TL;DR
Georgia’s system for sorting people into the right prisons is broken. The state puts dangerous people in low-security prisons. It also puts low-risk people in harsh, high-security prisons. The result: 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons from 2018 to 2023. Half of all guard jobs sit empty. The DOJ says these are “among the most severe” problems it has ever found in any prison system.
Why This Matters
If your loved one is in a Georgia prison, this affects them right now.
The state decides where each person is housed. It uses a scoring tool to figure out the right fit. But the DOJ found that Georgia ignores its own tool. It puts people wherever there’s an open bed.
This means your family member could be housed with people who have violent histories. They could be in a prison that doesn’t have enough guards to keep anyone safe. At one prison, a single guard was in charge of 400 beds.
When the sorting system breaks down, everyone is at risk. People who pose no threat get locked in harsh conditions. People who need close watch get placed where no one is watching. The violence that follows is not random. It is the direct result of choices the state made.
Key Takeaway: Georgia’s broken sorting system puts your loved one at risk — no matter their security level.
What Is Prison Classification?
“Classification” is the process of sorting people in prison into groups based on risk. The goal is simple: put each person in the right place for safety.
Georgia uses three levels:
- Close security: The highest level. For people who are escape risks or have violent histories. They can never leave the prison. A guard must watch them at all times.
- Medium security: The largest group. For people with no major behavior problems. Most can work outside the fence with a guard present.
- Minimum security: The lowest level. For people with the least risk. They can do work details and join programs in the community.
Georgia has 7 close-security prisons and 14 medium-security prisons.
When someone enters the state prison system, they go to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. About 100-125 people arrive each day from county jails. They go through a 7-15 day review process. A computer tool called the NGA scores each person based on their crime, history, and other factors. Then a warden reviews the score and approves or changes it.
Key Takeaway: Classification is supposed to match each person to the right prison — but Georgia’s system has broken down.
The Death Toll: 142 People Killed
The U.S. Department of Justice found that 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons between 2018 and 2023.
The killing got worse each year. In 2018, 7 people were killed. By 2023, that number rose to 35. That’s a five-fold increase in just five years.
In one month in 2023, 5 people were killed at 4 different prisons.
The DOJ called these “among the most severe violations” it has ever found in any prison system. It said the leaders of Georgia’s prisons have “lost control” of their prisons. It described “near-constant life-threatening violence.”
Key Takeaway: 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons in just six years — and the state’s own sorting failures helped cause it.
The State Is Hiding the True Numbers
The real death toll may be even higher than what we know.
The DOJ found that Georgia hides violent deaths through bad record-keeping. In the first 5 months of 2024, the state reported only 6 killings in its death records. But its own incident reports showed at least 18 deaths labeled as killings.
That means the state reported only one-third of the actual killings.
Violent events are also mismarked. Guards use wrong labels for what happened. With so few staff on duty, many violent events go unseen and unreported.
Key Takeaway: Georgia reported only 6 killings when its own records showed at least 18 — hiding the true scale of violence.
Wrong People in the Wrong Prisons
The DOJ found two big problems happening at the same time.
Dangerous people in low-security prisons: Close-security people — those with escape risks and violent histories — are being housed in medium-security prisons. These prisons don’t have the staff or the setup to handle them. This puts everyone else in those prisons at risk.
Low-risk people in harsh prisons: At the same time, research shows many people are placed in higher security than they need. Women are hit hardest by this. Studies show the scoring tools put women in higher levels than their behavior calls for. This cuts off their access to programs and freedom.
The DOJ found that these sorting choices are based on open bed space — not on risk. GPS has also found through its own data work that medium-security prisons hold close-security people at rates far above what makes sense.
Key Takeaway: Georgia puts dangerous people where there’s no security and low-risk people where conditions are harsh — based on bed space, not safety.
Half the Guard Jobs Are Empty
The prison population has doubled since 1990. But guard staffing has fallen to just 50% of full levels. Half of all guard jobs are empty.
At some prisons, the staffing gap is even worse. More than 60% of guard jobs sit unfilled.
At one close-security prison, a single guard was in charge of tracking 400 beds.
Here’s why this matters for classification: Even if the state sorted people correctly, there aren’t enough guards to enforce the rules. The DOJ found that:
- Prisons are so short-staffed that guards can’t do basic daily head counts
- They can’t watch over housing units
- Gangs step in and take control
- People can unlock their own cells and move freely
- The sorting system means nothing when no one enforces it
- Violence becomes the norm
The DOJ was clear: Georgia blames gangs too much. The real driver is that the state won’t hire enough staff.
Key Takeaway: Half of all guard jobs are empty — making the entire sorting system useless because no one enforces it.
