TL;DR
Georgia’s Parole Board let fewer people out of prison in 2024 than any year in recent history. Only 5,443 people were paroled — down 42% from five years ago. People with life sentences now serve an average of 29.2 years before release. Out of 2,046 life sentence cases reviewed, only 67 people with serious violent charges were granted parole. That’s about 3 out of every 100. Meanwhile, the state could save $343 million a year by using parole instead of prison.
Why This Matters
If your loved one is in a Georgia prison, their chances of getting parole are shrinking. The Board is letting fewer people out each year. Even when people do everything right inside — finish programs, stay out of trouble — the gate keeps getting harder to reach.
For families, this means more years apart. More collect calls. More missed birthdays. More money spent on visits and commissary. And for people inside, it means growing old in prison with less and less hope of coming home.
The state says it saves over $343 million a year through parole. It costs $68.51 a day to keep someone locked up. It costs just $2.89 a day to watch over them on parole. Every person denied parole costs taxpayers more money — and costs families more pain.
Key Takeaway: Parole releases have dropped 42% in five years, meaning thousands more people are stuck in prison longer.
Parole Releases Keep Dropping
The Parole Board released 5,443 people from prison in fiscal year 2024. That’s 420 fewer than the year before.
Here’s the trend over the past six years:
- FY19: 9,455 released
- FY20: 10,429 released
- FY21: 8,634 released
- FY22: 6,245 released
- FY23: 5,863 released
- FY24: 5,443 released
That’s a 42% drop in just five years. Meanwhile, the prison population stayed about the same — around 50,000 people. The Board is simply saying “no” more often.
Key Takeaway: The Board released 4,000 fewer people in FY24 than it did in FY19, even though prison numbers stayed about the same.
People With Life Sentences Face Near-Impossible Odds
People serving life sentences in Georgia now spend an average of 29.2 years in prison before release. That number has tripled since 1973, when the average was less than 9 years.
Here’s how it changed over time:
- 1973: Less than 9 years
- 2000: More than 15 years
- 2010: Nearly 20 years
- 2024: 29.2 years
In FY24, the Board looked at 2,046 life sentence cases. Only 67 people with serious violent charges were granted parole. That’s about 3 out of every 100.
Law changes made it much harder to get parole for serious crimes. Before 1995, people were eligible after 7 years. From 1995 to 2006, the wait was 14 years. After June 30, 2006, people must wait 30 years before they can even be considered.
For families, this means life with parole has become almost the same as life without parole.
Key Takeaway: Only about 3 out of every 100 people serving life sentences for serious violent charges were granted parole in FY24.
Parole Works — The Numbers Prove It
Georgia says 72% of people on parole finish it without being sent back to prison. The national average is about 60%. Georgia beats the national average by a wide margin.
Also, less than 1% of people sent back to prison from parole were sent back for small rule breaks. These are things like missed curfews, drug use, or not paying fines. Almost all people who were sent back had more serious issues.
In FY24, 1,437 people had their parole taken away. That’s down from 2,720 in FY19 — a 47% drop.
These numbers show that the Board picks people who are likely to succeed. So why is it granting parole to fewer and fewer of them?
Key Takeaway: 72% of people on parole finish it well, which is far above the national average of about 60%.
The Cost of Keeping People Locked Up
It costs Georgia $68.51 per day to keep one person in prison. Watching over someone on parole costs just $2.89 per day. That’s a difference of $65.62 every single day.
As of June 30, 2024, there were 15,105 people on parole. The state says this saved more than $343 million in one year.
But think about it this way: with 4,000 fewer people paroled each year compared to FY19, the state is spending far more to keep those people locked up. Every denied parole costs money — and families pay the price too.
Key Takeaway: Parole costs $2.89 per day versus $68.51 per day for prison — the state saves $343 million a year through parole.
How the Parole Process Works
In Georgia, most people in prison are eligible to be considered for parole. But being eligible doesn’t mean you’ll get it.
Here’s what happens:
- The file is started. Staff review the person’s case and request background checks. In FY24, 16,972 cases were started.
- Staff score the case. They use a rating system that looks at the crime and the person’s history. This gives the Board a suggested time to serve.
- The Board votes. Each of the five Board members reviews the file alone. Three of five must agree to grant parole.
