# Separate the Gangs. It Costs Nothing. Georgia Keeps Choosing the Bodies. > A sixth statewide lockdown began after deadly gang violence at Ware State Prison. Georgia Prisoners' Speak has demanded gang separation for fifteen months — a reform that costs almost nothing and that Texas, Arizona, and California proved cuts violence. Georgia keeps choosing the body count instead. **Published**: 2026-05-22 **Source**: https://gps.press/separate-the-gangs-it-costs-nothing/ **Author**: Justice Reed --- On Thursday, May 21, 2026, gang violence tore through Georgia's prisons again. At Ware State Prison, people inside report at least two men dead, another left on life support, and a stabbing that happened after the facility was already locked down. [GPS source reports from Ware State Prison — deaths not yet confirmed by GDC](https://gps.press/submit-a-report/) Nine people were hospitalized at Dooly. Six at Central. A man was reportedly killed and another hospitalized in the D2 unit at Augusta State Medical Prison. At Washington State Prison — locked down without interruption since four men were murdered there on January 11 — another man was stabbed inside the lockdown. By nightfall, the Georgia Department of Corrections had reached for the only tool it trusts: it placed every state prison in Georgia on lockdown, with visitation cut off at Washington, Ware, and Hancock. [WGXA report on the Dooly fight and statewide lockdown](https://wgxa.tv/news/local/gdc-9-hurt-after-gang-related-fight-at-dooly-state-prison-prompting-statewide-lockdown-georgia-department-of-corrections-prison-crime-violence-no-visitation-at-washington-ware-and-hancock-state-prisons) [13WMAZ report on all GDC facilities placed on lockdown](https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/all-georgia-department-corrections-facilities-lockdown-after-altercation-dooly-state-prison/93-a99a249b-5d48-4087-a2a4-6eb2c28d2fc5) And it did not stay in one place. The same afternoon, two more men were hurt at Hancock — one airlifted out — and by nightfall the Department had locked down not one prison but every prison in the state. That is the tell. A fight at Ware became a crisis at Augusta, Dooly, Central, and Hancock on the same day for one reason: the same gangs are packed into every facility in Georgia, already on both sides of every fence. Spread the gangs everywhere, and the violence travels just as fast — which is exactly why the only thing that would contain it is keeping them apart. A statewide lockdown is not a strategy. It is a confession. It says the state cannot tell you who is safe in which dorm, so it will punish everyone — the victims, the witnesses, the men three weeks from release — by sealing them in their cells until the bodies stop. And then it will lift the lockdown, change nothing, and wait for the next one. There is a way to stop this. We have published it, in detail, five times. It is not complicated, it is not radical, and — this is the part that should end every excuse the GDC has ever offered —***it costs nothing.*** ## We Told Them. With Names. With Dates. This is not hindsight. Georgia Prisoners' Speak has demanded gang separation, in writing, for fifteen months. In February 2025, in [A Simple Message for the GDC](https://gps.press/a-simple-message-for-the-gdc/), we laid out nine reforms to stop the killing. Reform number one was a single sentence: separate rival gangs from each other, and never house civilians where gangs can extort, assault, or recruit them. Reform number six told the state to classify violent men by their behavior — not a broken algorithm — and hold them in Close Security until they earn their way out. [Georgia Prisoners Speak — A Simple Message for the GDC](https://gps.press/a-simple-message-for-the-gdc/) In November 2025, in [The Classification Crisis](https://gps.press/the-classification-crisis-how-four-medium-security-prisons-are-killing-people/), we named the four prisons where the state's refusal was getting people killed: Wilcox, Calhoun, Dooly, and Washington — four "medium security" facilities the GDC had quietly packed with close-security men, between 27.7% and 29.7% of each population, when comparable medium prisons hold zero to three percent. We showed those four facilities carried four to five times the homicide rate of properly classified prisons. [Georgia Prisoners Speak — The Classification Crisis](https://gps.press/the-classification-crisis-how-four-medium-security-prisons-are-killing-people/) [Georgia Prison Security Levels Data obtained via open records request](https://gps.press/georgia-prison-security-levels-2025/) In January 2026, after the Washington massacre, [Separate the Gangs or Keep Burying the Dead](https://gps.press/separate-the-gangs-or-keep-burying-the-dead/) put the choice in the headline. In March 2026, [315 Gangs, Zero Strategy](https://gps.press/315-gangs-zero-strategy-how-georgia-abandoned-its-prisons-while-other-states-found-solutions/) laid out exactly how Texas, Arizona, and California fixed this. In April 2026, [Blood on Blood](https://gps.press/blood-on-blood-georgia-statewide-prison-lockdown/) documented the last statewide lockdown — the one before this one. Five articles. The same demand. The GDC did the opposite, every time. Yesterday's statewide lockdown is the answer to the question we have been asking since February of last year. ## Twelve Bodies — and Twenty-One the State Won't Explain The