HAYS STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 640 (at 171% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,101 beds
- Current Population
- 1,095
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
- 777 Underwood Road, Trion, GA 30753
- Mailing Address
- P.O. Box 668, Trion, GA 30753
- County
- Chattooga County
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
- Warden
- Joshua Jones
- Phone
- (706) 857-0400
- Fax
- (706) 857-0624
- Staff
- Deputy Warden Security: Christopher McAlister
- Deputy Warden Security: Gabriel IIa
- Deputy Warden C&T: Alisa Hammock
- Deputy Warden Admin: Jonathan Swinford
About
Hays State Prison in Trion is a close-security men’s facility that the Department describes as housing some of the state’s “most challenging offenders.” Opened in 1990, it includes several general-population dorms, a Fast Track unit, multiple Tier II special-management dorms, an outside fire station and infirmary, and large numbers of Level-II mental-health beds. Hays has been the site of numerous homicides and assaults, and has been repeatedly cited for failures in lock security, staffing, and protection of prisoners in so-called protective custody.
Mortality Statistics
35 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 2
- 2025: 5
- 2024: 9
- 2023: 5
- 2022: 8
- 2021: 3
- 2020: 3