Brief written October 25, 2026 from GPS Intelligence System data.(A)

Advocate Intelligence Brief: What to Do This Month

Georgia's prison system is in active crisis. In the past week, three deaths were recorded at Macon State Prison over three days. A woman died of tuberculosis complications at Pulaski State Prison after families had been warning for ten days. GPS-tracked mortality data shows at least 1,919 deaths in GDC custody since 2020, including at least 214 so far in 2026. That count is a floor, because GDC reports cause of death about two months late (GPS-tracked mortality data, canonical count).

This brief is built for people who act: families, advocates, allied organizations, and GPS Advocate Network members. It opens with this month's actions, then covers the campaigns, the five facilities drawing the heaviest recent reporting, the tools families need, and how to plug into the network.

This Month: Five Things You Can Do Now

1. Join the GPS Advocate Network. This brief has no standalone signup link. Flag your interest when you submit a report or story through the links below, and GPS will route you to a role (roles are listed later in this brief).
2. Submit what you know. If someone you love is inside, or you have information about a death, assault, lockdown, medical emergency, or retaliation, file it at https://gps.press/submit-a-report/. Every report goes into the intelligence system that produces briefs like this one.
3. Share a campaign. Send the Vision 2027 page (https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/vision-2027/) or the End the Warehouse page (https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/end-the-warehouse/) to at least three people this month, along with one sentence on why it matters to you.
4. Contact your legislators. Use https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/. Ask for an independent prison oversight body and for the Vision 2027 habeas reform. Georgia currently has no independent ombudsman, inspector general, or external monitor for its prisons (GPS Oversight & Investigations briefing).
5. Tell your story. If you have lived it, inside or outside, https://gps.press/tellmystory/ is where it gets published in your own voice.

The Situation in Brief

These are the numbers advocates need on hand. Each one traces to the GPS corpus.

• 51,871 people were in GDC custody at the latest population snapshot: 34,283 in state prisons, 8,216 in private prisons, 3,789 in county prisons, 2,722 in transitional centers, 1,440 in probation RSAT, and 1,421 in probation detention. Another 3,164 were sitting in county jails awaiting transfer (GDC population data).
• Deaths are rising and undercounted. GPS tracked at least 294 deaths in 2020, at least 333 in 2024, at least 302 in 2025, and at least 214 so far in 2026. All are floors (GPS-tracked mortality data). GDC stopped publishing cause of death in March 2024 (GPS Deaths in Custody briefing).
• The federal government has already found the system unconstitutional. The U.S. Department of Justice's October 2024 CRIPA findings concluded that Georgia shows deliberate indifference to violence and that gangs control facilities. DOJ described conditions as "among the most severe violations of constitutional rights in the nation."
• Officer vacancies are roughly half the system. DOJ put systemwide officer vacancy at about 50%, and above 70% at ten of the largest facilities. Former GDC assistant warden Russell Zirkle has testified on record that state staffing numbers are "skewed." In his account, fully staffed halfway houses are blended into system averages, which hides 70–80% vacancy at major prisons including Telfair, Hancock, Smith, and Valdosta (GPS corroboration backbone). Former GDC officer Tyler Ryals' staffing-coverup testimony corroborates Zirkle's account.
• Sexual abuse findings are near zero despite the volume of complaints. GDC substantiated 543 of 15,542 sexual abuse allegations filed from 2014 to 2024, a 3.5% rate. Over the same period, 273 consecutive PREA audits found no failed standard (GPS Sexual Abuse briefing).
• Staff are part of the contraband supply chain. GDC's own contraband arrest reports from 2010 to 2026 name 374 of its own staff, officers, and contract staff (GPS Staff Supply Chain analysis of 599 GDC reports).

Active Campaigns

Vision 2027: Reopen the Courthouse Doors

What it is: GPS's legislative framework for the 2027 General Assembly. Its purpose is to reopen the post-conviction doors Georgia has closed over decades.

Why it matters now: In March 2026, Georgia's own Chief Justice described the problem. Concurring in Sanders v. State, Chief Justice Nels Peterson called the post-conviction system "a mess" and wrote: "In short, the system is broken. We did a lot of the breaking. But it will require legislative action to fix it." Vision 2027 is GPS's answer to that invitation.

