Georgia Spent $50 Million on Prison Cell Phone Blocking Technology. Homicides More Than Doubled.

News Lead

Georgia invested approximately $50 million through FY2026 deploying Managed Access Systems — sophisticated cell phone blocking technology — across 27 prison facilities. During the rollout period, homicides inside the state’s prisons more than doubled, climbing from 31 in 2022 to 66 in 2024. Total deaths reached a record 333 in 2024.

A new analysis by Georgia Prisoners’ Speak (GPS) reveals that every confirmed activation of the blocking technology was followed by significant violence within 2 to 7 weeks, including a five-death outbreak at Washington State Prison that began just three to five days after the Georgia Department of Corrections cut off the last remaining communication workaround on January 6, 2026. Rather than deterring violence, the evidence suggests the state’s technology-first approach may be triggering it — by severing communication channels that incarcerated people depend on for contact with family, legal counsel, and the outside world.

The analysis also reveals that no procurement records exist for tens of millions of dollars in vendor contracts, that one vendor operated without FCC certification for years, and that another vendor appears to be a two-person shell company with no physical office. Meanwhile, the state faces 2,600 vacant correctional officer positions — a 34% vacancy rate — and 82.7% of officers leave within their first year.

Key Takeaway: Georgia’s $50 million cell phone blocking program coincided with a doubling of prison homicides and record total deaths, with every confirmed technology activation followed by significant violence.

Quotable Statistics

Violence During MAS Rollout:
– Homicides rose from 31 (2022) to 38 (2023) to 66 (2024) during the MAS deployment period
– Total deaths in Georgia prisons reached a record 333 in 2024
– 51 homicides were recorded in 2025; 23 in the first quarter of 2026 alone
– GPS has confirmed 244 homicides in its database, with 170 reclassified using Atlanta Journal-Constitution data
– The seven deadliest facilities — Smith SP (17 homicides), Macon SP (17), Telfair SP (8), Hancock SP (8), Phillips SP (7), Valdosta SP (7), and Ware SP (7) — all have cell phone blocking vendors deployed

Technology Spending vs. Outcomes:
– Approximately $50 million spent on MAS and drone detection through FY2026
– $35 million allocated for MAS and drone detection in AFY2025, plus $13.4 million additional in FY2026
– GDC’s total FY2026 budget: $1.62 billion — a 44% increase from FY2022
– Governor’s total prison investment: $603 million over 18 months
– Despite the spending, phone confiscation incidents increased from 8,966 in 2019 to 11,880 in 2024 — a record
– An estimated 20,000+ contraband phones remain in Georgia prisons at any given time

Staffing Crisis:
– 2,600 vacancies out of 7,587 authorized security positions (34% vacancy rate)
– 82.7% of correctional officers leave within their first year

Comparison — South Carolina:
– South Carolina’s MAS contract: $1.5–$1.65 million over 3 years ($550K/year)
– Georgia spent roughly 90 times more than South Carolina’s annual MAS cost
– South Carolina saw legitimate calls increase 68% after MAS deployment
– South Carolina found that 25% guard vacancy — not phones — was the primary driver of prison violence

Drone Smuggling:
– Drone incidents surged 600%, from 43 in 2019 to 297 in 2023 and 283 in 2024
– Over 1,000 drone incidents since 2022
– Operation Skyhawk: 150 arrested (including 8 GDC staff), 87 drones, 273 phones, and 185 lbs of tobacco seized

Procurement and Vendor Concerns:
– Zero procurement records found — no RFP, sole-source justification, or contract award documentation — for 35 facility contracts worth tens of millions
– One vendor (ShawnTech/Trace-Tek) claims 86% of all FCC CIS licenses nationally and operates at 28 Georgia facilities
– Another vendor (Hawks Ear Communications) operated at 3 facilities without FCC certification from 2022 until March 2025
– Hawks Ear is a 2-person operation; its Fort Lauderdale address is an entertainment lawyer’s office, its Atlanta address is a virtual office
– ShawnTech’s C-DOS system has permanently disabled 4,000+ devices and claims to bypass the warrant process

Key Takeaway: Key data points are pre-extracted and contextualized for direct use in reporting.

Context and Background

What is a Managed Access System? A MAS creates a private cellular network inside a prison that mimics commercial carriers. When a phone connects, the system checks it against a whitelist of authorized devices. Unauthorized phones are blocked. The technology can support 2G through 5G networks and is required to allow 911 calls to pass through.

Why Georgia deployed MAS: Georgia officials have framed contraband cell phones as a primary driver of prison violence, arguing that incarcerated people use phones to coordinate gang activity, order assaults, and run criminal enterprises. The state’s Senate Study Committee (2024) reported 49,000 people in the system, with 31% identified as gang-validated, and recommended advocating for federal approval of cell phone and drone jamming.

