# How a Family Gets Medical Information Out of a Georgia Prison > A mother asked how to get a medical power of attorney or a HIPAA release for her son in a Georgia prison. Here is the answer from GDC's own policies and the state's own forms: two documents he has to sign, and one rule that says the warden is supposed to call you first. **Published**: 2026-09-20 **Source**: https://gps.press/how-a-family-gets-medical-information-out-of-a-georgia-prison/ **Author**: GPS Staff --- A mother sent us a message on Facebook this week. She'd read our article about another mother who called Washington State Prison for eleven days, trying to find out whether her son was alive. Her question was short. How does a mother get a medical power of attorney, or a HIPAA consent form? Families ask us this more than anything else, and the prison seldom answers. So here's the answer, drawn from the Georgia Department of Corrections' own written policies, the state's own forms, and the federal privacy rule that gets cited everywhere and explained almost nowhere. Two documents. The person inside signs both. And before either one, the Department already has a rule on the books: the warden is supposed to call you. ## Start with the rule the prison already has Families hear the same thing: nothing can be shared with them without a HIPAA release. For the medical record, that's correct. For the phone call, it isn't. The Board of Corrections rule on injury, illness and death reads: > If an inmate is severely injured or develops a seriously acute illness, the Warden/Superintendent shall notify the inmate's next of kin or other individual(s), designated by the inmate. The Warden/Superintendent shall keep such individual(s) apprised of any significant change in the inmate's condition, including death. [Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. 125-4-4-.10, Injury, Illness and Death, at Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/georgia/Ga-Comp-R-Regs-R-125-4-4-.10) No form has to be filled out for that call. The duty sits with the warden, not with the family. Last week we wrote about seven families who found out about a hospitalization or a death from an intern, a contraband phone, other prisoners, or Facebook instead: [The Warden Shall Notify](https://gps.press/the-warden-shall-notify-who-georgias-prisons-keep-in-the-dark-and-the-law-that-lets-them/). If you're being kept in the dark right now, the first thing to put in writing to the warden is that rule number. There's one practical step in all of this. The warden notifies "the inmate's next of kin or other individual(s), designated by the inmate." So make sure the person inside has you listed as his emergency contact in his file, with a phone number that's current. A rule that says "shall notify" only works if the number on the card is right. The forms below cover what the phone call doesn't: what's actually wrong, what the treatment is, copies of the record, and who decides if he can't. ## The HIPAA release: the form that opens the door day to day HIPAA is the federal rule that keeps health information private. It gives any patient the right to put it in writing that his information can be shared with a person he names. A prison works as a special case in one direction only: the rule allows a correctional institution to use a prisoner's health information for its own purposes, running the facility, transporting him, keeping staff and others safe. [45 CFR 164.512(k)(5), correctional institutions, at Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.512) Nowhere in it does the Department get to share that information with his mother. For that, he signs. GDC's policy on the health record spells out what happens to that signature. Requests to release health records to third parties "will be processed by GDC Legal Services and will be honored upon receipt of a signed HIPAA compliant authorization." [GDC SOP 507.02.02, Confidentiality of the Health Record and Release of Information](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/106433) The same policy covers the person inside who wants his own record sent out. Say you're the one in the dorm, and you want copies to reach a doctor, a lawyer "or other person designated by the offender will complete and sign a Release of Information form which will be sent to GDC Legal Services for processing." So the path is: he signs an authorization naming you, it goes to the Department's Office of Legal Services in Forsyth, and Legal Services confirms it's valid, pulls the records from the facility, and sends them. Once the authorization is on file, the facility has his written permission to talk to you about his care. ### What has to be on it The copy of GDC's health-record policy we reviewed has no attachment listed, so there's no single medical form you can ask for by name. That