The four walls Vision 2027 targets:

1. The four-year habeas deadline. O.C.G.A. § 9-14-42(c), enacted in 2004, has no actual-innocence exception. According to GPS research, it passed with no committee report, no documented floor debate, and no stated reason for choosing four years. 70% of Georgia's 60 known exonerees needed longer than four years to clear their names.
2. Court decisions that narrowed relief. These rulings eliminated the out-of-time appeal and nullified the statutory remedy for void convictions. In the Tell My Story account "The Giant I Still Have to Face," Captured King describes his O.C.G.A. 17-9-4 motions being labeled an "improper vehicle." That is the human face of this wall (Georgia Prisoners' Speak — Tell My Story).
3. A parole system that has closed down. The parole grant rate fell from roughly 70% in 1993 to a record-low 28% in FY2024. For lifers it was 4.5%: of 2,046 lifers considered in FY2024, 93 were released. In early October, a federal judge questioned Georgia's parole system and let a woman's lawsuit proceed (AJC reporting).
4. Almost no conviction review. Only three of Georgia's 159 counties have any mechanism to review a questionable conviction.

Your sign-on and share actions: - Share https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/vision-2027/ with your network, faith community, or organization. Ask organizations to formally endorse the framework. - Send your state legislators the Chief Justice's quote along with the Vision 2027 link (https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/). - If your loved one has been "set off" repeatedly by the parole board, the Tell My Story piece "How Much Time Is Enough?" by Pompano Jane shows how to tell that story effectively. Her son was arrested at 16 and was set off in 2012, 2018, 2021, and 2023 with the same letter: "not done enough time."

End the Warehouse: Transform GDC

What it is: GPS's standing framework for turning GDC from a system that stores people into one that prepares them to come home.

The core argument: Georgia's answer to the crisis has been money. Roughly $700 million in new corrections spending between FY2022 and FY2026 went almost entirely to custody: locks, cameras, beds, and contractors (GPS End the Warehouse briefing). GDC's appropriation peaked at $1,913,888,054 in FY2025. Inside a roughly flat budget, the state is shifting money from the prisons it runs toward private contractors (GPS Budget Analysis):

• State Prisons: cut 16.78% from FY2025 actual to FY2027 approved, about $187.5 million.
• Private Prisons: grew 13.69%.
• Health program: grew 9.56%.
• Food: funded at roughly 54 cents a meal, about 15% of the American Correctional Association benchmark. Weekends are two meals a day by written policy (GPS Prison Nutrition briefing).

The alternative is normalization: prison life should resemble outside life as closely as security allows, because the goal is to return people to that life intact (GPS, "Reopen the Doors — Normalization").

The gang-separation demand (no new law needed): Since 1897, Georgia law has required GDC to separate prisoners. O.C.G.A. § 42-5-52 says "The department shall provide for the classification and separation of inmates" (GPS, "On the Books Since 1897"). GPS's flagship pieces "Separate the Gangs. It Costs Nothing." and "Three to a Cell" make the case that GDC is ignoring a duty it already has. At Wilcox, a medium-security prison, GDC's own September count puts 694 of 1,824 men at Close security, the level reserved for people needing "constant supervision by an armed correctional officer." Men there are housed three to a cell. Meanwhile, Commissioner Tyrone Oliver told state senators that single cells reduce violence.

Your sign-on and share actions: - Share https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/end-the-warehouse/ together with https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/budget-analysis/. The budget page gives legislators and local reporters the numbers. - Ask your legislators one specific question: Why is GDC housing Close-security men three to a cell in medium-security prisons when state law has required separation since 1897? - Organizations can adopt "Separate the gangs; enforce § 42-5-52" as a coalition demand.

Facility-Level Priorities: The Top Five

These five facilities drew the most claims in GPS's intake over the last 90 days: Valdosta (268), Wilcox (139), Macon (91), Georgia Diagnostic and Classification (87), Hancock (81). Claim volume reflects reporting weight, not a verified incident count. Source strength is noted for each item.

