On March 6, 2026, Damita Jean Bishop qualified as a Republican candidate for Georgia House District 61, joining a race that pits her against first-term incumbent Mekyah McQueen (D-Smyrna) and Democratic primary challenger Grace McClain. But Bishop is no ordinary partisan challenger. She is the co-founder of Fighting Against Institutionalized Railroading (FAIR), a nonprofit that advocates for the release of people unjustly penalized by the criminal justice system, and the author of one of the most comprehensive criminal justice reform proposals to emerge from any Georgia legislative candidate in recent memory.
Her candidacy sits at the intersection of two rarely overlapping worlds: Republican party politics and grassroots prison reform advocacy. For the families, advocates, and incarcerated people who make up GPS’s readership, the question is straightforward — what does a Bishop candidacy mean for criminal justice reform in the Georgia General Assembly?
Who Is Damita Bishop?
Bishop is a rideshare driver from Cobb County with more than 20 years of experience as a human rights advocate. She is a Black woman with a gay son, and she describes herself as someone with “numerous loved ones behind bars.” That personal connection to the criminal legal system is central to her public identity 1.
Through FAIR, Bishop has worked on individual cases — most notably the Matthew Baker death penalty case in Henry County, where she investigated potential racial bias in the prosecution of the sole Black defendant in the 2016 “Bonfire Killings” quadruple homicide. Baker’s co-defendant confessed to the murders, yet Baker still faced capital charges. Bishop’s organization researched the case, connected with Baker’s family, and worked to bring public attention to what they described as a racially motivated prosecution 2.
Bishop has been a vocal critic of the Georgia Department of Corrections. At a March 2024 rally, she stated:
“It is incumbent upon us to stand up and demand accountability. And so we do, today and every day; we demand accountability and transparency from the Georgia Department of Corrections, from this state’s county jails and detention centers, like Rice Street, and from the prisons, jails, and detention centers of each state within this nation.”
The Georgia Second Chance and Smart Justice Reform Act
Bishop authored a sweeping reform proposal titled the Georgia Second Chance and Smart Justice Reform Act, which GPS analyzed in detail in March 2025. The bill is one of the most ambitious reform packages proposed by any Georgia legislative candidate, covering earned time credits, judicial second-look review, youth offender review, compassionate and geriatric release, mandatory reentry planning, record sealing, a rehabilitation roadmap for lifers, and an independent oversight commission.
The legislative findings section directly references DOJ investigations and rising deaths in GDC facilities, anchoring the bill in documented reality rather than abstract principle. The victim notification provisions are carefully balanced — victims retain full participation rights, but opposition alone cannot override credible evidence of rehabilitation. The earned time structure (10 days per 30 days of programming, capped at 25%) is generous compared to current Georgia law, and the provision extending earned time to advance parole eligibility for lifers is significant — the kind of specific mechanism that actually changes outcomes for the long-term population.
The second-look provision at 10 years (20 for lifers) with a “clear and convincing evidence” standard for violent offenses is substantive. The felony murder carve-out — allowing review for people who did not personally commit the homicidal act — directly addresses one of the most criticized aspects of Georgia’s sentencing landscape.
Alignment with GPS’s Reform Agenda
Bishop’s Second Chance Act touches on core priorities that GPS has been advocating for through both of its active reform campaigns — End the Warehouse and Vision 2027.
End the Warehouse
GPS’s End the Warehouse campaign calls for transforming Georgia’s prisons from warehouses of punishment into facilities centered on rehabilitation, with twin tracks of litigation to reduce overcrowding and evidence-based programming that works. Bishop’s proposal directly advances several of these goals. Her earned time credit structure creates real incentives for participation in rehabilitative programming — exactly the shift from warehousing to purposeful incarceration that End the Warehouse demands. Her mandatory reentry planning provisions, compassionate and geriatric release mechanisms, and rehabilitation roadmap for lifers all reflect the same core principle: that prisons should prepare people for reentry, not simply hold them until a date on a calendar arrives.
The bill’s independent oversight commission and correctional safety stabilization provisions also align with End the Warehouse’s call for accountability and transparency within GDC — structural reforms that GPS has documented as desperately needed through years of investigative reporting on staffing collapse, medical neglect, and unconstitutional conditions.
Vision 2027
GPS’s Vision 2027 campaign focuses on the post-conviction legal system — fixing habeas corpus deadlines, addressing constitutional violations in convictions, and codifying relief for convictions based on discredited forensic science. Bishop’s bill approaches the problem from a different but complementary angle: where Vision 2027 addresses the question of whether a conviction was just, Bishop’s proposal addresses whether the sentence imposed remains just years or decades later. Her judicial second-look mechanism, youth offender review, and felony murder carve-out all recognize that circumstances change — and that the legal system should have mechanisms to account for that.
Together, the two frameworks form a more complete picture of what meaningful reform looks like in Georgia. A person wrongfully convicted needs the post-conviction remedies Vision 2027 provides. A person serving a disproportionate sentence on a valid conviction needs the relief mechanisms Bishop proposes. Both populations exist in large numbers in Georgia’s prisons, and both deserve legislative attention.
