# GPS This Week: September 26 to October 10, 2026 > ← All issuesGreetings: Georgia set aside $84,596,895 this year for prison cell-door locking systems. On September 24, state fire inspectors cited padlocks and slide bolts on cell doors in four housing… **Published**: 2026-10-11 **Source**: https://gps.press/newsletter/2026-10-11/ **Author**: GPS Staff --- [← All issues](https://gps.press/newsletter/#past-issues) Greetings: Georgia set aside $84,596,895 this year for prison cell-door locking systems. On September 24, state fire inspectors cited padlocks and slide bolts on cell doors in four housing units at Washington State Prison, and the warden said the locks were broken. Georgia's corrections commissioner told senators single cells cut prison violence. At Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox, GDC is packing more Close security men into tripple-bunked cells originate built for a single man. GPS added the 118-point lock research collection to the public record, sent the Department a records request for its inspection records, response to the citation, and lock repair records, and recorded the Department's cause-of-death refusal as its official position. | | | --- | | **10** articles · **75** stories to legislators · **1,005** emails · **3** new advocates | ## Significant work this period **[Cell-door locks: research collection and records request after fire inspectors found padlocks](https://gps.press/research-library/georgia-prison-cell-door-locking-systems-spending-projects-and-failures-2010-2026/)** We published a research collection on Georgia's prison cell-door locks with 118 sourced data points on what the state has budgeted for cell-door locking systems since 2010, the contracts, and the audits and official statements showing the locks failing. After the State Fire Marshal cited padlocks and slide bolts on cell doors in four housing units at Washington State Prison on September 24, we asked the Department of Corrections for its inspection records, its response to the citation, and its records of lock repairs. **[Lighthouse: a private journal and a nightly check](https://gps.press/lighthouse/)** Version 3.1.1 of the Lighthouse tablet app now lets people keep dated notes on their tablet, locked with a passphrase only they know, with a button to record each meal and the time since the last one. Articles download in English by default, with Spanish available in Settings, so syncing takes less data. Separately, our Lighthouse AI system is now checked every night against a set of questions with known answers, in English and Spanish. This is to ensure accuracy and to be certain no coding changes has effected the system, which has occasionally occurred. **[Research collection on felony murder in Georgia](https://gps.press/research-library/felony-murder-in-georgia-what-the-state-counts-what-the-code-says-and-the-florida-jewell-ruling/)** What the state counts, what the Georgia Code says, and how Florida's Jewell ruling bears on it. Each entry quotes the exact passage from its source, and searches that found nothing are listed too. **[Legislator scorecard rebuilt](https://gps.press/scorecard/)** Missed votes no longer count against any legislator, bill sponsorships were re-matched person by person, several bills were re-rated, and the scoring weights are now explained on the method page. **[Tier segregation and STEP, now documented on every prison page and in new research collections](https://gps.press/research-library/gdcs-step-program-the-step-down-from-tier-segregation/)** Each GPS facility page now has a Security Classification section with the Department of Corrections' own counts of people classified close, medium and minimum security, plus its Tier II, Tier III and STEP restrictive-housing beds and how many are occupied. We also published the Department's prison-by-prison STEP counts from a records request produced on October 2. A companion collection gathers what news reports and court records have said about Tier segregation and STEP, with each source's address and the date we read it. **[Our About page now says why GPS exists](https://gps.press/about/)** The About page, in English and Spanish, has a new section on why GPS exists: what we're here to do and how the work began. GPS started in 2020 after the outbreak of Covid and the beginning of the collapse of the GDC. **The Department of Corrections put its refusal to release causes of death in writing** Asked for the general cause of death of people who died in its custody in 2021 through 2023, the Department answered in writing that it won't release it, citing a medical-records exemption in the Open Records Act. It released the same information until March 2024. We've answered on the law and recorded the Department's reply as its official position. **[Listen to GPS articles, in English and Spanish](https://gps.press/three-to-a-cell-georgias-commissioner-says-single-cells-cut-the-violence-four-prisons-do-the-opposite/)** GPS articles now have a Listen button at the top, in English and in Spanish. It reads the full story aloud, word for word, and highlights each paragraph as it is read, so you can follow along on the page or just listen. All 28 of September's articles are available now, and each new article gets its audio version shortly after it is published. This is great for listening to the articles while you are driving. **[GPS Historical Data: Georgia's prisons since 1925](https://gps.press/historical-data/)** A new public dataset follows Georgia's state prisons year by year since 1925: deaths by cause, homicides, parole, time served and population, with the source, page and exact wording behind every figure. It's available as a page, as CSV, and through GPS's public data server at data.gps.press. ## ***Upcoming events*** **Peaceful protest at Smith State Prison** Saturday, 24 October, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Smith State Prison, 9676 Hwy 301 North, Glennville, GA 30427. Worldwide Chain Breakers is holding a peaceful protest outside Smith State Prison, and everyone is welcome. GPS encourages you to go. Organisers ask attendees to stay in lawful public areas, keep clear of roads and gates, and