1. Valdosta State Prison

https://gps.press/facility/valdosta-state-prison/

• Deaths: According to the Southern Center for Human Rights' October 1, 2026 letter to GDC, 25 people died at Valdosta between January 1, 2025, and August 13, 2026. At least 14 of them were aged 40 or younger.
• Redacted records: GDC incident reports covering most of those deaths are heavily redacted (news attribution, high weight).
• Chemical agents: SCHR's letter also states that 2024 auditors found no evidence that people were decontaminated after chemical-agent exposure.
• Food and medication: Inmate-witness accounts reported through news outlets (moderate weight) describe staff letting orderlies control food distribution and deny meals, and cell-door flaps being locked to block access to food and medication.
• Staffing: Zirkle names Valdosta among the prisons running 70–80% officer vacancy (on record).
• Advocate priority: Amplify SCHR's letter. File open-records requests for Valdosta death-investigation files with the Lowndes County Coroner, Austin Fiveash.

2. Wilcox State Prison

https://gps.press/facility/wilcox-state-prison/

• Maurice Antonio Brown died September 3, 2026, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide. According to three separate accounts sent to GPS from inside, a tactical squad searched F2 dorm from about 7 a.m. to noon. The men were then let out to shower, and the attack began. GDC called it an "altercation" and said nothing about the squad. Two men were airlifted and five more went by ambulance (GPS, "Contained to One Dorm"; WGXA, 41NBC, 13WMAZ). His cause of death is pending at the GBI Crime Lab, according to that reporting.
• Marcus Walker died January 10, 2026, at Wilcox State Prison, age 20; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide. State death records list manual strangulation in the cell he shared (GPS, "Three to a Cell").
• A Legionnaires' disease investigation at Wilcox has entered its third year (news report).
• GDC's contraband reports name 26 staff-class people at Wilcox, among the highest of any facility (GPS Staff Supply Chain analysis).
• Advocate priority: Demand separation and single-cell housing for Close-security men. File records requests with the Wilcox County Coroner, Janice Brown.

3. Macon State Prison

https://gps.press/facility/macon-state-prison/

• Three deaths in three days: GPS's registry records deaths on October 21, 22, and 23. The people named are Juld Gerald Carter, Veasna Johnathan Bun, and one person not yet identified. GPS does not yet have confirmed causes for these deaths in the registry.
• What news reports say: 41NBC reported that GDC is investigating a Macon State Prison death as a homicide. WGXA reported that a man serving life for a Toombs County murder was found dead, with a homicide investigation ongoing.
• What inside reports say: Anonymous inside reports and tips (low weight, uncorroborated) describe three killings within two days. They include accounts that one victim was bound for days, stabbed, and set on fire. GPS treats these as leads under verification, not findings.
• Advocate priority: This is a live situation. Families with loved ones at Macon should submit reports. Records requests go to the Macon County Coroner, Eddie T. Hosley.

4. Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison

https://gps.press/facility/georgia-diagnostic-and-classification-prison/

• GDCP houses the Tier III Special Management Unit, the only part of Georgia's segregation system a federal court has forced open (https://gps.press/facility/special-management-unit/). GDC has published no Tier segregation population count since FY2019, and Tier II has no maximum duration in policy (GPS Solitary Confinement briefing).
• Family accounts (moderate weight): Family members report a death the prison classified as suicide, with an autopsy summary listing hanging.
• GPS's registry records several recent GDCP deaths, including deaths in August and September.
• Advocate priority: Push for a published Tier population count and maximum-duration limits. Records go to the Butts County Coroner, Lacey Evans Prue.

5. Hancock State Prison

https://gps.press/facility/hancock-state-prison/

• Corey Jose July died June 17, 2025, at Hancock State Prison, age 33; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide. According to the prosecutor, surveillance footage showed him chased across the yard, cornered at a locked gate, and stabbed (41NBC/WMGT). A jury convicted the attacker of malice murder in August 2026 (GPS, "Death at a Locked Gate").
• Zirkle names Hancock among the prisons running 70–80% vacancy.
• During the May 21 statewide lockdown, two men were hurt at Hancock and one was airlifted. Visitation was cut off there, as it was at Washington and Ware (GPS, "Separate the Gangs").
• Hancock's kitchen scored 100 on four separate DPH inspections. That is a reminder that sanitation scores do not measure safety, or what reaches the tray (GPS, "Scores Without Sanitation").
• Advocate priority: Records go to the Hancock County Coroner, Dontrelle Andrews.

