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Georgia’s prison system has come under sustained scrutiny from federal investigators, state consultants, and investigative reporters. This page collects recent coverage so readers can follow the crisis — and the push for reform.
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Georgia Gov.-elect Bottoms on the path forward for Democrats – PBS
Georgia voters elected Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor, making her the state’s first Democratic governor since 1998 and the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, according to PBS NewsHour. In an interview with Geoff Bennett, Bottoms cited lowering costs, expanding health care access, and opposing the Trump administration as central to her campaign. ...
Inmate Sentenced To 8 Years For Selling Bogus Florida Hunting Leases From Georgia Prison Cell – AOL.com
Coty Hamlin Updated Fri, November 6, 2026 at 8:18 PM UTC 0 Deer Hunter (File) A Georgia prison inmate has been sentenced to eight years in Florida state prison after orchestrating a scam that sold fake hunting leases to sportsmen across 15 Florida counties, state wildlife officials announced. Rodney E. Smith, 39, of Georgia, pleaded ...
Hancock State Prison inmate death investigated as homicide after cellmate altercation – WGXA
A 36-year-old inmate at Hancock State Prison in Sparta, Devin Edwards, died on October 30 after a physical altercation with his cellmate, and the Georgia Department of Corrections is investigating the death as a homicide. Hancock County Coroner Dontrelle Andrews told WGXA that Edwards was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center in Sandersville, where he ...
Georgia’s incoming attorney general vows impartial justice
Georgia’s incoming attorney general vows impartial justice ATLANTA – Georgia’s newly elected attorney general, Democrat Tanya Miller, is promising equal treatment under the law following a historic victory in Tuesday’s election that will make her the first woman elected to the position. MAP: Inside the Georgia Attorney General election results What we know: Miller defeated ...
GBI investigating death of Hancock State Prison inmate – WRDW
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of Devin Edwards, 36, an inmate at Hancock State Prison in Sparta, who was found dead in his cell around 7:15 a.m. Friday and appeared to have been in a recent fight, according to the Hancock County coroner. The coroner’s office said it is unsure when ...
DNA evidence helps Atlanta man go free after two decades in prison – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Marquez Powell, an Atlanta man, was released after spending nearly 21 years in prison for crimes related to the killing of his best friend, after new DNA evidence proved his innocence, according to the Georgia Innocence Project. The Georgia Innocence Project worked with Fulton County’s Conviction Integrity Unit to secure his release. The exoneration comes ...
Men live amid darkness, raw sewage at South Georgia prison, group says
Men live amid darkness, raw sewage at South Georgia prison, group says Conditions at one South Georgia prison have become so dysfunctional that men held there live in virtual darkness because so many cells are without working lights as the facility has experienced a rash of preventable deaths, according to a new review by the ...
‘Beyond sad’: Georgia’s bad lawyering revealed in legislative study
‘Beyond sad’: Georgia’s bad lawyering revealed in legislative study Unable to afford a lawyer, Georgia inmate Dontravious Mahone was represented by a state-appointed attorney when appealing his convictions for murder and other charges in the death of a young Alpharetta man. It did not go well. In upholding Mahone’s convictions and life sentence earlier this ...
Federal judge questions Georgia’s parole system, lets woman’s lawsuit proceed
Federal judge questions Georgia’s parole system, lets woman’s lawsuit proceed After more than four decades behind bars, Janice Buttrum has been told five times by the state of Georgia that she is not ready for parole. Now, a federal judge says the State Board of Pardons and Parole may never have seriously considered her release ...
Florida sheriff blasts Georgia officials over prisoners’ scams
A Florida sheriff arrested a woman accused of participating in a scam network through Georgia prisons and called for officials to put a stop to the scammers’ operations within the prison system. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, in a video posted to social media, said investigators there linked an Atlanta woman and three others to ...
After More Than 20 Years in Prison, Georgia Man Wins New Trial in “Shaken Baby” Case
A Georgia court has ordered a new trial for Danyel Smith, who was convicted in 2003 of killing his two-month-old son in a case that relied on a Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) diagnosis. Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Kimberly A. Gallant ruled that evolving scientific research on SBS, also known as Abusive Head Trauma, constitutes ...
