Three men were reported killed at Macon State Prison from October 21 to 23. GDC has acknowledged one of them, Juld Carter. A week later it locked down more than two dozen prisons, Macon among them, and described a fight at Hays where nobody died. Here’s what the state has said, and what people inside describe.
Georgia’s 2024 prison mortality report has a column headed “Cause of Death.” It is empty for all 330 people. For one month in January 2025 the state filled it in — and 41 percent of the deaths were homicides. Then the column disappeared.
Georgia spent $50 million deploying phone-blocking technology at most of Georgia’s prisons. Homicides quadrupled. At every facility where GPS confirmed activation dates, violence erupted within weeks. The crackdown isn’t stopping crime — it’s destabilizing the power structures that kept people alive.