The Transparency Factor
In April 2026, Bishop published a social media post that stands out from typical candidate messaging. She described her own history of minor traffic violations — two tickets for driving without insurance, an expired license, a speeding ticket, and a stop sign violation — and then drew a direct line to incarcerated people:
“I’m not sharing this as pride or humor alone, but as humility. Because I am no better than the men and women behind bars who also made choices — sometimes in hard seasons of life — that followed them longer than the moment itself.”
That kind of public empathy from a political candidate — explicitly refusing to distance herself from people with criminal records — is rare in Georgia politics. It is especially notable from a Republican candidate, given the party’s traditional emphasis on law-and-order messaging.
The District 61 Landscape
District 61 covers parts of Smyrna, Vinings, Ben Hill, Sandtown, and West Cascade in Cobb and Fulton counties. The incumbent, Mekyah McQueen, is a first-term Democrat who won the seat in 2024 after longtime Rep. Roger Bruce retired. McQueen, a Spelman-educated mathematics teacher, has focused her legislative priorities on public education funding, Medicaid expansion, and voting rights. She has not been notably active on criminal justice reform issues in her first term.
Bishop faces the fundamental challenge of running as a Republican in a district that has been solidly Democratic for decades. But her candidacy raises an uncomfortable question for voters on both sides: which party is actually offering criminal justice reform in District 61?
What GPS Is Watching
GPS does not endorse candidates. Our interest in this race is strictly about criminal justice reform policy. We will be monitoring:
- Whether Bishop’s Second Chance Act generates any legislative traction, either as a standalone bill or as provisions adopted into other legislation
- How both candidates respond to GPS questionnaires on criminal justice reform (forthcoming)
- Whether either candidate addresses GDC accountability, parole reform, Truth in Sentencing, or correctional officer staffing in their campaign platforms
- Whether Bishop’s criminal justice reform advocacy survives contact with Republican primary politics and caucus dynamics
District 61 is not typically a swing district. But it is now one of the few Georgia House races where criminal justice reform is a defining campaign issue — and that alone makes it worth watching.
Call to Action: What You Can Do
Bishop's reform proposal is the most comprehensive from any Georgia legislative candidate, yet most voters don't know it exists. If you believe earned time credits and second-look sentencing deserve public debate, sharing this analysis is the minimum. Silence keeps real reform invisible.
Spread the Word — It Takes 15 Seconds
Awareness without action changes nothing. Here’s how you can help push for accountability and real reform:
Join the GPS Advocacy Network — Sign up at https://gps.press/become-an-advocate/ and we’ll advocate on your behalf every week. GPS identifies your state legislators, crafts personalized letters on the most pressing prison issues, and sends them directly to the representatives who represent you. You receive a copy of every letter. It takes two minutes to sign up — we handle the rest.
Tell My Story — Are you or a loved one affected by Georgia’s prison system? GPS publishes first-person accounts from incarcerated people and their families. Submit your story at https://gps.press/category/tellmystory/ and help the world understand what’s really happening behind the walls.
Contact Your Representatives — Your state legislators control GDC’s budget, oversight, and the laws that created these failures. Find your Georgia legislators at https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/ 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
Georgia’s Truth in Sentencing: A $40-Billion Failure
How Georgia’s 1995 Truth in Sentencing law doubled effective sentence lengths and created the overcrowding crisis Bishop’s bill attempts to address.
A Constitutional Betrayal: Georgia’s Deadline on Freedom
GPS’s investigation into the four-year habeas corpus deadline — the post-conviction legal reform that complements Bishop’s sentencing-side proposals.
Georgia’s 2026 Legislative Session: A Second Chance for Real Parole Reform
An overview of parole reform prospects in the 2026 session and how proposals compare to GPS’s presumptive parole standard.
Decarceration as a Solution to Georgia’s Prison Crisis
The case for reducing Georgia’s prison population through earned time credits, compassionate release, and sentencing reform — all mechanisms in Bishop’s proposal.
Unconstitutional: Georgia’s Extrajudicial Punishment
How conditions inside GDC facilities constitute punishment beyond what any court imposed — the reality that drives reform proposals like Bishop’s.
Research Explainers
GPS Research Explainers distill complex data and legal research into accessible briefings. These explainers are directly relevant to the issues covered in this article:
Data-driven briefings on Georgia’s criminal justice system designed for community advocates, covering the same issues Bishop’s Second Chance Act attempts to address.
Policy-focused explainers for lawmakers evaluating reform proposals like earned time credits, second-look sentencing, and oversight commission structures.
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/
The AI Content Index has links to numerous machine readable pages, but this is all that is needed by an AI to fully understand all the data. You can learn more about using GPS Data with AI in our article on the topic:
How to Use GPS Data with AI Tools (https://gps.press/how-to-use-gps-data-with-ai-tools/)
A step-by-step guide showing researchers, advocates, families, and journalists how to use GPS’s machine-readable data pages with AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to analyze Georgia prison conditions, statistics, and policy.
Contact GPS at media@gps.press for access to underlying datasets used in this analysis.
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.
Footnotes
- LGBTQ Nation March 2024 profile, https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/03/lgbtq-people-face-an-incarceration-crisis-social-justice-warrior-damita-bishop-wants-to-end-it/ [↩]
- Honeysuckle Magazine, https://honeysucklemag.com/matthew-baker-racial-bias-innocent/ [↩]