Incarcerated People Lose Treasured Media When Prisons Change Tablet Contracts
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in March 2026 alleges that the Tennessee Department of Correction violated the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause by confiscating tablets from incarcerated people and failing to transfer purchased digital content—including music, emails, and photographs—after switching tablet vendors from JPay to ViaPath. The complaint states that under the new contract, TDOC receives ...
Trans People Behind Bars Face Great Risks. Prison Officials Are Making It Worse.
A new article from The Appeal and Truthout reports that incarcerated transgender people face heightened risks of violence and discrimination, with prison policies often exacerbating these dangers. The piece highlights the case of Gia Valentina, a transgender woman in New Jersey who was denied transfer to a women’s prison after undergoing gender-affirming surgery, leaving her ...
A Court Found Conditions at Louisiana’s Prison Farm Unconstitutional. It Let Them Continue Anyway.
A federal judge ruled that conditions on the Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola), where incarcerated workers are forced to labor in extreme heat for as little as zero to four cents an hour, violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, citing a recent Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision ...
Families of Victims Who Died From Heat in Prison Fight to Prevent More Deaths
A recent article highlights the push for Adrienne’s Act in California, which would mandate cooling systems and heat-relief protocols in state prisons following the 2024 heat-related death of incarcerated woman Adrienne Boulware. The bill, which has passed committee stages, would require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement plans for cooled living quarters, ...
Shackled for weeks: Federal report finds abuse of restraints in prisons – Georgia Public Broadcasting
A new Justice Department Inspector General report found that the federal Bureau of Prisons violated its own rules by excessively restraining prisoners, including cases where an individual died after being shackled for over two days and another required a limb amputation due to restraints being applied too tightly. The report reviewed six years of records ...
Too few guards and too many drones: Georgia prisons leaders alert lawmakers to dangers
Credit: Sofi Gratas/GPB News Section Branding Header Content Too few guards and too many drones: Georgia prisons leaders alert lawmakers to dangers Primary Content LISTEN: While the number of prison guards in Georgia prisons is at a 15-year low, corrections officials say the number of people incarcerated in the state is at a 15-year high ...
Gov. Kemp recommends adding $372 million to shore up Georgia prisons – Georgia Public Broadcasting
Credit: Grant Blankenship/GPB News Section Branding Header Content Gov. Kemp recommends adding $372 million to shore up Georgia prisons Primary Content Gov. Brian Kemp has released his recommendations for strengthening Georgia’s struggling prison system, which include an additional $372 million in state spending. “We do realize and recognize that this is — I don’t know ...
State prisons chief pitches case for funding boost – Georgia Public Broadcasting
ATLANTA — Georgia Department of Corrections officials began laying the groundwork Wednesday for an infusion of state funding to beef up staffing, replace aging infrastructure, and improve inmate health care. The state’s workforce of correctional officers plummeted during the COVID pandemic and has yet to fully recover, Georgia Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told members ...
The federal Department of Justice: ‘deliberate indifference’ to violence in Georgia prisons – Georgia Public Broadcasting
Credit: Grant Blankenship/GPB News Section Branding Header Content The federal Department of Justice: ‘deliberate indifference’ to violence in Georgia prisons Primary Content LISTEN: After a yearslong investigation, the Department of Justice says violence in Georgia prisons is at a “crisis level.” GPB’s Grant Blankenship reports. In a blistering, just-released report years in the making, the ...
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Fish Tanks, Plants and Podcast Studios — Some States Try a New Approach to Incarceration
Several U.S. states, including Pennsylvania and California, are piloting or expanding prison units modeled on Nordic approaches that prioritize rehabilitation over punishment, featuring elements like plants, fish tanks, and vocational training. Pennsylvania announced it will expand its “Little Scandinavia” unit from SCI Chester to three additional facilities after a study showed only one physical altercation ...
Rats, Insects and Mold: How Bad Food Leaves Prisoners Hungry and Sick
This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for future newsletters. The food on the trays doesn’t even look like food. In photos smuggled out of Georgia’s prisons, what passes for a meal is either grossly inadequate ...
Crime Laws: How Louisiana, Georgia, Other States Embrace ‘Tough-on-Crime
This is The Marshall Project’s Closing Argument newsletter, a weekly deep dive into a key criminal justice issue. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters here. For decades, Louisiana had the nation’s highest rate of incarceration. And — given that the U.S. is among the most carceral countries on the planet — ...
