HANCOCK STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 750 (at 157% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,191 beds
- Current Population
- 1,174
Why design capacity matters:
Adding beds to a prison does not increase medical facilities, educational programs, kitchen capacity, counseling services, or recreation areas. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Plata that severe overcrowding beyond design capacity violates the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Read: Brown v. Plata - A Legal Roadmap for Georgia's Prison Crisis →
Read: Brown v. Plata - A Legal Roadmap for Georgia's Prison Crisis →
- Address
- 701 Prison Boulevard, Sparta, GA 31087
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 339, Sparta, GA 31087
- County
- Hancock County
- Opened
- 1991
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
- Warden
- George Ivey
- Phone
- (706) 444-1000
- Fax
- (706) 444-1137
- Staff
- Special Assistant: Joe Williams
- Deputy Warden Security: Paul Sanford
- Deputy Warden Security: Tamika Mahoney
- Deputy Warden C&T: Jeremy Foston
- Deputy Warden Admin: Shaquita Adams
About
Hancock State Prison in Sparta is a close-security men’s prison built around 1990 and opened in 1991. It houses many of the state’s highest-risk prisoners under Tier I and Tier II close-custody management, with multiple segregation and isolation units and an annex area alongside dormitory housing. Hancock has a long history of violence, including riots and homicides, and serious infrastructure problems such as inoperable locks and chronic understaffing, making it a focal point in investigations of unconstitutional conditions and gang control inside Georgia prisons.
Mortality Statistics
28 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 6
- 2025: 6
- 2024: 2
- 2023: 3
- 2022: 5
- 2021: 4
- 2020: 2