Communications & Technology

The Contraband Technology Arms Race

Georgia’s fight against prison contraband has become a multi-million-dollar technology arms race. The state has committed approximately $50 million through FY2026 to deploy Managed Access Systems (MAS) at its prisons, expanding from 23 to 27 facilities with vendors Trace-Tek/ShawnTech, CellBlox/Securus, and Hawks Ear (MAS Technology, Vendors & Deployment in Georgia Prisons; Follow the Money: Georgia Prison MAS Vendors, Contracts & Financial Conflicts). An additional $17.8 million over three fiscal years fuels the GDC Overwatch and Logistic (OWL) Unit, a centralized surveillance command center leveraging drones, signal-blocking gear, and real-time monitoring (GDC Overwatch & Logistic (OWL) Unit Command Center: Technology, Surveillance & Budget Analysis).

Yet this spending has not stanched the flow of contraband. A DOJ investigation found that between November 2021 and August 2023, GDC recovered 12,483 cellphones, 27,425 weapons, 2,016 illegal drug items, and documented 262 drone sightings and 346 fence-line throw-overs (DOJ Investigation of Georgia Prisons: Violence, Safety & Constitutional Violations). The state points to a 12% increase in the proportion of violent inmates since 2012 reforms and a 31% gang affiliation rate as justification (2024 Georgia Senate Study Committee Report on Prison Conditions). But the torrent of prohibited items—and a record 333 prison deaths in 2024 (MAS Technology, Vendors & Deployment in Georgia Prisons)—suggests the technology is failing on its own terms.

Monopoly Phone Kickbacks and the Family Burden

The same communications infrastructure marketed as a security necessity doubles as a sophisticated extraction machine. GDC’s contract with Securus Technologies returns 59.6% of gross phone revenue to the department—over $8 million annually in direct kickbacks (Follow the Money: Georgia Prison MAS Vendors, Contracts & Financial Conflicts). Nationally, the prison telecom industry is a $1.4 billion behemoth, with Securus and ViaPath Technologies controlling roughly 80% of the market across some 3,450 facilities and 1.1 million incarcerated people (Prison Communications & Financial Exploitation: The Extraction Economy Behind Bars).

These commissions create a perverse incentive to keep call rates high. Families, not the state, foot the bill: direct out-of-pocket spending averages $4,200 per year for someone with a loved one inside, and 65% of such families are unable to meet basic needs because of conviction-related costs (Families as the Hidden Tax Base: How Incarceration Costs Are Shifted to Families; Economic Exploitation in Prison: Wages, Fees, and the Poverty Cycle). Nationwide, families spend $5.6 billion annually on commissary, phone calls, and other necessities, while 19 state prison systems extract welfare fund revenue directly from communication kickbacks (Georgia’s Prison Commissary Extraction Machine). Georgia is embedded in this pattern, its inmates and families captive to a captive-market duopoly.

Commissary as Predatory Extraction

Inside Georgia’s prisons, the financial exploitation extends to every basic necessity. The commissary system marks up goods from 83% to 1,150% above retail: a 3‑oz packet of Maruchan ramen costs $0.90 (vs. $0.15 in bulk at Walmart), and 20–24 tablets of generic ibuprofen sell for $4.00 (vs. $0.40–$0.48 retail) (Georgia’s Prison Commissary Extraction Machine). Shoes can run over $70 (Economic Exploitation in Prison: Wages, Fees, and the Poverty Cycle). GPS analysis estimates that on just 20 staples, the commissary extracts $3–5 million annually from families who have no other way to provide for their loved ones (Georgia’s Prison Commissary Extraction Machine).

This is not a free market; it is a forced transfer. Thirty-nine state prison systems draw revenue for inmate welfare funds from commissary purchases, and three even collect from disciplinary fines—ensuring financial pain is institutionalized (Georgia’s Prison Commissary Extraction Machine).

ALEC’s Hidden Hand: The Legislative Machine Behind Georgia’s Prison Economy

The contract ecosystem that enables these extraction and surveillance technologies does not emerge in a vacuum. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)—a corporate-funded bill mill that connects state legislators with industry lobbyists—has long been a quiet architect of prison-friendly policy. In FY2024, ALEC reported $10.9 million in total revenue, with 87.1% coming from contributions, and paid CEO Lisa B. Nelson over $507,000 (ALEC FY2024 Total Revenue; ALEC FY2024 Contributions as Percentage of Revenue; ALEC CEO Compensation FY2024). Georgia’s 2026 ALEC state chairs are Rep. John Carson and Rep. Soo Hong; Carson also sits on ALEC’s national Board of Directors, giving the organization a direct line into the state legislature (Georgia ALEC State Chairs in 2026; John Carson on ALEC National Board of Directors).

Private prison corporations, which house roughly 7,800 Georgia inmates at a cost of approximately $140 million annually—about 10 percent more per prisoner per day than state-run facilities—have been deeply embedded in ALEC’s criminal justice machinery. CoreCivic (operator of Coffee, Wheeler, and Jenkins correctional facilities) co-chaired ALEC’s Criminal Justice Task Force during the 1990s push for truth-in-sentencing and three-strikes laws, while GEO Group (operator of Riverbend) was a member of the same task force (CoreCivic Historical Role in ALEC Criminal Justice Task Force; GEO Group was a member of ALEC's crime task force during the 1990s; CoreCivic operates three Georgia facilities; GEO Group operates one Georgia facility; Georgia pays CoreCivic and GEO Group approximately $140 million annually; Georgia private prisons cost approximately 10 percent more per day than state prisons). Although both companies left ALEC during the 2011–2013 corporate exodus, the relationships and policy frameworks they helped build remain (CCA/CoreCivic left ALEC in late 2010 or 2011).

Direct evidence linking ALEC to the specific phone or commissary vendors remains a data gap; the council’s task-force membership documents do not surface names like Securus or Union Supply Group (Data gap: No direct ALEC task-force membership surfaced for most healthcare, food, and commissary firms). Yet the political environment that shields these contracts from scrutiny bears ALEC’s fingerprints. A 2019 court ruling exempts the Georgia General Assembly and communications between legislators and Legislative Counsel from open-records requests, making it nearly impossible to trace the origins of contract terms or identify outside influence (Institute for Justice v. Reilly; O.C.G.A. § 28-4-3.1). Further, ALEC’s practice of paying legislators’ travel to conferences through “scholarships” may fall outside Georgia’s lobbyist-expenditure reporting framework, insulating lawmakers’ interactions with industry representatives from public view (ALEC Scholarship Travel May Fall Outside Georgia Lobbyist Reporting). In this opaque arena, the state’s multi-million-dollar contracts for phone service, commissary supply, and contraband technology continue to generate immense revenue for private companies and the department itself, while families and incarcerated people pay the price.