four prisons we named in November have kept killing. In the last twelve months, Wilcox, Calhoun, Dooly, and Washington recorded 37 deaths. At least 12 were homicides — seven at Washington, three at Wilcox, one at Dooly, one at Calhoun. But that number is a floor, not a count, because the GDC stopped publicly reporting cause of death in March 2024. Twenty-one of those 37 deaths sit in a column the state simply labels "unknown." [Georgia Prisoners Speak Mortality Database](https://gps.press/gdc-mortality-statistics/) The "unknowns" are not mysteries to the men who live there. At Wilcox in March, a man was found dead in a segregation cell the same day an inspection team and an audit team had both walked the building. At Washington in February, two men reportedly killed each other in the hole — where, exactly, were the officers? These are the deaths the state cannot categorize because categorizing them would mean admitting how they happened. Washington alone illustrates the pattern. Four men died there on January 11 — including Jimmy Trammell, who had seventy-two hours left on a ten-year sentence, killed in a prison running five officers across sixty-nine posts. A fifth, Silas Westbrook, was stabbed in that riot and died of his wounds days later after he was transferred away. The facility has been locked down ever since. Yesterday, locked down for more than four months, it produced another stabbing. Lockdown is not safety. It is a held breath. ## The Reform That Costs Zero Dollars Here is what makes the GDC's inaction indefensible: **separating the gangs does not require a single new dollar.** Step one costs nothing at all. Rival sets and unaffiliated "civilians" can be separated into different dorms inside the same prison today. That is not construction. That is not hiring. It is a housing assignment — names moved on a roster, a decision the GDC's own classification officers are already paid to make. The only reason gangs decide who sleeps where is that the state has stopped doing it. [US Department of Justice Investigation of Georgia Prisons October 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf) Step two costs almost nothing. Moving rival factions to different facilities requires transportation — and the GDC already runs that operation every single week. Each of Georgia's 34 state prisons sends a bus to the Jackson diagnostic center roughly twice a week; at about thirty people per bus, that is well over two thousand transfers every week, which makes "close to a thousand" a deliberately conservative way to describe a machine already in motion. [GPS calculation based on GDC facility operations across the state's 34 prisons](https://gps.press/facilities-data/) Folding gang separation into transfers the state is already paying for adds no new line to the budget. It is a matter of which names go on the bus, not whether the bus runs. And the payoff goes far beyond fewer funerals. Once rival factions are no longer concentrated in the same dorms, each prison can finally be staffed to its real risk instead of pretending a powder keg is a medium-security camp. You stop demanding close-security control from a building that was never staffed for it. And once the violence drops, there is — for the first time — room for the thing prisons are supposed to do. You cannot run education, work details, or treatment in a dorm a gang controls. Lower the temperature, and rehabilitation becomes possible instead of theoretical. Separation is not just the cheapest way to stop the dying. It is the only door to everything the system claims to want. Set that against what Georgia did spend. In January 2025, Governor Kemp proposed $600 million for the prisons — for locks, hardened beds, modular units, a five-person "Tiger Team," and a new 3,000-bed facility behind Washington State Prison. As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted, the plan addressed some of the DOJ's concerns — staffing and crumbling facilities — but not the management of gang members. [AJC Georgia prisons are in crisis say consultants hired by Gov Kemp](https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/georgia-prisons-in-crisis-say-consultants-hired-by-governor/5P6BELWL4ZE7LK2BKWP3QT6Y2E/) [Office of Governor Brian Kemp corrections assessment recommendations January 2025](https://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2025-01-07/gov-kemp-unveils-recommendations-system-wide-corrections-system) The state found $600 million for everything except the one fix that costs zero. That is not a budget problem. That is a choice. ## Other States Solved This. Georgia's Violence Dwarfs Theirs. Georgia has identified 315 gangs inside its prisons and validated roughly 15,200 people — about 31% of everyone it incarcerates — as gang-affiliated, more than double the national rate of about 13%. [National Institute of Justice Using Restrictive Housing to Manage Gangs](https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/using-restrictive-housing-manage-gangs-us-prisons) Yet it has no separation housing policy, no exit program, and no plan for keeping rival factions apart. Its own classification rules do not even treat gang affiliation as a primary factor in where a man sleeps. [GDC Standard Operating Procedures 220.02 and 220.03](https://public.powerdms.com/GADOC/documents/105818) The result is a homicide rate the U.S. Department of Justice put at nearly eight times the