WARE STATE PRISON
Facility Information
- Original Design Capacity
- 500 (at 290% capacity)
- Bed Capacity
- 1,546 beds
- Current Population
- 1,450
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
- 3620 North Harris Road, Waycross, GA 31503
- County
- Ware County
- Opened
- 1990
- Operator
- GDC (Georgia Dept. of Corrections)
- Warden
- James Spann
- Phone
- (912) 285-6400
- Fax
- (912) 285-6415
- Staff
- Deputy Warden Security: Martella Walker
- Deputy Warden C&T: Lutria Jones
- Deputy Warden Admin: Aiyesha Johnson
About
Ware State Prison in Waycross is a close-security men’s prison opened around 1990 with a rated capacity of roughly 1,546 beds. It uses a mix of dormitory housing and high-security cellblocks, including Tier II special-management units, and maintains a CERT team and other tactical resources. Ware has been a focal point in investigations of extreme violence, large-scale riots, and staff brutality, and its chronic understaffing and overcrowding have been cited in both media reporting and federal civil-rights findings.
Mortality Statistics
76 deaths documented at this facility from 2020 to present.
Deaths by Year
- 2026: 0
- 2025: 14
- 2024: 15
- 2023: 16
- 2022: 12
- 2021: 11
- 2020: 8