Also on the watch list

• Pulaski State Prison (https://gps.press/facility/pulaski-state-prison/): A woman died there of tuberculosis complications. Families had been warning for ten days (GPS reporting; WGXA; WSB-TV). Pulaski scored 67 on its January 2026 DPH food-safety inspection, with a ripped-out handwashing sink and sewage backing up through floor drains. Family attestations describe maggots and moldy food. Pulaski Coroner: Fred J. Clark, III.
• Ware State Prison (https://gps.press/facility/ware-state-prison/): Coroner and GBI records obtained by GPS through an open-records request document at least 19 homicides since 2020. Eleven name a suspected attacker, and GPS found no public record of charges in any of them (GPS, "At Least Nineteen"). Among the dead: Squaier Lamar Jiles died September 16, 2024, at Ware State Prison, age 35; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide. Christopher Eli Gresham died September 30, 2021, at Ware State Prison, age 39; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide. Ware Coroner: David L. Jordan.
• Central State Prison (https://gps.press/facility/central-state-prison/): Court-verified booking records show that Zacarra Esquire Oliver, an accounting technician on GDC's staff roster, was arrested on October 15, 2026. She was charged with felony sexual contact with a person in custody and with trading with inmates. She has been charged, not convicted.

The Names Behind the Numbers

The counts above are a summary, not a substitute. These five people died in GDC custody and are part of the evidence in this brief:

• Maurice Antonio Brown died September 3, 2026, at Wilcox State Prison; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide.
• Marcus Walker died January 10, 2026, at Wilcox State Prison, age 20; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide.
• Corey Jose July died June 17, 2025, at Hancock State Prison, age 33; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide.
• Squaier Lamar Jiles died September 16, 2024, at Ware State Prison, age 35; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide.
• Christopher Eli Gresham died September 30, 2021, at Ware State Prison, age 39; GPS's registry lists the cause as homicide.

The full mortality archive is at https://gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/. If someone you love is missing from it, submit a report.

Family Resources

How to file an open-records request

GPS's death-investigation work rests on open-records requests. The Ware analysis, for example, drew on 231 death-investigation reports, GBI autopsies, and toxicology findings obtained through requests to county officials. Families can make the same requests.

1. Identify the county. Deaths are certified by the elected coroner (or medical examiner) of the county where the prison sits. Here is the public directory for the facilities above:
2. Valdosta SP: Lowndes County Coroner Austin Fiveash
3. Wilcox SP: Wilcox County Coroner Janice Brown
4. Macon SP: Macon County Coroner Eddie T. Hosley
5. GDCP: Butts County Coroner Lacey Evans Prue
6. Hancock SP: Hancock County Coroner Dontrelle Andrews
7. Ware SP: Ware County Coroner David L. Jordan
8. Pulaski SP: Pulaski County Coroner Fred J. Clark, III
9. Central SP: Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones
10. Augusta State Medical Prison: Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen
11. Washington SP: Washington County Coroner E. K. May
12. Telfair SP: Telfair County Coroner Charles Bethea
13. Smith, Rogers, and Georgia State Prison: Tattnall County Coroner Herbert T. Brown, Jr.
14. Phillips SP: Gwinnett County has a medical examiner system, not an elected coroner.
15. Some counties route requests through a county clerk or open-records officer instead (for example, Dodge, Lee, Jefferson, Screven).
16. Ask for the death-investigation file. Request the coroner's report, the autopsy (often performed by the GBI), and toxicology. Put the request in writing and keep a copy.
17. Request from GDC as well. GPS has obtained bed counts, supervision-level spreadsheets, and staffing facts directly from GDC through open records. One example is the production showing six officers on duty when the Washington State Prison riot began. Families can request incident reports. Expect redactions; SCHR noted that most Valdosta incident reports were heavily redacted.
18. Send GPS what you get. Submit it through https://gps.press/submit-a-report/ so it can be added to the record.