national average. [US Department of Justice Investigation of Georgia Prisons October 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf) Georgia is not facing a problem no one has cracked. It is the worst performer at a problem other states cracked decades ago. > Gangs "control housing units, directing where other incarcerated people sleep." — U.S. Department of Justice, 2024 Texas faced the same crisis in the late 1980s. It built a strategy on three pillars: separation, real consequences, and a structured way out. Confirmed members of recognized Security Threat Groups are separated as a matter of status; continued affiliation costs visits, programs, work, and parole standing; and the GRAD renouncement program offers a documented path out. Researchers found that the wholesale separation of confirmed affiliates produced major drops in both homicides and assaults across the system. [Texas Department of Criminal Justice Security Threat Group materials](https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/cid/STGMO_FAQ_Pamphlet_English.pdf) [Corrections1 Gang suppression and institutional control](https://www.corrections1.com/prison-gangs/articles/gang-suppression-and-institutional-control-zrwUPhjCTc7DObFU/) Arizona produced the strongest evidence of all. A National Institute of Justice-funded evaluation by Arizona State University found that dedicated separation drove assaults, drug violations, threats, fighting, and rioting down by more than 50%, alongside a 30% system-wide drop in rule violations — an estimated 22,000 violations prevented. [Arizona State University and NIJ Security Threat Group Program Evaluation](https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/197045.pdf) California shows the line we must not cross — and the reform that works. For years it warehoused men in indefinite solitary at Pelican Bay based on affiliation alone. It was cruel and it failed. The 2015 Ashker settlement replaced it with behavior-based placement and a step-down program; the state released more than 900 men from isolation and its own analysts found no resulting rise in gang activity. [Center for Constitutional Rights Ashker v Governor of California settlement summary](https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/08/2015-09-01-Ashker-settlement-summary.pdf) [Solitary Watch on California releasing gang affiliates from solitary](https://solitarywatch.org/2016/02/29/after-california-releases-gang-affiliates-from-solitary-confinement-costs-and-violence-levels-drop/) The lesson from all three is the same one we have argued from the start: separation works when it is paired with a real path out, not when it is warehousing. [National Institute of Justice Restrictive Housing in the US](https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250319.pdf) Georgia has neither the separation nor the path. It has the lockdown — and the bodies. ## A Choice, Not a Constraint The GDC cannot say it didn't know. The DOJ told it, in a federal civil-rights finding, that gangs are effectively running the facilities and that men sleep where gangs — not officers — assign them. [US Department of Justice Investigation of Georgia Prisons October 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf) The Governor's own consultants told it the same. We told it five times. Texas, Arizona, and California showed it the way and showed it the results. Georgia does not lack the information. It does not lack the examples. It does not even lack the money — because the first step is free and the second runs on buses already rolling. What it lacks is the will to stop a problem it has decided to manage with body bags and bulletins. The gangs did not seize Georgia's prisons. The state handed them over — and every statewide lockdown is the receipt. Separate the gangs. It costs nothing. Or keep counting the dead. --- ## Call to Action: What You Can Do Awareness without action changes nothing. Here's how you can help push for accountability and real reform: **Join the GPS Advocacy Network** — Sign up at [https://gps.press/become-an-advocate/](https://gps.press/become-an-advocate/) and we'll advocate on your behalf every week. GPS identifies your state legislators, crafts personalized letters on the most pressing prison issues, and sends them directly to the representatives who represent you. You receive a copy of every letter. It takes two minutes to sign up — we handle the rest. **Tell My Story** — Are you or a loved one affected by Georgia's prison system? GPS publishes first-person accounts from incarcerated people and their families. Submit your story at [https://gps.press/category/tellmystory/](https://gps.press/category/tellmystory/) and help the world understand what's really happening behind the walls. **Contact Your Representatives** — Your state legislators control GDC's budget, oversight, and the laws that created these failures. Find your Georgia legislators at [https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/](https://gps.press/find-your-legislator/) or call Governor Kemp at (404) 656-1776 or the GDC Commissioner at (478) 992-5246. **Demand Media Coverage** — Contact newsrooms at the AJC, local TV stations, and national criminal justice outlets. More coverage means more pressure. **Amplify on Social Media** — Share this article and tag @GovKemp, @GDC_Georgia, and your local representatives. Use #GAPrisons, #PrisonReform, #GeorgiaPrisonerSpeak. **File Public Records Requests** — Georgia's Open Records Act gives every citizen the right to request incident reports, death records, staffing data, medical logs, and financial documents at [https://georgiadcor.