HELMS FACILITY
Facility Information
- Bed Capacity
- 64 beds
- Current Population
- 23
- Address
- 1275 Constitution Road SE, Atlanta, GA 30316
- County
- Dekalb County
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
- Warden
- Yolande Fraser
- Phone
- (404) 624-2413
- Fax
- (404) 624-2417
- Staff
- Assistant Superintendent: Laura Scott-Gist
About
Helms Facility in Atlanta is a small special-mission institution on Constitution Road with a rated capacity of about 64 beds, though it is described as a 100-bed dual-gender facility. It primarily serves as a specialized medical/mental-health and step-down unit under the Georgia Department of Corrections, housing short-term or high-needs male and female prisoners who require special medical, diagnostic, or stabilization services. Its location near the Metro complex allows coordination with GDCP, Metro Reentry, and other Atlanta-area facilities.
Mortality Statistics
18 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 0
- 2025: 0
- 2024: 0
- 2023: 3
- 2022: 3
- 2021: 8
- 2020: 4
Food Safety Inspections
No inspection records are on file with the Georgia Department of Public Health for this facility. GPS has filed an open records request asking where these records are maintained.
What the score doesn't measure. DPH grades kitchen compliance on inspection day — food storage, temperatures, pest control. It does not grade whether today's trays are clean. GPS reporting has found broken dishwashers at most Georgia state prisons we've documented; trays go out wet, stacked, and visibly moldy — including at facilities with recent scores near 100.
Who inspects. Most Georgia state prisons sit in rural counties — often with fewer than 20,000 people, several with fewer than 10,000. The environmental health inspector lives in that community and often knows the kitchen staff personally. Rural inspection regimes don't have the structural independence you'd expect in a city-sized health department. Read the scores accordingly.
Read the investigation: “Dunked, Stacked and Served: Why Georgia Prison Trays Are Making People Sick”