How to escalate medical neglect

Medical care in GDC is provided by Centurion of Georgia, LLC under a $2.4 billion, nine-year contract that began July 1, 2024. DOJ found deliberate indifference to serious medical needs systemwide (GPS Medical Neglect briefing). When a loved one is being denied care:

• Write everything down: dates, names, medication names and doses, and what your loved one said on each call. Pill-call problems are real. A named inmate witness at Coastal reported a dose lower than the approved amount and medication tampering at pill call (moderate weight).
• Build a written escalation trail. In "An Email Trail as the Day Is Long" (Georgia Prisoners' Speak — Tell My Story), runtellthat describes writing to the commissioner, the ombudsman, the regional director, the statewide medical director, the DOJ Office of Civil Rights, a U.S. Senator, and the Southern Center for Human Rights on behalf of her fiancé, who has stage IV cancer. Her pattern is the one to follow: written, dated, copied to outside parties.
• Watch for the "refusal" form. The same account describes a doctor threatening to stop medication, then stopping it, then pressing him to sign a document saying he refused it. Tell your loved one not to sign a refusal they did not make.
• Treat infectious-disease warnings as emergencies. In the Pulaski TB death, families had been warning for ten days. If several families are reporting the same symptoms at one facility, submit a report to GPS right away so the pattern is visible.
• GPS has published a guide on how families get medical information out of a Georgia prison. Look for it on gps.press, along with the deep dive at https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/medical-neglect/.

Where to find legal aid

• The Southern Center for Human Rights is actively documenting Valdosta and is among the organizations families write to. Its October 1, 2026 letter to GDC is the kind of action families can feed with documentation.
• Know the barriers before filing anything. A conditions lawsuit requires first exhausting the grievance process. That process has ten-day deadlines, a two-active-grievance cap, and a non-grievable list. Habeas has a four-year deadline with no appointed counsel (GPS Legal Access briefing: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/legal-access/). Help your loved one file grievances on time and keep copies.
• Retaliation is prohibited on paper. GDC SOP 227.02 says "retaliation against an Offender for filing a grievance is strictly prohibited." SOP 222.01 bars transfers for filing writs or grievances. If retaliation follows a grievance, document it and report it (https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/retaliation/).
• The settlement and litigation landscape is covered in detail at https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/legal-settlements/.

Family communication rules to know

Phone lists are capped at 20 people and can be revised only once every six months. Visitation lists are capped at 12 and can be changed only in May and November. Calls are limited to 15 minutes. A federal judge found GDC's email-contact restriction violated the First Amendment (GPS Family Communication briefing: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/family-communication/). Plan list changes around these windows.

If your loved one is being extorted

In "BLUF: This Must Stop" (Georgia Prisoners' Speak — Tell My Story), TJD describes paying more than $2,000 through Cash App since June because her son at Wheeler Correctional Facility said he would be harmed if she did not. If this is happening to you, submit a report. Extortion patterns at a specific facility are exactly what GPS documents and escalates.

Crisis-Moment Guidance: During a Lockdown or Disturbance

Lockdowns are now routine and frequently statewide. On May 21, 2026, gang violence across Ware, Augusta, Dooly, Central, Hancock, and Washington led GDC to lock down every state prison. On September 16, a fight in one Telfair dorm triggered another statewide lockdown "out of an abundance of caution" (13WMAZ; WGXA). GDC published nothing about the Telfair fight on its own press page that week (GPS, "The Warden Shall Notify").

Families are left trading contradictory answers in Facebook groups. A Board of Corrections rule in force since December 4, 1984, says the warden shall notify when a prisoner is badly hurt, but GPS's reporting shows how narrowly that duty operates in practice. Here is what to do:

1. Don't rely only on rumor. Social posts conflict; one question about Wilcox's F1 and F2 buildings drew four contradictory answers. Write down what you hear, who said it, and when.
2. Check local news. WGXA, 13WMAZ, 41NBC, WALB, and WTOC have been first on recent incidents, often quoting the county coroner.
3. Call the facility and keep a log. Record the date, time, the name of whoever you spoke with, and what they said. A log is evidence of what the state did or did not tell you.
4. If your loved one calls, take notes immediately. Get times, locations (dorm or building), what they saw, and whether they are hurt or have medication needs. In the Wilcox case, the timeline GPS published came from three separate inside accounts that agreed on times, dorm, and sequence. That agreement is what makes inside accounts credible.
5. Report within 24 hours at https://gps.press/submit-a-report/. Early reports from multiple sources let GPS corroborate events before GDC's version becomes the only one.
6. Protect people inside. Do not post your loved one's full name, ID number, or identifying details publicly during an active incident. Retaliation is real; see the Tell My Story piece "I'll Take Care of It" by Elvis, about speaking up at Dooly.
7. Ask about medication during long lockdowns. Inmate witnesses at Valdosta report locked door flaps blocking food and medication. If your loved one depends on medication, escalate in writing as described above.
8. If someone dies, request the death-investigation file from the county coroner. Check the mortality archive (https://gps.press/georgia-prison-deaths/) and submit what you know.

