Advocacy & Action

Advocate Explainers

Research and data translated into advocacy-ready language with specific talking points, sample messaging, and action steps you can take right now to push for change.

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The Research Is Clear: Evidence-Based Prison Programs Work — And Georgia Isn't Using Them

Decades of research prove prison programs work — CBT cuts recidivism 20-30%, education cuts it 43%, and every $1 invested saves $5. Georgia must act on the evidence.

Prosecutor Accountability in Georgia: The Enforcement Gap — An Advocacy Toolkit

Only 0.66% of complaints against Georgia attorneys result in public discipline, and the State Bar doesn't even track prosecutor complaints separately. This toolkit shows advocates how to use the data.

The $40 Billion Trap: How Truth in Sentencing Cost Georgia 500 Times What It Received — and What Advocates Can Do About It

Georgia accepted $82.2M in federal TIS grants and took on $40–50 billion in costs. Academic consensus: near-zero crime reduction. Here's how advocates can use this research.

Georgia Is Building America's First Centralized Prison Surveillance System — Here's How Advocates Can Respond

Georgia is building America's first centralized prison surveillance system — over $150M in technology watching 35 prisons from one command center. Here's how advocates can respond.

Brown v. Plata: The Legal Blueprint Advocates Need to Challenge Prison Overcrowding in Georgia

Brown v. Plata provides the legal blueprint for challenging unconstitutional prison overcrowding. This advocacy guide shows how to use its precedent to fight for Georgia prison reform.

Innocent People in Georgia Prisons: An Advocacy Toolkit on the Scope and Scale of Wrongful Conviction

An estimated 2,500 innocent people are imprisoned in Georgia. This advocacy toolkit provides data-backed talking points, key quotes, and strategic guidance for using wrongful conviction research in legislative testimony, media, and coalition building.

Broken by Design: How Georgia's Classification Failures Are Killing People in Prison

Georgia's broken classification system is placing people in the wrong facilities — and people are dying. 142 homicides between 2018-2023. Here's how advocates can use this research.

Prison Healthcare Is a Death Sentence: How Privatization, Cost-Cutting, and Legal Barriers Are Killing People Behind Bars

Private prison healthcare contractors produce death rates 18-58% higher than government facilities. This GPS analysis arms advocates with the data to fight back.

Lead Poisoning Drove America's Crime Epidemic — and the State Punished the Victims: An Advocacy Guide

The government poisoned children with lead for decades, then imprisoned them for the neurological consequences. This advocacy guide turns the lead-crime evidence into tools for reform.

DOJ Finds Georgia Prisons Violate the Constitution: An Advocacy Guide to the Federal Investigation

The DOJ found Georgia violates the Eighth Amendment. 142 people killed, 50%+ officer vacancies, over 27,000 weapons recovered. Here's how advocates can use this landmark report.

DOJ Finds Georgia Prisons Violate the Constitution: An Advocacy Guide to the Federal Investigation

The DOJ found Georgia prisons violate the Constitution. 142 people killed in six years, 50%+ staff vacancy rates, and zero compliant sexual abuse investigations. Here's how advocates can use this landmark report.

Guthrie v. Evans: How Georgia Dismantled 13 Years of Court-Ordered Prison Reform — and Why Advocates Must Learn This History

Guthrie v. Evans produced 13 years of federal court oversight at Georgia State Prison. The PLRA let the state dismantle every protection. The same violations persist today.

Prison Mentorship Programs That Work: A Research-Backed Toolkit for Advocates Demanding Real Rehabilitation in Georgia

GPS research reveals proven rehabilitation models achieving under 4% recidivism and 85% employment — while Georgia limits people to 200 hours of programming and 2,344 reentry beds.

A 10-Year Officer's Testimony Exposes Georgia's Prison Collapse: How Advocates Can Use the Ryals Quote Bank

A 10-year GDC officer's corroborated testimony documents one death per day since 2020, 1,340% homicide increase, and single officers responsible for 1,250 people. Here's how to use it.