LGBTI People Face Extra Danger
The DOJ found that Georgia fails to screen, sort, or track LGBTI people to keep them safe.
Transgender (a person whose gender is different from the sex they were given at birth) women are often housed with men. This puts them at high risk of assault.
Federal law — called PREA — requires prisons to screen for these risks and protect people who are vulnerable. Georgia is breaking this law.
Proper sorting could save lives. But the state has not built the tools or rules to do it.
Key Takeaway: Georgia fails to protect LGBTI people — especially transgender women housed with men — violating federal law.
What This Costs Taxpayers
Putting people in the wrong security level wastes money.
Federal data shows the yearly cost per person by level:
- Minimum security: $21,006
- Low security: $25,378
- Medium security: $26,247
- High security: $33,930
- Probation (watching over people in the community): $3,433
High security costs 61% more than minimum security.
New Mexico had the same problem Georgia has now. A study found that putting people in higher levels than their scores called for cost that state up to $28 million per year. In that state, 60% of new people scored at minimum security. But only 29% were actually housed there.
Georgia likely wastes millions the same way. The state pays more to lock people up at the wrong level. And it still fails to keep them safe.
Key Takeaway: Misclassification wastes millions in tax dollars while still failing to protect people.
Lessons from New Mexico
New Mexico’s prison system shows what happens when sorting breaks down.
In 1999, a guard was murdered at a medium-security prison in Santa Rosa. Minutes before, a person was stabbed in another part of the prison. The day before, there was another serious assault. Nine days earlier, someone was killed in a cell block.
Experts found that the state had placed people with violent histories and gang ties in that medium-security prison. Just like Georgia, bed space drove the choices — not risk.
This came after the deadly 1980 prison riot that killed 33 people. A court had ordered the state to build a real sorting system. But the state let it break down over time.
Georgia is on the same path.
Key Takeaway: New Mexico’s sorting failures led to murders and riots — Georgia is repeating the same mistakes.
What Needs to Change
The DOJ told Georgia to “reevaluate the housing and inmate classification process.” Here is what the evidence says must happen:
- Test the scoring tool. Georgia must check whether its NGA tool actually predicts who is dangerous. Use Georgia-specific data to test it.
- Audit sorting choices. Compare what the tool says to where people actually end up. Do this on a regular basis.
- Stop using bed space to make safety choices. The state must not override risk scores just because a bed is open somewhere.
- Protect LGBTI people. Build screening and housing rules that meet federal PREA law.
- Build tools for women. The current tools don’t work well for women. Georgia needs gender-specific tools.
- Review each person’s level on a set schedule. Older people and those who’ve served long terms often need less security.
- Make data public. Report sorting data, overrides, and outcomes so the public can see what’s happening.
- Create outside oversight. An independent body must watch over the sorting process.
- Hire enough staff. None of this works if half the guard jobs stay empty.
Done right, these reforms could save money AND save lives at the same time.
Key Takeaway: Fixing classification can reduce both violence and costs — but only if Georgia hires enough staff to enforce it.
Glossary
- Classification: The process of sorting people in prison into security groups (close, medium, minimum) based on risk. It decides where they are housed and what programs they can access.
- Overclassification: Putting someone in a higher security level than their risk calls for. This means harsher conditions, less access to programs, and higher cost to the state.
- Underclassification: Putting a high-risk person in a prison that isn’t built or staffed to handle them. This puts everyone in that prison at risk.
- NGA (Next Generation Assessment): Georgia’s computer scoring tool. It weighs factors like crime type, criminal history, and violence history to suggest a security level.
- Close security: Georgia’s highest level. For escape risks and people with violent histories. A guard must watch them at all times.
- Medium security: Georgia’s middle level and largest group. People can work outside the fence with a guard present.
- Minimum security: Georgia’s lowest level. For people with the least risk. They can join work programs in the community.
- GDCP: Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. Where all men entering state prison go first for sorting.
- Override: When a warden changes the score the computer tool gave. Often done because of bed space, not safety.
- PREA: Prison Rape Elimination Act. Federal law that requires zero tolerance for sexual abuse in prisons. It requires special screening to protect LGBTI people.
- Deliberate indifference: A legal term. It means prison officials knew about a serious risk and chose to ignore it. This violates the Eighth Amendment (the ban on cruel and unusual punishment).
- LGBTI: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex.
- Transgender: A person whose gender is different from the sex they were assigned at birth.
Read the Source Document
Read the full GPS analysis: Prison Classification Systems & Violence (PDF)
This report draws on the U.S. Department of Justice’s October 2024 findings, academic research, and GPS’s own data analysis of Georgia prison classification patterns.