What GDC Has Paid Out, and For What

Advocates should be able to say plainly: the state pays when its prisons injure and kill people, and taxpayers carry the bill.

• The state settlement ledger: Through an open-records request to the Department of Administrative Services' Risk Management division, GPS has catalogued more than 260 liability payouts tied to GDC incidents from 2008 to 2025. They range from $1 to a $4 million wrongful-death settlement. They trace deaths in custody that produced seven-figure settlements and medical neglect that ended in amputation (GPS Legal Settlements briefing).
• Court sanctions: A federal judge held GDC in contempt in 2024. A 2026 spoliation sanction followed over destroyed evidence (GPS Oversight & Investigations briefing).
• Federal docket closures: Recent federal cases closed with no recorded payout include Daker v. Oliver (GAND 1:25-cv-03191), two Humphreys v. Oliver matters (GAND 1:25-cv-07012 and 1:25-cv-06100), Grant v. Ward (GAMD 5:22-cv-00396), Chambers v. Benton (GASD 4:21-cv-00002), and Ballard v. Davis (GAMD 5:25-cv-00046), each listed at $0. A $0 entry on a docket list does not mean the claims were meritless. It reflects how few cases survive the exhaustion and procedural barriers described above.
• The advocate framing: Every dollar in that ledger is paid after the harm. GDC's budget shows the state cutting its own prisons by 16.78% while growing private-prison spending, spending roughly 54 cents per meal, and still writing checks for deaths. Prevention through staffing, separation, medical care, and oversight is the cheaper path. The full ledger is at https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/legal-settlements/.

How to Submit a Report, and What GPS Does With It

URL: https://gps.press/submit-a-report/

Who can submit: family members, incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, current or former staff, attorneys, and anyone with direct knowledge.

What happens next: 1. Intake and classification. Each report becomes one or more claims tagged by facility, topic, and source type: family attestation, inmate witness, staff record, court-verified, and so on. 2. Weighting and corroboration. GPS does not treat every report the same. An anonymous tip is low weight on its own. Three independent accounts that agree on time and place, matched against news reports, records, or GDC's own documents, become a published finding. The Wilcox timeline is the model. 3. Pattern detection. Claims are counted by facility; this is how the top-five list above was built. When dozens of families report the same thing at one prison, it becomes a facility priority. 4. Records follow-up. Reports point GPS toward which open-records requests to file. 5. Publication. Findings appear in facility pages, issue briefings, investigative articles, and these intelligence briefs. They are shared with journalists and coalition partners.

Protecting you: GPS does not publish identifying details about living incarcerated people from reports unless they are already in court or news records. Retaliation risk is taken seriously.

Tell My Story: Your Voice, Published

URL: https://gps.press/tellmystory/

What it is: A curated series of firsthand narratives published at gps.press in the author's own voice. These accounts carry the same citation weight as a bylined article. Advocates, reporters, and legislators quote them.

Who can submit: incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people, and family members. Recent contributors include: - A mother writing as HerVoice/HELPUS about her daughter at McRae Women's Facility ("Not Their Mistakes," "Her Charges Don't Define Her"). Her daughter is a nonviolent offender with a tentative parole date of 2031, in a dorm with "no programs" because counselors quit. - A fiancée documenting cancer-care denial ("An Email Trail as the Day Is Long"). - A mother paying extortion at Wheeler ("BLUF: This Must Stop"). - Men writing from inside about decades in Georgia prisons ("Officer Flowers," "Flying Into the Sun," "The Flame").

Why it matters for campaigns: Vision 2027 and End the Warehouse rest on data, but they move legislators through stories like "How Much Time Is Enough?" If your family's experience illustrates the four-year habeas wall, the parole set-offs, the lack of programs, or medical neglect, your story is campaign material.