The Sleeping Giants: Two Georgia Statutes That Could Unlock Post-Conviction Justice — Advocate Explainer

Two existing Georgia statutes could transform post-conviction justice if the legislature enforces them. This advocate explainer provides talking points, key quotes, and strategic guidance for the reform campaign.

Legal Access in Georgia Prisons: A Strategic Advocacy Guide for the Georgia Post-Conviction Justice Act

Georgia provides zero trained legal assistance to people in prison and fails to maintain even its inadequate law libraries. This advocacy guide equips organizers with the data and strategy to pass the Georgia Post-Conviction Justice Act.

Georgia's Habeas Corpus Deadline: The Most Rigid in the Nation — An Advocacy Toolkit

Georgia's 4-year habeas deadline has no innocence exception — making it more restrictive than the federal anti-terrorism statute. This toolkit arms advocates with data for legislative action.

The Case for Decarceration in Georgia: How Advocates Can Use This Evidence Base to Drive Reform

Georgia spent $600+ million on prisons while homicides surged from 8 to over 100. This evidence base shows advocates exactly how to make the case for a 20% population reduction.

Georgia's $600 Million Prison Spending Failure: An Advocacy Toolkit for Reform

Georgia spent $700 million more on corrections in four years. Every measurable outcome got worse. This toolkit gives advocates the data, talking points, and strategies to demand structural reform.

The Gang Crisis in Georgia's Prisons: Why the State Refuses a Proven Solution — Advocacy Guide

Georgia knows who its 15,000 gang members are — and houses them without regard to who will kill whom. Other states cut violence in half with separation. Here's how to demand Georgia act.

The Four-Year Death Sentence for Justice: How Georgia's Habeas Corpus Deadline Traps Innocent People — Advocacy Toolkit

Georgia's four-year habeas deadline breaks 830 years of legal tradition and blocks wrongful conviction relief. Every Georgia exoneration exceeded the deadline. Here's how advocates can fight back.

Staffing Crisis & Correctional Officer Turnover: How to Use This Research to Demand Change

Georgia's 52.5% correctional officer vacancy rate and 82.7% first-year attrition have driven prison homicides from 8-9 per year to 66 in 2024. Here's how advocates can use this data.

The $1.4 Billion Extraction Machine: How Two Corporations Exploit Georgia Families Through Prison Communications Monopolies

Georgia ranks third nationally in prison phone kickbacks ($8M+/year) while two corporations control 80% of the market. Six states made calls free — Georgia has done nothing.

Georgia's Survivor Justice Act: A Landmark Tool for Freeing Incarcerated Domestic Violence Survivors

Georgia's Survivor Justice Act (HB 582) is the nation's most comprehensive tool for freeing incarcerated DV survivors. This guide gives advocates the data, talking points, and strategy to act now.

The Legal System Is Designed to Fail People in Georgia Prisons — Here's How to Fight Back

Georgia has the strictest legal standard in the nation for prisoner rights claims, a DOJ-documented constitutional crisis, and a 99% failure rate for Eighth Amendment cases. Here's how advocates can fight back.

Georgia Spends $1.5 Billion Annually on a Prison System the DOJ Says Makes People Worse: An Advocacy Toolkit

Georgia spends $1.48 billion on prisons and $172,000 on vocational education. The DOJ found people 'leave prison worse than when they came in.' Here's how to use this research to demand change.

Solitary Confinement in Georgia: An Advocacy Toolkit for Ending State-Sanctioned Torture

Georgia holds people in solitary for years in conditions a federal judge called 'flagrantly' abusive. This advocacy toolkit arms you with the evidence to fight back.

Wrongful Convictions in Sexual Assault Cases: A Research-Backed Advocacy Toolkit

DNA evidence proves 11.6% to 15% of sexual assault convictions are wrongful. This advocacy toolkit provides talking points, key statistics, and strategies for reform.