sounds like a bigger problem than it is. Under the federal rule, an authorization works if it carries six things: [45 CFR 164.508(c), core elements of a valid authorization, at Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/45/164.508) - A description of the information to be released, specific enough to mean something ("my complete medical record, including hospital and specialist records" is fine). - Who is authorized to release it (the Georgia Department of Corrections and its health care contractors, and the facility by name). - Who may receive it (your full name and address). - The purpose (a plain sentence: "so my mother can be informed about my medical condition and treatment"). - An expiration date, or an event that ends it (many families write "the end of my incarceration"). - His signature and the date. That same rule puts three statements on the form: he can revoke it in writing, his treatment can't be conditioned on signing it, and once the information reaches you, HIPAA no longer covers it. GDC's own release forms also carry a witness line. A witness signature costs nothing, and it takes an argument off the table. He can revoke the authorization in writing at any time. If he'd rather not draft one himself, he can ask the medical unit or his counselor for the Department's form and put your name on it. Whichever way he goes, keep a copy before it leaves the facility. ### Where it goes and what it costs The Office of Legal Services sits at 300 Patrol Road, Forsyth, GA 31029, and the phone number is (478) 992-5240. [GDC Legal Services](https://gdc.georgia.gov/organization/about-gdc/divisions-and-org-chart/executive-operations/legal-services) The policy says Legal Services will "invoice the requestor, where applicable, for the copying of the records and collect the payment" before sending them, and if the person inside asks for copies himself, he pays for the staff time spent copying and pays before the copies go out. Certified copies arrive with a notarized statement of authenticity. [GDC SOP 507.02.02, release of health records and copying costs](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/106433) Before you agree to anything, ask what it costs, and ask in writing. ### The other "Release of Information" form There's a second GDC form that carries the same name. It isn't the medical one. This one sits in the counseling policy. It lets staff share "assessment results and case plan" with a family member or friend you've named "for the purpose of assisting in my treatment,", and it holds for the whole period of incarceration unless he writes in an earlier date. [GDC Release of Information Form, SOP 107.04 Attachment 1](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/122509) The policy behind it names family members "will be encouraged to become involved in the offender's treatment," and tells staff to share the program plan with the family once it's signed. [GDC SOP 107.04, Risk and Needs Assessment](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/122486) It's worth signing. It lets his counselor talk with you about his programs and his case plan, no HIPAA argument needed. What it doesn't do is get you his medical record. A facility that hands you this one and calls it done hasn't met the request. ## The health care agent: Georgia's advance directive A "medical power of attorney" in Georgia is Part One of the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care. The state publishes the form itself, free, through the Division of Aging Services, and you don't need a lawyer to use it. [Georgia Division of Aging Services, Get Advance Directives](https://aging.georgia.gov/get-advance-directives) Your name goes on it as his health care agent. In the form's own words, the agent makes decisions "when I am unable to communicate my health care decisions or I choose to have my health care agent communicate my health care decisions," and has "the same authority to make any health care decision that I could make," including admitting or discharging him from a hospital and consenting to or refusing treatment. The form is written into the statute itself, [O.C.G.A. 31-32-4](https://gps.press/ocga/31-32-4/). The signing rules come from the statute, [O.C.G.A. 31-32-5](https://gps.press/ocga/31-32-5/): - He signs it, or someone signs in his presence at his direction. - Two witnesses of sound mind, 18 or older. They don't have to be in the room at the same time. - Neither witness can be the person named as agent, anyone who stands to inherit from him, or anyone directly involved in his health care. - Only one of the two witnesses can be an employee of the facility where he's being treated. - A copy is as valid as the original. That last line carries weight inside a prison, where paper goes missing in a locker or on a transfer. Make