GPS Advocate Network: Roles for New Advocates

The network turns individual outrage into coordinated pressure. No dedicated signup link is in this brief. Raise your hand when you submit a report or story, and say which role you want.

Open roles:

1. Facility Watchers. Adopt one facility, for example Valdosta, Wilcox, Macon, GDCP, Hancock, Pulaski, or Ware. Monitor local news and family groups, and route verified information to GPS. Start with the facility's page and the machine-readable data at https://gps.press/facilities-data/.
2. Records Requesters. File open-records requests with coroners and GDC using the directory above, and send results to GPS. This is how the Ware homicide record was built.
3. Legislative Callers. Use https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/ to adopt your district. Deliver the Vision 2027 and End the Warehouse asks, and report back on responses. The legislative brief (https://gps.press/intelligence/legislative/) gives you the fiscal talking points.
4. Family Navigators. Help new families through the first 72 hours after a crisis: what to log, how to report, how to request records, how to escalate medical issues. Use this brief as your script.
5. Story Collectors. Help family members and returning citizens shape and submit Tell My Story pieces.
6. Media Amplifiers. Share GPS investigations and campaign pages, and pitch local outlets. The media brief (https://gps.press/intelligence/media/) has current story leads.
7. Translators. GPS publishes in English and Spanish. Bilingual advocates extend reach to Spanish-speaking families.

Coalition Partners and How to Plug In

These organizations and institutions appear in the corpus as part of the accountability record:

• Southern Center for Human Rights. Its October 1, 2026 letter to GDC on Valdosta deaths, chemical agents, and redacted records is the most current outside legal-advocacy action in the record. Families already write to SCHR. Feed it documentation, and amplify its letter.
• U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Its October 2024 CRIPA findings are the legal foundation for every demand in this brief. Families can and do write to it.
• The Marshall Project. Its May 2026 investigation of Georgia prison food is a reference point for nutrition advocacy (https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/prison-nutrition-georgia/).
• Local and regional press. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Public Broadcasting, WGXA, 13WMAZ, 41NBC, WALB, WTOC, WSB-TV, and FOX 5 Atlanta are covering this crisis. The AJC's October 19 report on men living amid darkness and raw sewage at a South Georgia prison shows that outside groups' documentation reaches the public.
• Former GDC insiders. On-record testimony from Russell Zirkle and Tyler Ryals corroborates the staffing cover-up. Current or former staff with information can submit reports.

How to plug in as an organization: 1. Formally endorse Vision 2027 and End the Warehouse, and say so publicly with the campaign links. 2. Adopt a facility from the priority list and coordinate with GPS on records and family outreach. 3. Co-sign demands for an independent oversight body, since Georgia has none (https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/oversight-investigations/), and for enforcement of the 1897 separation statute. 4. Route your members' reports to https://gps.press/submit-a-report/ so the data is pooled rather than scattered.

Deep-Dive Resources

• Deaths in Custody: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/deaths-in-custody/
• Staffing Crisis: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/staffing-crisis/
• Violence & Safety: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/violence/
• Solitary Confinement: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/solitary-confinement/
• Sexual Abuse: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/sexual-abuse/
• Staff Misconduct: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/staff-misconduct/
• Staff Supply Chain (contraband): https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/contraband-staff-supply-chain/
• Mental Health: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/mental-health/
• Facility Conditions: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/conditions/
• Scores Without Sanitation: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/scores-without-sanitation/
• Hidden deaths tracking: https://gps.press/facility/gdc-hidden-deaths/
• System overview: https://gps.press/intelligence/overview/

Act Now

Three actions this month change the record:

1. Join the GPS Advocate Network. Pick a role above and raise your hand when you submit a report or story.
2. Submit a report at https://gps.press/submit-a-report/. Valdosta, Wilcox, Macon, GDCP, Hancock, and Pulaski families are especially needed right now.
3. Share one campaign URL with three people today: https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/vision-2027/ or https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/end-the-warehouse/.

Maurice Antonio Brown, Marcus Walker, Corey Jose July, Squaier Lamar Jiles, and Christopher Eli Gresham are part of a count that has reached at least 1,919 since 2020 and is still climbing. The state has the law, the data, and the federal findings it needs to act. Advocates supply the pressure that makes it act.