From Convict Leasing to $0 Wages: Georgia's 160-Year History of Exploiting Incarcerated Labor

Georgia pays incarcerated workers $0 while generating $64M annually. This research traces a direct 160-year line from convict leasing to modern prison labor — and arms advocates to fight it.

Families as the Hidden Tax Base: How $350 Billion in Incarceration Costs Are Shifted to Families — An Advocacy Toolkit

Families pay nearly $350 billion annually to support incarcerated loved ones — almost four times what taxpayers spend on prisons. This advocacy toolkit provides the data, talking points, and strategies to fight the Family Tax.

Prison Deaths Are Being Hidden: How Data Gaps, Misclassification, and Accountability Failures Conceal a Mortality Crisis

GPS analysis reveals 5,000+ uncounted prison deaths nationally, 44 misclassified deaths in Georgia, and a federal reporting system in collapse. Here's how advocates can use this research.

Drugs in Georgia's Prisons: An Advocacy Guide to the Crisis the State Wants Hidden

GPS research documents a hidden drug crisis in Georgia prisons: overdose deaths surged 2,350%, GDC misclassified 44 deaths, and the state's own employees fuel the pipeline.

Conviction Integrity Units: How Advocates Can Push Georgia to Address Its Wrongful Conviction Crisis

Georgia has only 3 Conviction Integrity Units for 159 counties. Here's how advocates can use this research to push for statewide reform.

Prison Labor & Wage Exploitation in Georgia: An Advocacy Toolkit for Reform

Georgia pays incarcerated workers nothing while extracting hundreds of millions in labor value. This advocacy toolkit gives reform advocates the data, talking points, and strategies to demand change.

Georgia's Prison Commissary Extraction Machine: An Advocacy Guide to Fighting Exploitative Pricing

GPS investigation documents a two-tier commissary markup scheme extracting $8-15 million annually from Georgia's incarcerated families. Advocacy guide with talking points, key quotes, and strategies.

Georgia's Incarceration Crisis by the Numbers: An Advocacy Toolkit for Reform

Georgia incarcerates 53,000 people while parole grants plummet 42%. This advocacy toolkit arms reformers with data, talking points, and strategies to fight back.

Georgia's Prison Infrastructure Crisis: An Advocacy Toolkit for Reform

Georgia's own officials document a prison infrastructure catastrophe: broken locks enabling violence, facilities at double capacity, and 80% staff vacancy rates. Here's how advocates can use this evidence.

The Healthcare Crisis Killing People in Georgia Prisons: A Research-Backed Advocacy Toolkit

The DOJ calls Georgia's prison healthcare "abhorrent" and "unconstitutional." 330 people died in 2024. This toolkit gives advocates the data and strategy to demand change.

Georgia's Probation Crisis by the Numbers: An Advocacy Toolkit for the Nation's Largest Felony Probation System

Georgia operates the nation's largest felony probation system with 191,000 people under supervision — marked by 2x-8x racial disparities and fiscal waste. This toolkit arms advocates with data for reform.

Georgia's Prison Staffing Crisis by the Numbers: An Advocacy Toolkit

Nearly 50% of Georgia's corrections officer positions are vacant. The DOJ confirms this leaves people unsupervised. Here's how advocates can use this data to demand change.

Georgia's Prison Spending Surge: A $500 Million Escalation That Ignores the People Inside

Georgia's prison budget surged 44%—nearly $500 million—since FY2022, yet incarcerated people still face $5 medical co-pays, forced unpaid labor, and $10M+ in annual fee extraction.

Georgia Senate Committee Confirms What Advocates Have Said for Years: Prisons Are Dangerously Understaffed, Crumbling, and Failing People Inside

Georgia's own Senate study committee confirms a 47% security vacancy rate, crumbling infrastructure, and preventable deaths. Here's how advocates can use this report.