bring a sign. Families, advocates, formerly incarcerated people, faith leaders, community members and organisations are all welcome. **Peaceful protest at Macon State Prison** Saturday, 28 November, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Macon State Prison, 2728 Hwy 49 South, Oglethorpe, GA 31068. Everyone is welcome to attend. Note the address: Macon State Prison is in Oglethorpe, in Macon County, about fifty miles southwest of the city of Macon, so use 2728 Hwy 49 South, Oglethorpe in your directions. It's the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Bring a sign and follow the organisers' ground rules: stay in lawful public areas, don't block roads or entrances, and don't confront or harass anyone. ## **Articles published** 10 articles published, plus 10 Spanish editions. [**Her Charges Don't Define Her**](https://gps.press/her-charges-dont-define-her/) October 9, 2026 My daughter is a nonviolent offender at McRae Women's Facility. Her parole date is 2031. She tells me there are no programs, staff shortages, and mail delays. I'm sharing her story to ask for compassion and second chances. [**An Email Trail as the Day Is Long**](https://gps.press/an-email-trail-as-the-day-is-long/) October 9, 2026 My fiancé has stage IV cancer and blood clots, yet prison staff watched him swallow his pills and then accused him of selling them. When we spoke up, retaliation followed, false reports, denied medication, and cut communication. [**Georgia Keeps Buying Cell Locks. Its Prisons Keep Using Padlocks.**](https://gps.press/georgia-keeps-buying-cell-locks-its-prisons-keep-using-padlocks/) October 9, 2026 State fire inspectors found padlocks and slide bolts on cell doors in four housing units at Washington State Prison in September. Broken locks, the warden said. Georgia has been buying new ones for more than a decade, and this year it set aside another $84,596,895. [**Not Their Mistakes**](https://gps.press/not-their-mistakes/) October 9, 2026 A mother describes her daughter's transfer from Whitworth to McRae Women's Facility, where she says women are denied rehabilitation programs and mental health support while men receive work details. She shares who her daughter was before incarceration and why she fights for her release. [**Forgetting Is Not Murder**](https://gps.press/forgetting-is-not-murder/) October 7, 2026 A Florida nanny forgot a sleeping baby in her car, and the State called it murder until an appeals court said no. Georgia charges grieving parents the same way. One Lawrenceville mother sat in jail for six weeks after losing her son. Forgetting is a tragedy, not a murder. [**Who Builds the File Five Members Vote On? Georgia's Parole Guidelines and the One Unit That Checks Them**](https://gps.press/who-builds-the-file-five-members-vote-on-georgias-parole-guidelines-and-the-one-unit-that-checks-them/) October 6, 2026 Five Board members vote on Georgia parole cases, but staff compute the crime severity level, the risk score and the case summary. One internal unit audits that work and publishes no results. Here is the design, in the Board's own words. [**"He's on Tier": What Georgia's Prison Segregation System Is and How It Works**](https://gps.press/hes-on-tier-what-georgias-prison-segregation-system-is-and-how-it-works/) October 4, 2026 "He's on Tier" means a loved one is in Georgia's prison segregation system. Here's how Tier I, Tier II, the Special Management Unit and the STEP step-down work under GDC's own policies, how people get in and out, and the bed counts GDC gave GPS in October 2026. [**"I Am Telling You What I Saw": A Letter From Georgia's Women's Prisons**](https://gps.press/i-am-telling-you-what-i-saw-a-letter-from-georgias-womens-prisons/) September 30, 2026 Rachelle Terry spent more than two years in Georgia's women's prisons. This September she wrote to lawmakers and the Department of Corrections about what she saw. Her letter is published here in full, alongside what the state's own records show for the two prisons that held her. [**Three to a Cell: Georgia's Commissioner Says Single Cells Cut the Violence. Four Prisons Do the Opposite.**](https://gps.press/three-to-a-cell-georgias-commissioner-says-single-cells-cut-the-violence-four-prisons-do-the-opposite/) September 26, 2026 Georgia's corrections commissioner told senators single cells cut prison violence. At Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox, GDC is packing more Close security men into single-man cells that hold three, at prisons built for 500 and holding up to 1,800, and the homicide rate shows it. [**Five Questions for Georgia's Next Attorney General**](https://gps.press/five-questions-for-georgias-next-attorney-general/) September 26, 2026 On August 25 we sent the same five questions to both nominees for Georgia Attorney General, on the Justice Department's prison findings, deaths in custody, open records, oversight and habeas. Sen. Brian Strickland answered. No answers were received from Rep. Tanya Miller. His answers are here in full. ## **Postal Mailings this period** Advocacy letters: 2. We put 75 firsthand stories from inside directly into Georgia legislators' hands this period, real accounts mailed as Tell My Story postcards. Have a story that belongs in a legislator's hands? Share it at https://gps.press/tellmystory. ## **Emails sent on your behalf** 1,005 emails sent on your behalf: 1,002 legislative and 3 advocacy. ## **Open records requests** 45 open records requests were made this period, to 14 different agencies or offices. ## **New advocates** 3 new advocates joined GPS this period. ## **Explore GPS** Two corners of GPS worth a look: **GDC Policy Library** Every GDC standard operating procedure GPS could obtain, organized and searchable, so you can see the rules the system is supposed to follow. [Explore the library](https://gps.press/GDC-Policy-Library/) **Facility Intelligence Profiles** Deep-dive profiles of each GDC facility: conditions, deaths in custody, leadership, and documented incidents, drawn from GPS's records. [See the profiles](https://gps.press/intelligence/) The GPS Team, accountability@gps.press [Subscribe to GPS This Week](https://gps.press/newsletter/#signup)