- A future date may be set. If parole is granted, the person gets a Tentative Parole Month (TPM). This is NOT a release date. It can be taken away at any time.
- A final review happens. As the TPM gets close, staff check if there’s any reason to delay or cancel release.
The Board looked at 19,328 cases in FY24. The five Board members made 69,375 total votes. That’s because each case may need several votes.
There are no parole hearings in Georgia. People in prison do not get to speak to the Board. Staff interview them, and the Board reads the file.
Key Takeaway: There are no parole hearings in Georgia — the Board reads files and votes without speaking directly to the person in prison.
Earned Credits Don’t Always Help
Georgia has a program called Performance Incentive Credits (PIC). People in prison can earn credits by finishing school programs, job training, and treatment. Each credit can move their parole date up by one month.
In FY24, the Board granted 29,962 PIC points to people who earned them. But overall releases still went down. This means even when people do the hard work to earn early release, the Board may not let them out.
The Board also put 2,404 extra conditions on people before they could be released. These are things people must finish before they can go home, even after parole is granted.
Key Takeaway: People earned nearly 30,000 credit points in FY24, but total releases still dropped.
A Tiny Agency Making Huge Decisions
The entire Parole Board agency has just 179 workers. Five Board members make all the parole decisions for a prison system of about 50,000 people.
In 1973, the Board was expanded to five members when the prison population was 9,000. Today the prison population is over five times larger. The Board still has just five members.
The agency’s total budget for FY24 was $20,441,436. About 87% of that — $17,602,670.30 — went to staff pay. Only 57 investigators handle all the case research.
Key Takeaway: Five Board members make parole decisions for about 50,000 people in prison — the same number as when the population was 9,000.
Pardons and Sentence Cuts
The Board also handles pardons and sentence reductions.
Pardons: In FY24, the Board received 845 pardon applications. It granted 446. A pardon is a form of forgiveness. It does NOT erase the crime from your record.
The pardon process is now fully online. You no longer have to print and mail a paper form.
Sentence cuts (commutations): Under a law called SB174, the Board looked at 761 cases for a sentence cut. Only 9 were approved. That’s about 1 out of every 85 cases.
For families hoping a commutation could bring their loved one home sooner, the odds are very low.
Key Takeaway: Only 9 out of 761 cases were approved for sentence cuts in FY24.
What About Victims?
The Board runs a victim services office. In FY24, the office handled 13,189 phone calls from or to crime victims. It sent out 29,665 letters to victims.
The Board held 9 Victim Impact Sessions across the state. These are in-person meetings where victims talk to Board members. Since the program started in April 2022, about 300 victims have met with the Board.
Victims can also sign up for alerts about their case through a system called GA-V.I.P. In FY24, 3,078 new victims signed up.
Victim input goes into the case file. The Board reads it when making parole decisions.
Key Takeaway: Victim input is part of the parole file — the Board held 9 in-person sessions with victims in FY24.
Glossary
- Parole: When someone is let out of prison early to serve the rest of their sentence in the community, under rules and watch.
- Tentative Parole Month (TPM): A possible future release date. It is NOT a sure thing. It can be taken away at any time.
- Parole Decision Guidelines Rating System: A scoring tool the Board uses. It looks at how serious the crime was and how likely the person is to commit a new crime.
- Performance Incentive Credit (PIC): Credits earned by finishing programs in prison. Each point can move your parole date up by one month.
- Commutation: When a sentence is reduced. Under SB174, a parole sentence can be cut to time served.
- Pardon: A form of official forgiveness. It does NOT erase the crime from your record.
- Seven Deadly Sins: Seven serious violent crimes with the strictest parole rules: murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and aggravated sexual battery.
- Revocation: When parole is taken away and the person is sent back to prison.
- Technical Violation: A minor rule break on parole, like a missed curfew or failed drug test. NOT a new crime.
- GPEDS: The Board’s electronic system for managing case files and votes.
- GA-V.I.P.: A phone system that lets crime victims check on their offender’s status 24 hours a day.
- Final Review: A last check on someone’s case before they are released on parole.
- Interstate Compact: An agreement between all 50 states that lets people on parole be watched in a different state.
- Clemency: The power to grant parole, pardons, and sentence changes. In Georgia, only the Parole Board has this power.
Read the Source Document
Read the full Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles Annual Report FY 2024 (PDF)