Reading
$700 Million More—And Nothing to Show for It
A deep dive into Georgia’s corrections budget explosion and the worsening outcomes it purchased.
Decarceration as a Solution to Georgia’s Prison Crisis
Why reducing the prison population is the only sustainable path to safety and humane conditions.
How Georgia’s Parole Board became a bottleneck that keeps thousands imprisoned past any public safety justification.
The Deterrence Myth: Georgia’s Harsh Sentencing Backfired
The evidence against harsh sentencing as a crime reduction strategy — and what actually works.
Truth in Sentencing Broke Parole. Georgia Is Paying the Price.
How federal incentives in the 1990s locked Georgia into a sentencing framework that drives overcrowding today.
Georgia’s 2026 Legislative Session: A Second Chance for Real Parole Reform
What the current General Assembly can do to restore meaningful parole and reduce Georgia’s prison population.
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.
- CSG Justice Center, Georgia Justice Reinvestment Initiative https://csgjusticecenter.org/projects/justice-reinvestment/past-states/georgia/ [↩]
- Pew Charitable Trusts, Georgia Public Safety Reform 2012 https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/press-releases-and-statements/2012/05/02/pew-applauds-georgia-leaders-for-enacting-comprehensive-public-safety-reform [↩]
- Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Overview: 2026 Fiscal Year Budget for the Georgia Department of Corrections https://gbpi.org/overview-2026-fiscal-year-budget-for-the-georgia-department-of-corrections/ [↩]
- U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Investigation of Georgia’s Prisons, October 2024 https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findingsreport–investigationofgeorgiaprisons.pdf [↩]
- Binswanger IA, et al., Release from Prison — A High Risk of Death for Former Inmates, New England Journal of Medicine, 2007 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa064115 [↩]
- GPS Statistics Portal https://gps.press/statistics-data/ [↩]
- A Simple Message for the GDC, GPS https://gps.press/a-simple-message-for-the-gdc/ [↩]
- Decarceration as a Solution to Georgia’s Prison Crisis, GPS https://gps.press/decarceration-as-a-solution-to-georgias-prison-crisis/ [↩]