Data Reveals Prison Crisis: More Prisoners, Fewer Correctional Officers
When Andrew Phillips took a job as a corrections officer at Georgia’s Smith State Prison in 2021, he was desperate for work. Shortly after he started, he noticed a problem. The prison housed about 1,500 men, and each shift was supposed to have 30 officers to guard them, but most days there were half that, ...
As Corrections Officers Quit in Droves, Prisons Get Even More Dangerous
At a Georgia state House of Representatives hearing on prison conditions in September, a corrections officer called in to testify, interrupting his shift to tell lawmakers how dire conditions had become. On a “good day,” he told lawmakers, he had maybe six or seven officers to supervise roughly 1,200 people. He said he had recently ...
Georgia Gov.-elect Bottoms on the path forward for Democrats – PBS
Georgia voters elected Keisha Lance Bottoms as governor, making her the state’s first Democratic governor since 1998 and the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, according to PBS NewsHour. In an interview with Geoff Bennett, Bottoms cited lowering costs, expanding health care access, and opposing the Trump administration as central to her campaign. ...
Inmate Sentenced To 8 Years For Selling Bogus Florida Hunting Leases From Georgia Prison Cell – AOL.com
Coty Hamlin Updated Fri, November 6, 2026 at 8:18 PM UTC 0 Deer Hunter (File) A Georgia prison inmate has been sentenced to eight years in Florida state prison after orchestrating a scam that sold fake hunting leases to sportsmen across 15 Florida counties, state wildlife officials announced. Rodney E. Smith, 39, of Georgia, pleaded ...
Hancock State Prison inmate death investigated as homicide after cellmate altercation – WGXA
A 36-year-old inmate at Hancock State Prison in Sparta, Devin Edwards, died on October 30 after a physical altercation with his cellmate, and the Georgia Department of Corrections is investigating the death as a homicide. Hancock County Coroner Dontrelle Andrews told WGXA that Edwards was taken to Washington Regional Medical Center in Sandersville, where he ...
Georgia’s incoming attorney general vows impartial justice
Georgia’s incoming attorney general vows impartial justice ATLANTA – Georgia’s newly elected attorney general, Democrat Tanya Miller, is promising equal treatment under the law following a historic victory in Tuesday’s election that will make her the first woman elected to the position. MAP: Inside the Georgia Attorney General election results What we know: Miller defeated ...
GBI investigating death of Hancock State Prison inmate – WRDW
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of Devin Edwards, 36, an inmate at Hancock State Prison in Sparta, who was found dead in his cell around 7:15 a.m. Friday and appeared to have been in a recent fight, according to the Hancock County coroner. The coroner’s office said it is unsure when ...
ITUC Observations under Article 23 – USA C105 (Forced Labour)
1 The International Trade Union Confederation is a worldwide union network that represents 207 million workers in 163 countries and territories. ITUC’s primary mission is to promote and defend workers’ rights through international cooperation between trade unions, global campaigning and advocacy within major global institutions. Among its affiliates is the American Federation of Labor-Congress of ...
U.S. Department of Justice Findings Report on Georgia Prisons
Investigation of Georgia Prisons U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Georgia i October 1, 2024 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………………….. i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ………………………………………………………………………… 3 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………… 4 INVESTIGATION …………………………………………………………………………………. 11 DEFICIENT CONDITIONS IDENTIFIED …………………………………………………. 14 A. The State of Georgia ...
Georgia prisoner strike comes out of lockdown
Georgia prisoner strike comes out of lockdown By Guest Blogger / December 16, 2010 Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit Share on Facebook More Linkedin Share on Google+ Share via Email By Kung Li Georgia prisoners came out of their cells today, ending the lockdown phase of the largest prison work strike in U.S. history. ...
Georgia Prisoners’ Strike: “We locked ourselves down.”
Georgia Prisoners’ Strike: “We locked ourselves down.” In a protest that appears to be spreading through Georgia’s prison system, inmates are striking for better conditions. One interesting facet of this rare prison strike, which reaches across multiple facilities and across racial and factional lines, is the participants’ use of self-imposed lockdown to serve their own ...
Georgia Prison Strike: A Hidden Labor Force Resists
Last week a diverse group of nonviolent protesters across Georgia stood up for their rights, calling for decent wages, better social services and respect for their civil liberties. It didn’t take long for the government to crack down on the demonstrations, however: the protesters were already in prison. The uprising of Georgia inmates on December ...
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