News from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Prison system failures cost Georgia taxpayers millions Since 2018, the state has paid out nearly $20 million to settle claims involving death or injury to prisoners in facilities operated by the Georgia Department of Corrections. The cases involve a range of allegations, including improper medical care, the failure to protect prisoners from violent attacks and …
Opinion: Corrections chief: Georgia’s making progress on prison safety Editor’s note: This opinion piece resulted from a request the AJC made to the office of Gov. Brian Kemp, asking them to respond to an opinion piece about prison conditions written by a group of inmates that is also appearing today on ajc.com/opinion. When I was …
He stole $11 million while inside a state prison. Now, he has an 11-year federal prison sentence The man who pulled off an astounding multi-million dollar heist from inside Georgia’s toughest state prison was sentenced Friday to more than 11 years in federal prison. In imposing the sentence of 135 months, U.S. District Court Judge …
On the face of it, the mission of the Georgia Department of Corrections seems simple enough: “To protect Georgians by operating secure facilities and providing opportunities for offender rehabilitation.” But, as our investigation has revealed, the very opposite is happening. The department – and the state that funds it – have failed miserably. Our series …
As the Georgia Department of Corrections has seen record numbers of deaths from homicides, suicides and drug overdoses since 2020, it has tightened its grip on information about its prisons. Two such efforts made headlines. For six months, the GDC fought a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice for records related to the government’s …
Feds: For more than a decade, Georgia prison gang carried out murders, assaults In spite of being locked up in Georgia’s state prisons, members of the Sex Money Murder gang and their associates carried out a series of murders, brutal assaults, and fraud and drug-trafficking operations, according to a federal indictment announced Monday in Atlanta …
Little B’s prison release places focus on Ga’s juvenile justice policies The world had changed since Michael Lewis was incarcerated in 1997. As he stood in a hotel lobby following his release from Macon Transitional Facility last month his eyes darted across the room. The flat-screen TVs. The ability to pay a bill with the …
Georgia prison inmate killed after reported altercation The day after advocates held a protest over conditions in Georgia prisons, a state inmate died after a violent incident at Baldwin State Prison in Hardwick. The Georgia Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday morning the death of Johnny Vaughn “after an altercation with several inmates.” His death is …
Inside Georgia’s prisons, wave after wave of prison employees have become criminals themselves — smuggling in contraband or allowing others to do it and at times pocketing payoffs in the thousands, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found. Prisoners have run elaborate drug-trafficking networks and cybercrime schemes as well as extortion and other criminal enterprises, all with …
Ex-Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Former Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Tuesday, five months after he was convicted of violating the civil rights of detainees in a facility he once called “Georgia’s toughest para-military jail.” Hill, whose reputation as a tough-as-nails …