copies. ### Signing it inside a prison GDC has a policy that covers this, and it lines up with the statute. Advance directive documents "which are legally valid in the State of Georgia, will be kept in the law libraries at all times or in the medical record area of all GDC facilities." He can name any competent adult, but not a GDC or contract health care employee. If he signs in a GDC infirmary or skilled nursing unit, the attending physician has to be there and sign the witness statement as well. The original stays with him. A copy goes in the consent section of his health record, and the clinician notes it on his problem list. No facility may "develop, modify, or alter" the form, and a form that's been altered is void. Nobody can be required to sign one as a condition of care. [GDC SOP 507.04.87, Advance Directives](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/106426) Two lines in that policy settle the timing. The Department won't execute an advance directive "if Decision-Making Capacity of the patient is in question at the time it is requested." And if the attending physician believes the agent isn't acting in the patient's interest, the physician goes to the warden and seeks a court order to remove the agent. What that means for you: sign it while he's well, not from a hospital bed, and be the agent who asks questions rather than the one who fights the doctor. At intake, health staff are supposed to ask him whether he has an advance directive, and to hand him an information sheet if he wants one. [GDC SOP 507.04.87, informing offenders of rights and options](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/106426) If nobody asked him, he can ask. ## The financial power of attorney, briefly Families often need a different piece of paper: the authority to handle his bank account, his benefits, his property, or a lease. In Georgia, that's a general power of attorney under the Uniform Power of Attorney Act, and the state publishes a statutory form for it in [O.C.G.A. 10-6B-70](https://gps.press/ocga/10-6B-70/). He signs it. One competent witness who isn't the agent attests it, and a second person, neither the witness nor the agent, notarizes it, under [O.C.G.A. 10-6B-5](https://gps.press/ocga/10-6B-5/). From inside, the notary is the hard part, and the Board's rules speak to it: "Each institution will maintain a capability for providing Notary Services." [Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. 125-2-4-.17, Preparation for Legal Materials, at Cornell LII](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/georgia/Ga-Comp-R-Regs-R-125-2-4-.17) He can ask his counselor or the law library for the notary. ## Getting the forms inside You can mail them. GDC's mail policy takes printed material with a letter up to 25 sheets, and that covers the advance directive, a HIPAA authorization and a power of attorney with room left over. [GDC SOP 227.06, Offender Receipt of Mail](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/105727) Write his full name, his GDC number and the full facility name on the envelope, and tuck a stamped envelope addressed to you inside, so the signed copies come straight back. Or he can ask the law library, where the advance directive is supposed to sit on the shelf. Signing for him isn't something you can do. His signature comes first on every one of these documents. A family member's name in that spot counts for nothing. ## A checklist for the family - Confirm you're listed as his emergency contact, with a current number. - Send him a HIPAA authorization with the six elements above, or ask him to get the Department's form and name you on it. Witness line signed. Copy kept. - Send him the Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care. Two witnesses, neither of them you. Copy kept. - If you'll handle money or paperwork, send the statutory power of attorney and ask him to have it notarized inside. - Write to the facility's Health Services Administrator confirming the authorization is on file, and keep the reply. - If he's hospitalized and nobody called, write to the warden and cite Rule 125-4-4-.10. ## When the prison still won't talk The Department's own page for families lays out who to go to, and in what order: his counselor first, then the chief counselor, the deputy warden of care and treatment, the warden, the regional director, and after them the Ombudsman. [GDC, Questions About Your Loved Ones](https://gdc.georgia.gov/friends-and-family/questions-about-your-loved-ones) The Ombudsman and Inmate Affairs Office takes complaints three ways: by letter to 300 Patrol Road, Forsyth, GA 31029, by email to ombudsman@gdc.ga.gov, or by phone at (478) 992-5358. [GDC Ombudsman and Inmate Affairs Office fact sheet](https://gdc.georgia.gov/document/fact-sheets/ombudsman-fact-sheet/download) Write down every step, date