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/SupportHome.aspx.](https://georgiadcor.govqa.us/WEBAPP/_rs/SupportHome.aspx.) **Attend Public Meetings** — The Georgia Board of Corrections and legislative committees hold public meetings. Your presence is noticed. **Contact the Department of Justice** — File civil rights complaints at [https://civilrights.justice.gov.](https://civilrights.justice.gov.) Federal oversight has forced abusive systems to change before. **Support Organizations Doing This Work** — Donate to or volunteer with Georgia-based prison reform groups fighting for change on the ground. **Vote** — Research candidates' positions on criminal justice. Primary elections often determine outcomes in Georgia. **Contact GPS** — If you have information about conditions inside Georgia's prisons, reach us securely at GPS.press. --- ## Further Reading **[A Simple Message for the GDC](https://gps.press/a-simple-message-for-the-gdc/)** *GPS's nine immediate reforms to stop the killing — beginning with gang separation.* **[The Classification Crisis: How Four Medium Security Prisons are Killing People](https://gps.press/the-classification-crisis-how-four-medium-security-prisons-are-killing-people/)** *How the GDC packed four "medium security" prisons with close-security men and quadrupled their homicide rate.* **[Separate the Gangs or Keep Burying the Dead](https://gps.press/separate-the-gangs-or-keep-burying-the-dead/)** *The original investigation into Georgia's refusal to separate rival gangs.* **[315 Gangs, Zero Strategy: How Georgia Abandoned Its Prisons While Other States Found Solutions](https://gps.press/315-gangs-zero-strategy-how-georgia-abandoned-its-prisons-while-other-states-found-solutions/)** *The full evidence from Texas, Arizona, and California — and the strategy Georgia still refuses to adopt.* **[The Hidden Violence in Georgia's Prisons: Beyond the Death Toll](https://gps.press/the-hidden-violence-in-georgias-prisons-beyond-the-death-toll/)** *The thousands of non-fatal stabbings and slashings the state never counts.* --- ## GPS Intelligence System The GPS Intelligence System maintains living research profiles that aggregate data, news, settlements, and analysis on Georgia's prisons and the issues defining them. The profiles below provide deeper context for the issues raised in this article: **[Violence and Safety](https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/violence/)** *A living profile tracking violent incidents, homicides, and gang activity across Georgia's prison system.* **[Staffing Crisis](https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/staffing-crisis/)** *The correctional-officer collapse that created the vacuum gangs filled.* --- ## Explore the Data GPS makes GDC statistics accessible to the public through several resources: - **[GPS Statistics Portal](https://gps.press/gdc-statistics/)** — Interactive dashboards translating complex GDC reports into accessible formats, updated within days of official releases. - **[GPS Lighthouse AI](https://gps.press/ask-ai/)** — Ask questions about Georgia's prison system and get answers drawn from GPS's investigative archive and data analysis. - **[GPS llms.txt](https://gps.press/llms.txt)** — A single machine-readable index of every GPS data resource, published using the open llms.txt standard. Point any AI tool (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity) at this URL and the model can navigate to facility profiles, intelligence briefs, mortality records, statistics, and the full investigative archive — no other configuration needed. It is the fastest way to ground an AI conversation in verified GPS data. For a walkthrough of how to put these resources to work with AI, see **[How to Use GPS Data with AI Tools](https://gps.press/how-to-use-gps-data-with-ai-tools/)** — a step-by-step guide for researchers, advocates, families, and journalists analyzing Georgia prison conditions, statistics, and policy with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Contact GPS at media@gps.press for access to underlying datasets used in this analysis. --- ## About Georgia Prisoners' Speak (GPS) Georgia Prisoners' Speak (GPS) is a nonprofit investigative newsroom built in partnership with incarcerated reporters, families, advocates, and data analysts. Operating independently from the Georgia Department of Corrections, GPS documents the truth the state refuses to acknowledge: extreme violence, fatal medical neglect, gang-controlled dorms, collapsed staffing, fraudulent reporting practices, and unconstitutional conditions across Georgia's prisons. Through confidential reporting channels, secure communication, evidence verification, public-records requests, legislative research, and professional investigative standards, GPS provides the transparency the system lacks. Our mission is to expose abuses, protect incarcerated people, support families, and push Georgia toward meaningful reform based on human rights, evidence, and public accountability. Every article is part of a larger fight — to end the silence, reveal the truth, and demand justice. ![GPS Footer](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GPS-Ad2.jpg) ---