TL;DR
A Georgia Senate group studied prison conditions in 2024. They found big problems. Almost half of all guard jobs are empty. Prisons are old and falling apart. About 14,000 people in prison have mental health needs. In just nine months of 2020, 21 people were killed and 19 died by suicide in Georgia prisons. The state is not keeping people safe.
Why This Matters
If your loved one is in a Georgia prison, this report confirms what many families already know. Prisons are short-staffed, run down, and dangerous.
When almost half the guard jobs sit empty, no one is there to keep people safe. When prisons are twice as old as they should be, basic systems like water and locks break down. When 14,000 people need mental health care in a system this strained, too many go without help.
This report came from Georgia’s own Senate. The state itself is saying the system is in crisis. Families deserve to know what the state found — and what it plans to do about it.
Key Takeaway: The state’s own lawmakers found that Georgia prisons are failing to keep people safe due to staff shortages, aging buildings, and unmet health needs.
Almost Half of Guard Jobs Are Empty
Georgia prisons have a 47% vacancy rate for guard jobs. That means almost half of all funded guard spots have no one in them.
The system is funded for 7,500 guard jobs total. During COVID, the state lost about 2,000 guards. The vacancy rate hit 50% at the worst point. It has barely gotten better.
On top of that, about 2,000 more guard jobs aren’t even funded in the budget. The state simply doesn’t pay for them.
Most guards who quit leave within their first two years. The starting pay is about $44,000 a year. Training a new guard costs about $3,000 — not counting their salary. So every time someone quits, the state wastes money and the prison gets less safe.
What this means for families: Fewer guards means less safety. It means lockdowns. It means your loved one may not get to meals, programs, or medical care on time. It means no one is watching when danger comes.
Key Takeaway: The state fails to fill almost half its prison guard jobs, leaving people inside at serious risk.
People Are Dying in Georgia Prisons
From January to September 2020, 21 people were killed in Georgia prisons. During that same time, 19 people died by suicide.
From 2010 to 2014, 33 people were killed inside Georgia prisons. That rate was worse than other southern states.
The state says that overall violent events have gone down since 2015. But the attacks that do happen are more severe. They involve more weapons. They involve more people.
A large share of killings happen between people who share a cell. The committee heard that single cells reduce this violence. Smith State Prison saw less violence after it moved to one person per cell. The committee chair called single cells a “best practice.” Yet many Georgia prisons still pack two or three people into one cell.
What this means for families: People are being killed in spaces the state controls. The state knows single cells save lives but has not made the switch across the system.
Key Takeaway: People are dying in Georgia prisons from violence and suicide, and the state has not taken the steps it knows would reduce harm.
Prisons Are Falling Apart
Georgia has seven high-security prisons. Every single one is at least 30 years old.
The state’s own leader said a prison should last 15 to 20 years before it needs major updates. These prisons are well past that point.
Fixing an old prison costs money. The Autry prison update cost $70 million. But building a new prison costs far more — about $1.2 billion for a 1,500-bed facility. One new prison now being planned will cost $842 million total.
The state runs 85 total prisons. Only 49 have been reviewed and approved by an outside group. About 10 can’t get approved because the buildings are too old.
What this means for families: Old prisons mean broken locks, bad water, and failing heat and air systems. These are the places where your loved ones live every day.
Key Takeaway: Every high-security prison in Georgia is at least 30 years old — well past the point when major fixes should have been made.
14,000 People Need Mental Health Care
About 14,000 people in Georgia prisons have known mental health needs. That’s roughly 1 in every 3.5 people locked up.
The state holds about 49,000 people in its prisons as of August 2024. When someone enters the system, they get a mental health screening over 7 to 14 days. If someone is in crisis — such as thinking of harming themselves — they go through 30 to 90 days of further review.
But with guard jobs nearly half empty and prisons crumbling, it’s fair to ask: are people truly getting the care they need?
The committee called for more mental health staff and better programs. But the report did not spell out how many mental health workers the system has now, or how many it needs.
What this means for families: If your loved one struggles with mental health, the system may not have enough people or resources to help them.
Key Takeaway: About 14,000 people in Georgia prisons need mental health care, but the system is too strained to meet that need.
Health Care Costs $355 Million — But Is It Enough?
Georgia spends about $355 million a year on health care for people in prison. This covers medical, dental, and pharmacy costs for about 55,000 people each year.