it, and hold onto it. Our guide to [documenting your case](https://gps.press/document-your-case/) walks through how to build that file, and if a grievance is the right tool, [how the grievance process works](https://gps.press/grievances-appeals/). If someone you love has died and you're trying to get the records, the rules change. They're harder, and we've laid them out on their own in the [Family Guide to Requesting Georgia Prison Records](https://gps.press/family-guide-to-requesting-georgia-prison-records/) and the [deaths in custody family guide](https://gps.press/deaths-in-custody/). And if a facility won't honor a valid authorization, or a warden never made the call the rule requires, tell us. That's a pattern we track. It's part of the record we build. You can [submit a report](https://gps.press/submit-a-report/) and leave your name off it. ## This is policy, not legal advice Everything above comes from the Department's published procedures, the Board of Corrections' rules, Georgia's statutes and the federal privacy rule, and each one is linked so you can read it yourself. Policies change. Facilities don't always follow them. If a situation is urgent, or if a court is involved, a lawyer who handles Georgia elder law or health care directives can review the documents. The forms themselves cost nothing. --- ## Call to Action: What You Can Do Awareness without action changes nothing. Here's how you can help push for accountability and real reform: **Join the GPS Advocacy Network**: Sign up at [https://gps.press/become-an-advocate/](https://gps.press/become-an-advocate/) and we’ll advocate on your behalf every week. GPS identifies your state legislators, crafts personalized letters on the most pressing prison issues, and sends them directly to the representatives who represent you. You receive a copy of every letter. It takes two minutes to sign up, and we handle the rest. **Send a 60-Second Message**: Pick an issue, get a ready-to-edit message with the verified facts already in it, and email your state House representative and senator directly from your own inbox at [https://gps.press/send-a-message/.](https://gps.press/send-a-message/.) No signup, nothing stored. It takes about a minute. **Tell My Story**: Are you or a loved one affected by Georgia's prison system? GPS publishes first-person accounts from incarcerated people and their families. Submit your story at [https://gps.press/category/tellmystory/](https://gps.press/category/tellmystory/) and help the world understand what's really happening behind the walls. **Contact Your Representatives**: Your state legislators control GDC’s budget, oversight, and the laws that created these failures. Find your Georgia legislators at [https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/](https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/) or call Governor Kemp at (404) 656-1776 or the GDC Commissioner at (478) 992-5246. **Demand Media Coverage**: Contact newsrooms at the AJC, local TV stations, and national criminal justice outlets. More coverage means more pressure. **Amplify on Social Media**: Share this article and tag @GovKemp, @GDC_Georgia, and your local representatives. Use #GAPrisons, #PrisonReform, #GeorgiaPrisonerSpeak. **Message the Board of Corrections**: The citizen board that oversees the GDC publishes no contact details for its members. GPS built the missing front door: pick a board member and a policy message and send it from your own email at [https://gps.press/write-the-board/.](https://gps.press/write-the-board/.) **File Public Records Requests**: Georgia's Open Records Act gives every citizen the right to request incident reports, death records, staffing data, medical logs, and financial documents. Start with the GPS Action Toolkits at [https://gps.press/toolkits/.](https://gps.press/toolkits/.) The Open Records Toolkit walks you through what to ask for, gives you ready-to-file request templates, and tells you what to do when the state says no. File directly with GDC at [https://georgiadcor.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/SupportHome.aspx.](https://georgiadcor.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/SupportHome.aspx.) **Attend Public Meetings**: The Georgia Board of Corrections and legislative committees hold public meetings. Your presence is noticed. **Contact the Department of Justice**: File civil rights complaints at [https://civilrights.justice.gov.](https://civilrights.justice.gov.) Federal oversight has forced abusive systems to change before. **Support Organizations Doing This Work**: Donate to or volunteer with Georgia-based prison reform groups fighting for change on the ground. **Vote**: Research candidates' positions on criminal justice. Primary elections often determine outcomes in Georgia. **Contact GPS**: If you have information about conditions inside Georgia's prisons, reach us securely at GPS.press. --- ## Further Reading **[The Warden Shall Notify: Who Georgia's Prisons Keep in the Dark, and the Law That Lets Them](https://gps.press/the-warden-shall-notify-who-georgias-prisons-keep-in-the-dark-and-the-law-that-lets-them/)** *The 1984 rule that says the warden shall notify a prisoner's family, and seven families who found out another way.