The DOJ Found Georgia Prisons Are Dangerously Broken. Here’s What That Means for Your Family.

TL;DR

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found that Georgia’s prisons are so unsafe that they break the law. From 2018 to 2023, 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons. About half of all guard jobs are empty. Gangs run many housing units because there aren’t enough staff to keep people safe. The DOJ says Georgia has known about these problems for years and has not done enough to fix them.

Why This Matters

If your loved one is in a Georgia prison, this report confirms what many families already know: the state is failing to keep people safe.

The DOJ — the top law agency in the country — looked at Georgia’s prisons for years. They visited 17 prisons. They talked to hundreds of people inside. They read tens of thousands of records. Their finding is clear: Georgia breaks the law by not keeping people safe from violence and sexual harm.

This matters because:

• Your loved one may be in danger every day. Violence is constant, and there often aren’t enough guards to stop it.
• Gangs may control where your loved one sleeps, eats, and works. The state has lost control of many housing units.
• Your family may be targeted. People in prison are beaten and threatened so that gangs can demand money from families outside.
• If something happens, it may not even get looked into. Over 90% of fights are never sent for a real review.
• Emergency help is delayed. One local EMS director said rescue teams wait an average of 30 minutes at the prison gate before they can reach someone who needs help.

This is not about a few bad prisons. The DOJ found these problems across the whole system.

Key Takeaway: The DOJ confirmed that Georgia prisons are unsafe and that the state has known about it for years without fixing it.

142 People Killed in Six Years

From 2018 through 2023, 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons. The violence got much worse over time:

• 2018–2020: 48 people killed
• 2021–2023: 94 people killed — a 95.8% increase
• 2023 alone: 35 people killed, the highest single year on record

Georgia’s prison killing rate in 2019 was about three times the national average — 34 per 100,000 people versus 12 per 100,000 people across the country.

These are not just numbers. These are people. The report tells stories of people stabbed in barber shops, beaten by groups, and left dead in cells for days before anyone found them. One man at Smith State Prison was likely strangled by his roommate in a locked unit. His body was so badly broken down that he had likely been dead for over two days before staff found him.

In December 2023 alone, five people were killed at four different prisons. That same month, stabbings happened at even more prisons.

Key Takeaway: 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons from 2018 to 2023. The killing rate nearly doubled in the last three years.

Half of All Guard Jobs Are Empty

The staffing crisis is at the heart of everything wrong in Georgia prisons. Here’s how bad it is:

• 2021: 49.3% of guard jobs were empty
• 2022: 56.3% of guard jobs were empty
• 2023: 52.5% of guard jobs were empty

In April 2023, the system hit a low point. The guard job opening rate was 60% across the whole system. That means over 2,800 guard jobs had no one in them. By the end of 2023, there were still over 2,800 empty guard jobs.

At the worst prisons, it was even worse:

• 18 prisons had more than 60% of guard jobs empty
• 10 prisons had more than 70% of guard jobs empty

What does this look like in real life? At many prisons, one guard watches two buildings at the same time — each with hundreds of people — for a full 12-hour shift. Many housing units have no guard at all for hours at a time.

Guards start at $40,000 to $44,000 per year. Prison leaders admit they “lag behind in the salary market.” The state has not done enough to fix this.

Key Takeaway: More than half of all guard jobs in Georgia prisons are empty, leaving housing units with little or no staff.

Gangs Control Daily Life Inside

When there are no guards, gangs fill the gap. The DOJ found that gangs run many housing units in Georgia prisons. Gangs decide:

• Where people sleep
• Who gets to eat
• Who can take a shower
• Who gets a job

Georgia tracks over 14,000 gang members in its prisons. But only a small number of staff are assigned to manage all of them.

Gang violence has caused mass harm events:

• March 2023, Macon State Prison: 11 people stabbed, 1 killed
• June 2022, Dooly State Prison: 7 people sent to the hospital
• Sept.–Oct. 2022: A killing set off a gang war across many prisons. 20 people were sent to hospitals.

Gangs also run crime rings that reach outside prison walls. In one case, a gang leader ran a drug ring from inside Smith State Prison. He also ordered two murders in the local area — one of an elderly man in his home and one of a former prison guard.

In November 2023, 23 people were charged in a federal case for gang crimes done from inside and outside six different Georgia prisons.

Key Takeaway: Gangs control housing units and run crime rings from inside because there aren’t enough staff to stop them.

Sexual Violence Goes Unchecked

Georgia also fails to keep people safe from sexual harm. The numbers are high:

• 2019: 653 reports of sexual abuse
• 2020: 702 reports of sexual abuse
• 2021: 639 reports of sexual abuse
• 2022: 635 reports of sexual abuse

The real numbers are likely much higher. People say they don’t report abuse because they fear payback or don’t believe anything will happen.

LGBTI people face even greater danger. Gangs target them for beatings and sexual attacks. LGBTI people told the DOJ they were beaten and stabbed just because of who they are. Some were told to leave their housing unit or face more violence.

The state makes things worse by not doing enough to protect LGBTI people. For example, transgender women are housed with men based only on their body parts, even though this puts them at risk.

When sexual abuse is reported, the reviews are poor. They often skip talking to witnesses or looking at video. In one case, a gay man said his cellmate — on gang orders — stabbed him with a weapon, tied him up, and raped him. The state called it “not proven” and took no action, even though both men confirmed key details.

Key Takeaway: Over 600 sexual abuse reports are filed each year, and LGBTI people face the greatest danger, yet the state fails to protect them.

