{ "meta": { "source": "Georgia Prisoners' Speak, open-records requests and the documents agencies released", "note": "Records requested under the Georgia Open Records Act (O.C.G.A. ยง 50-18-70 et seq.), by Georgia Prisoners' Speak or, where a page says so, by another person or group who shared them with GPS. Documents marked \"as released\" are posted exactly as the agency released them. Files marked \"prepared by GPS\" are GPS's own compilations of those documents, made for convenience; where they differ, the released document governs. A request is published here when GPS cites it or when its records are useful to readers; records about individual deaths are published on GPS's mortality pages, not here.", "generated_at": "2026-10-30T05:54:26+00:00", "documentation": "https://gps.press/records/", "rest": "https://gps.press/wp-json/gps-public-records/v1/requests" }, "data": { "ref": "S000154-091226", "url": "https://gps.press/records/s000154-091226/", "title": "Dooly State Prison: certificates of occupancy (State Fire Marshal)", "agency": "Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, Safety Fire Division", "agency_short": "OCI", "channel": "OCI Safety Fire Division (Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire) (GovQA portal)", "requested_by": "Georgia Prisoners' Speak", "shared_with_gps": false, "summary": "We asked the Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner for Dooly State Prison's certificates of occupancy and occupant loads, all plan reviews, and any re-rating of its capacity or overcrowding variance.\n\nThe Safety Fire Division released Dooly State Prison's 10 certificates of occupancy. It said it found no records for our other items: no plan review, no re-rating or added housing, and no overcrowding variance.", "request_text": "Request by Georgia Prisoners' Speak (The GDC Accountability Project, Inc.) under the Georgia Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. 50-18-70 et seq.\n\nFacility: Dooly State Prison, Unadilla, Dooly County, Georgia, which opened in 1994. It was built in the cohort the State's capital budgets of that period described as \"a 500-cell correctional facility (maximum operating capacity 750 inmates).\"\n\nWe are documenting, for each Georgia state prison, the capacity established for the building itself, as distinct from the population the Department of Corrections reports. Under O.C.G.A. 25-2-13(b)(1)(E) prisons are among the buildings that present a special hazard, and under O.C.G.A. 25-2-13(a)(1) \"capacity\" is the maximum number of persons who may reasonably be expected to be present, determined by the formula the Commissioner declares by rule. Because O.C.G.A. 25-2-12(a)(2) places penal institutions and state-owned buildings outside local enforcement, we understand this office to be the custodian.\n\nWe would be grateful for the following records for that facility:\n\n1. The certificate of occupancy issued for Dooly State Prison, including a separate certificate for any individual building or housing unit, together with any document stating the occupant load or the capacity established under O.C.G.A. 25-2-13 for the facility or for any of its housing units.\n\n2. The plan review file for the original construction, including the plans and specifications submitted for approval under O.C.G.A. 25-2-14, the plan review or approval letter, and any housing-unit drawings, cell schedule, or bed schedule contained in it.\n\n3. Every subsequent plan review, approval, amended or reissued certificate of occupancy, and any re-determination of capacity or occupant load for the facility after the original construction. This includes any added housing unit, modular or temporary housing, and any conversion of other space to inmate housing.\n\n4. Any inspection report, correspondence, variance, waiver, modification, or equivalency determination concerning occupancy of the facility in excess of an established capacity or occupant load.\n\n5. If this office does not hold the records described above, the records-retention schedule that applied to them and any disposition or transfer record showing where they are now. The name of the holding agency would be enough.\n\nWe have named a single facility rather than asking across facilities, because this office advised us on September 2, 2026 that it has no inspection tracking system. We are glad to file separate requests for other prisons on the same basis.\n\nWe are glad to accept copies in any electronic format. We agree in advance to reasonable copying and administrative fees up to $50, and ask to be notified before that amount is exceeded. If any part of this request is unclear, or would be easier to answer in a different form, please tell us and we will adjust it.\n\nWe would be grateful for a reply.\nThe GDC Accountability Project, Inc. (Georgia Prisoners' Speak)\naccountability@gps.press\nhttps://gps.press\n285 W Wieuca Rd NE, PMB #4153, Atlanta, GA 30342", "date_filed": "2026-09-12", "date_last_response": null, "status": "fulfilled", "status_label": "Fulfilled", "status_note": "Released September 2026.", "fee_amount": 0, "fee_note": "No fee was charged.", "timeline": [ { "date": "2026-09-12", "event": "Request filed through the Safety Fire Division's open-records portal." }, { "date": "2026-09-16", "event": "The Safety Fire Division released 10 certificates of occupancy and said it found no records of plan reviews, re-rating or an overcrowding variance." } ], "topics": [ "facilities", "capacity", "fire-safety" ], "cited_in": [], "published_at": "2026-10-28 19:39:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-28 19:39:00", "documents": [ { "title": "Dooly State Prison: certificates of occupancy (10)", "kind": "released", "kind_label": "As released by the agency", "description": "File name as released: Certificate_of_Occupancy__State__Dooly_State_Prison.pdf.", "url": "https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/public-records/s000154-091226/Certificate_of_Occupancy__State__Dooly_State_Prison.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf", "bytes": 194200, "pages": 10, "sha256": "a2a139ee1e156b8e763b883f6dc566c8c2a3ee922f57853358ca172ca32a1c56", "date_received": "2026-09-16" } ] } }