* **[Family Guide to Requesting Georgia Prison Records](https://gps.press/family-guide-to-requesting-georgia-prison-records/)** *How to request incident reports, medical records and death records from GDC, and what the Department can lawfully withhold.* **["Contained to One Dorm": The Squad Left Wilcox at Noon. The Coroner Was Called at Two](https://gps.press/contained-to-one-dorm-the-squad-left-wilcox-at-noon-the-coroner-was-called-at-two/)** *What the record shows about a day at Wilcox State Prison, and how long it took for anyone outside to be told.* **[When Warnings Go Ignored: How Georgia's Prison Deaths Became Predictable, and Preventable](https://gps.press/when-warnings-go-ignored/)** *The pattern of missed warnings behind deaths in GDC custody, and why families are so often the last to know.* --- ## GPS Intelligence System The GPS Intelligence System maintains living research profiles that aggregate data, news, settlements, and analysis on Georgia's prisons and the issues defining them. The profiles below provide deeper context for the issues raised in this article: **[Medical Neglect](https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/medical-neglect/)** *The running record of delayed and denied medical care in Georgia's prisons, the setting in which a family's access to information matters most.* **[Family Communication](https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/family-communication/)** *How families reach, and fail to reach, the people inside: phones, mail, visitation and the notification rules the Department sets for itself.* --- ## Explore the Data GPS makes GDC statistics accessible to the public through several resources: - **[GPS Statistics Portal](https://gps.press/gdc-statistics/)**: Interactive dashboards translating complex GDC reports into accessible formats, updated within days of official releases. - **[GPS Lighthouse AI](https://gps.press/ask-ai/)**: Ask questions about Georgia's prison system and get answers drawn from GPS's investigative archive and data analysis. - **[GPS llms.txt](https://gps.press/llms.txt)**: A single machine-readable index of every GPS data resource, published using the open llms.txt standard. Point any AI tool (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity) at this URL and the model can navigate to facility profiles, intelligence briefs, mortality records, statistics, and the full investigative archive, with no other configuration needed. It is the fastest way to ground an AI conversation in verified GPS data. - **[GPS Public MCP Server](https://data.gps.press/mcp)**: For AI tools that support the Model Context Protocol (Claude, ChatGPT, and others), connect directly to GPS’s data: read-only tools covering population, facilities, mortality, parole, the Georgia Code, settlements, and more. Every answer arrives with its source link and citation built in. For a walkthrough of how to put these resources to work with AI, see **[How to Use GPS Data with AI Tools](https://gps.press/how-to-use-gps-data-with-ai-tools/)**: a step-by-step guide for researchers, advocates, families, and journalists analyzing Georgia prison conditions, statistics, and policy with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Contact GPS at media@gps.press for access to underlying datasets used in this analysis. --- ## About Georgia Prisoners' Speak (GPS) Georgia Prisoners' Speak (GPS) is a nonprofit investigative newsroom built in partnership with incarcerated reporters, families, advocates, and data analysts. Operating independently from the Georgia Department of Corrections, GPS documents the truth the state refuses to acknowledge: extreme violence, fatal medical neglect, gang-controlled dorms, collapsed staffing, fraudulent reporting practices, and unconstitutional conditions across Georgia's prisons. Through confidential reporting channels, secure communication, evidence verification, public-records requests, legislative research, and professional investigative standards, GPS provides the transparency the system lacks. Our mission is to expose abuses, protect incarcerated people, support families, and push Georgia toward meaningful reform based on human rights, evidence, and public accountability. Every article is part of a larger fight: to end the silence, reveal the truth, and demand justice. ![GPS Footer](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GPS-Ad2.jpg) ---