Weapons and Drugs Are Everywhere

Banned items flood Georgia prisons. From November 2021 through August 2023, the state found:

• 27,425 weapons
• 12,483 cellphones
• 2,016 illegal drug items
• 262 drone sightings (drones drop items over fences)
• 346 items thrown over fences

These are just the items that were caught. The real amount is likely much higher.

Staff are part of the problem. In the past six years, hundreds of prison workers have been arrested for crimes tied to the prisons. Most arrests were for smuggling banned items inside. In February 2023, the warden of Smith State Prison was arrested for his role in a drug-smuggling ring led by a person locked up at the same prison.

Banned cellphones let people inside prisons plan crimes outside. In one case, a person used a smuggled phone from prison to order a drive-by shooting near homes and a store in Marietta, Georgia.

Key Takeaway: Over 27,000 weapons and 12,000 cellphones were found in less than two years, and hundreds of staff have been arrested for smuggling.

Broken Locks, Broken Buildings

Georgia’s prisons are old and falling apart. The average prison is over 30 years old. The state’s own leader has said they are reaching “end of life.”

The worst problem? Locks don’t work. People inside can pop open their cell doors and walk out any time. One warden told the DOJ that door locks at his prison are “frequently popped.” A captain at the same prison said people pop their cell locks “all the time.”

When locks break, the state uses padlocks on cell doors. This breaks fire safety rules and puts people at risk if there’s an emergency.

At one prison, the DOJ expert found that about 67% of people were not in the cells the state said they lived in. The state didn’t even know where people were sleeping. This means the system meant to track who lives where is useless.

Key Takeaway: Cell locks don’t work, buildings are falling apart, and the state often doesn’t know where people are housed.

Violence Goes Without Review

When violence happens, Georgia almost never looks into it. The DOJ found:

• Less than 10% of fights were sent for review
• Less than 23% of assaults were sent for review
• Less than 12% of cases with serious injuries were sent for review
• Less than 6% of cases where a weapon was used were sent for review

That means: if someone is attacked with a weapon, there is a 94% chance no one will look into it.

The state even hides deaths. Some killings are listed as “unknown” cause of death for months or even years. The state does not do after-action reviews to find out what went wrong and how to stop it from happening again.

When no one is held to account, nothing changes. Violence keeps happening.

Key Takeaway: Over 90% of fights and over 94% of weapon attacks are never formally reviewed.

Victims Get Punished, Not Protected

When someone is hurt — even sexually assaulted — the state often puts the victim in lockdown, not the attacker. The DOJ found many cases where victims of sexual assault or other violence were placed in solitary units.

In these units, people are locked in a cell for 22 hours or more per day. The conditions are harsh. This punishes the person who was already harmed.

Some victims spend months in these units. This sends a clear message: if you report what happened to you, you will suffer for it. It’s no wonder people are afraid to speak up.

Even in these locked units, people are not safe. Killings and serious attacks happen there too, because there aren’t enough staff to do the required checks every 30 minutes.

Key Takeaway: Victims of violence and sexual assault are often punished with solitary lockdown instead of being protected.

What Happens Next?

The DOJ sent this report to Georgia as a legal notice. Under federal law (called CRIPA), the state now has a chance to work with the DOJ to fix these problems. If Georgia refuses, the DOJ can take the state to court.

The report lays out steps the state must take. These include:

• Hiring enough guards to keep people safe
• Fixing or replacing broken locks and buildings
• Creating real systems to track and manage gang activity
• Doing real reviews when violence happens
• Protecting LGBTI people with better screening and housing choices
• Stopping the punishment of victims

Families and the public should watch closely. Georgia has known about these dangers for decades. The DOJ’s findings make clear that the state cannot keep ignoring them.

GPS will keep tracking this case. We will share updates as they happen.

Key Takeaway: The DOJ has told Georgia to fix these problems or face a federal lawsuit.

Glossary

• DOJ (Department of Justice): The top law agency in the U.S. government. It can look into civil rights abuses in state prisons.
• GDC (Georgia Department of Corrections): The state agency that runs Georgia’s prisons.
• Eighth Amendment: Part of the U.S. Constitution that bans cruel and unusual punishment. It requires the state to keep people in prison safe.
• CRIPA (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act): A federal law that lets the DOJ look into conditions in state-run places like prisons.
• PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act): A federal law that says prisons must have zero tolerance for sexual abuse.
• LGBTI: Stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex. Used here to include all gender and sexual identities.
• Close security: The highest regular security level. These people need a guard watching them at all times.
• Medium security: The largest group of people in Georgia prisons. They have fewer restrictions but still need constant watching.
• Security Threat Group (STG): The official term for gangs and organized groups inside prisons.
• Segregation (solitary): Being locked in a cell for 22 hours or more per day, away from other people.
• Vacancy rate: The share of guard jobs that have no one in them.
• Contraband: Banned items like weapons, drugs, and cellphones.
• OPS (Office of Professional Standards): GDC’s team that is supposed to review serious incidents.
• Shakedown: A large, planned search of a prison area for banned items.
• Deliberate indifference: A legal term meaning officials knew people were in danger and chose not to act.

Read the Source Document

This explainer is based on the DOJ’s full findings report: Findings Report on the Investigation of Georgia Department of Corrections — Conditions in Medium- and Close-Security Prisons.

Read the full report (PDF) →

Other Versions

We created different versions of this explainer for different audiences:

• Version for Lawmakers →
• Version for Media →