What this analysis challenges: The GPS analysis raises a fundamental question: if phones drive violence, why did violence dramatically escalate as phones were blocked? The data shows homicides increasing 113% (31 to 66) from 2022 to 2024 during the very period phone-blocking technology was deployed. Phone confiscation incidents also hit records (11,880 in 2024), and drone smuggling surged 600%. The analysis suggests the state’s approach addresses a symptom — contraband phones — while ignoring root causes: a 34% staffing vacancy, aging facilities (7 maximum-security prisons over 30 years old, double their 15–20 year design lifespan), and the severing of communication channels that help incarcerated people maintain family ties and de-escalate tensions.

The Washington State Prison incident: The sharpest evidence comes from January 2026. On January 6, GDC cut off a statewide WiFi workaround that incarcerated people had been using to tunnel phone communications through VPNs. Three days later, on January 9, a person was killed at Washington State Prison. Two days after that, a gang-related riot erupted, killing four more people — five dead in three days.

Constitutional concerns: The analysis identifies two constitutional issues. First, MAS deployment disrupts medical equipment — heart monitors and wireless medical devices cease to function — raising Eighth Amendment concerns under Estelle v. Gamble (1976), which established the right to adequate medical care in prison. Second, ShawnTech’s C-DOS technology permanently destroys phones and claims to bypass the warrant process, raising Fourth Amendment questions about property destruction without judicial oversight.

The 911 vulnerability: At Macon State Prison — the deadliest facility in the system with 9+ homicides in 2024 — people exploited the MAS system’s mandated 911 passthrough by making 204 fraudulent emergency calls in 2024, overwhelming and shutting down the 911 center serving 13 Georgia counties.

Who are the vendors? Three companies hold FCC licenses to operate cell phone blocking technology at 35 Georgia facilities:
1. Trace-Tek/ShawnTech (28 facilities): Based in Ohio, claims 86% of all national FCC CIS licenses. Operates the C-DOS system.
2. CellBlox/Securus/Aventiv (4 facilities): Owned by private equity firm Platinum Equity. Invested $40+ million in MAS. Its four Georgia facilities include the deadliest prison (Macon SP) and a facility whose warden was arrested for running a smuggling ring (Smith SP).
3. Hawks Ear Communications (3 facilities): A 2-person operation with no physical office, no website, and no track record. Operated at Hancock, Phillips, and Valdosta State Prisons for three years without FCC certification.

What reporters should know about procurement: No procurement records — no RFP, no sole-source justification, no contract award documentation — appear on Georgia’s official procurement registries (DOAS registry or Team Georgia Marketplace) for any of these 35 facility contracts. A new solicitation (46700-GDC0001179) was posted December 6, 2025, for comprehensive offender communications services, with a deadline of February 20, 2026.

Key Takeaway: Georgia’s phone-blocking strategy targets a symptom while ignoring root causes — a 34% staffing vacancy, aging facilities, and the destabilizing effects of severing communication — and the procurement process for tens of millions in contracts lacks basic transparency.

Story Angles

1. “The $50 Million Question: Does Blocking Cell Phones Make Prisons More Dangerous?”
Georgia spent approximately $50 million deploying cell phone blocking technology in prisons. During the same period, homicides more than doubled, total deaths hit a record 333, and phone confiscation incidents actually increased. Every confirmed technology activation was followed by significant violence. This is a data-driven accountability story: Did the state’s technology investment make things worse? What due diligence was performed before deployment? How do outcomes compare with South Carolina, which spent a fraction as much and achieved better results? Key sources: GDC budget documents, GPS homicide database, FCC licensing records, South Carolina contract data.

2. “Ghost Vendor: The Two-Person Company Blocking Phones at Three Georgia Prisons”
Hawks Ear Communications holds FCC licenses to operate cell phone blocking systems at Hancock, Phillips, and Valdosta State Prisons — three of the seven deadliest facilities in the state. The company is a two-person operation with no physical office; its registered addresses are an entertainment lawyer’s office in Fort Lauderdale and a virtual office in Atlanta. It operated at these facilities from March 2022 until March 2025 without FCC certification. No procurement records exist for the contracts. Combined, these three facilities have recorded 22 homicides. This is a procurement transparency and public safety investigation. Key sources: FCC license database, Georgia Secretary of State records, DOAS registry, business address verification.

3. “Communication Blackout: How Cutting Off Phone Access Preceded Georgia’s Deadliest Prison Week”
On January 6, 2026, the Georgia Department of Corrections cut off a WiFi workaround that incarcerated people across the state had been using to maintain phone communication. Within five days, five people were dead at Washington State Prison. This is a narrative investigative piece examining the human cost of communication severance — what happens when the state eliminates all channels of contact between incarcerated people and their families, attorneys, and the outside world. It connects to broader questions about whether communication access is a safety valve that prevents violence. Key sources: GDC incident reports, family members of incarcerated people at Washington SP, correctional officer interviews, communication policy documents.

Read the Source Document

Read the full GPS analysis: Georgia Managed Access System (MAS) Deep Research (PDF)

Other Versions

This briefing is the Press/Media version of this analysis. Other versions are available:

• Public Version — Plain-language summary for general audiences
• Legislator Version — Policy brief with legislative recommendations
• Advocate Version — Detailed analysis with organizing tools and action items