Each prison gives about 70 medical visits per day. The system gives out 100,000 prescriptions per month.
Over 50% of the pharmacy budget goes to Hepatitis and HIV drugs. Many of these illnesses are found when people first enter prison. For some, it is their first time seeing a doctor in years.
Private prisons have a cap on medical costs. When care gets too pricey, the state picks up the tab.
What this means for families: The state is the only doctor your loved one can see. If care is slow, denied, or low quality, they have no other option.
Key Takeaway: The state spends $355 million on prison health care, but families should ask whether that spending reaches the people who need it.
Programs That Work Are Proven — But Are They Reaching Enough People?
The general rate for returning to prison within three years is 26%. But for people who finish job training programs, that rate drops by half.
In 2024, people in Georgia prisons earned about 45,000 career and education certificates. That same year, about 13,000 people were released while about 15,000 new people came in.
The committee heard that programs work. Job training, education, and mental health programs all help people stay out of prison after release. Yet getting documents like birth certificates and IDs remains hard. About a quarter of the prison population is from outside Georgia, making paperwork even harder.
What this means for families: If your loved one can get into a good program, their chances of coming home and staying home go up. But not everyone gets that chance.
Key Takeaway: Job training cuts the return-to-prison rate in half, but not everyone in Georgia prisons can access these programs.
The Committee’s Nine Areas of Action
The Senate committee made nine sets of suggestions. They include:
- More mental health services for people in prison and for staff
- Better hiring and pay to fill the thousands of empty guard jobs
- Updating old prisons and building new ones with single cells
- Stronger oversight of prison conditions and private prisons
- More programs for education, job training, and re-entry
- Better technology to stop drones and cell phones from entering prisons
- Review of the parole system — five board members handled 17,600 reviews in 2023
- Addressing solitary confinement practices that are the subject of lawsuits
- Improving data and transparency about what happens inside
These are just suggestions. The committee cannot force change. The full legislature and governor must act.
What this means for families: These ideas only matter if lawmakers turn them into real laws and real funding. Families should watch the 2025 session closely.
Key Takeaway: The committee made suggestions but cannot force change — it is now up to the full legislature and governor to act.
What Advocates Told the Committee
The committee heard from people who were formerly locked up and from advocacy groups.
One advocate pointed out that only 12% of people sent back to prison on parole had committed new crimes. The rest went back for technical violations — things like missing a check-in.
Another advocate questioned the parole board. Five board members handled 17,600 reviews in 2023. That’s an enormous case load. Can five people give fair reviews to that many cases?
A formerly incarcerated person told the committee about watching conditions get worse during COVID when staff left in large numbers. He also said programs helped him turn his life around after 16 years inside.
What this means for families: Your voices and the voices of those who’ve been inside matter. This committee heard them. The question is whether the state will listen.
Key Takeaway: Most people returned to prison on parole did not commit new crimes — they went back for rule violations like missed check-ins.
Glossary
- Vacancy rate: The share of funded jobs that sit empty with no one hired to fill them.
- Close security prison: A high-security prison for people the state considers most dangerous or likely to escape. Georgia has seven.
- Hardening: Making a prison stronger with better walls, locks, and technology so it’s harder to damage or escape from.
- Single cell: A cell built for one person. Studies show this reduces violence between people who share cells.
- Contraband: Items not allowed in prison, like cell phones, drugs, or weapons.
- Recidivism: When a person who was released from prison gets convicted of a new crime. Georgia measures this over three years.
- Security Threat Group (STG): The state’s term for people in prison confirmed to be in a gang.
- Parole: Being released from prison early under rules and supervision. Breaking the rules can send a person back.
- Technical violation: Breaking a parole rule (like missing a meeting) that is not a new crime.
- PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act): A federal law that requires prisons to prevent and respond to sexual assault.
- Diagnostics: The process when a person first enters prison. Includes medical checks, mental health screening, and deciding where they will be held.
- Transitional center: A facility where people live before being released, often with work programs in the community.
- ACA (American Correctional Association): An outside group that checks whether prisons meet certain standards. They review prisons every three years.
Read the Source Document
You can read the full Senate committee report here: [Link to SR 570 Final Report PDF]
This report was prepared by the Senate Office of Policy and Legislative Analysis in 2024.
Other Versions of This Explainer
- For Lawmakers: [Link to Legislator Version]
- For Media: [Link to Media Version]
Each version covers the same findings. They are written for different audiences.