On April 1, 2026, coordinated Blood-on-Blood gang violence erupted across Georgia’s prison system. At least 12 prisons locked down, life flights dispatched to two facilities, stabbings at five. GPS has demanded gang separation for months. Arizona cut violence 50%. Georgia still refuses.
Georgia corrections officials blame younger, more violent inmates for the prison violence crisis. The evidence — from the DOJ, academic research, and Georgia’s own data — tells a very different story. Five systemic failures explain the violence. The inmates didn’t create any of them.
Georgia has identified 315 gangs and 15,200 gang-affiliated prisoners — 31% of its population — yet has no separation strategy, no exit program, and no management plan. Texas, Arizona, and California solved this problem decades ago. Georgia chose to do nothing. The death toll proves it.
GDC’s own statistics report 301 people died while serving state sentences in 2025. But the official mortality name list contains only 295 names. When GPS asked who the six missing people were, GDC responded with bureaucratic doublespeak — and a bill.
For 830 years, habeas corpus protected the innocent from unlawful imprisonment—until Georgia destroyed it. The 2004 four-year deadline traps wrongfully convicted people in a prison system that killed 100+ by homicide in 2024. The Great Writ is dead. The innocent are dying with it.
Georgia’s prison system is collapsing. With 100+ homicides in 2024, record deaths, DOJ findings of unconstitutional conditions, and $700 million in new spending that failed to improve safety, decarceration is no longer optional. Evidence from New York, California, and Europe proves it works.
Georgia doesn’t treat dental disease in prison.
It removes teeth.
Extraction replaces fillings. Waiting lists replace care. Commissary replaces basic supplies. And the damage follows people home long after their sentence ends.
This is healthcare as punishment.
New federal nutrition guidelines officially warn against ultra-processed foods. Georgia’s prisons still serve inadequate meals while commissaries profit from junk food sales. When will the state follow the science?
Georgia voters will choose a new Governor and Lieutenant Governor in 2026 amid a prison crisis. GPS surveyed candidates on parole reform, prison conditions, and sentencing policy. Only two candidates—Jake Olinger and Josh McLaurin—have detailed positions. Here’s what we found.
Georgia’s harsh sentencing experiment failed to deter crime and fueled a deadly prison crisis. Here’s why the deterrence myth collapsed — and what actually works.