Georgia’s parole board granted release to just 93 of 2,046 lifers in FY2024 — 4.5%. GPS compiled all 24 of the Board’s own annual reports: a generation ago it granted one in five. The collapse was never announced, never explained, and never published as a rate — until now.
On July 25 we sent the same eight questions on Georgia’s prison crisis to both nominees for governor. One campaign answered all eight in writing. The other has not responded. We publish the answers we received, without endorsement, and the same offer stands.
Georgia stripped its prisons of work, hope, and a future — and some people answer that emptiness not with drugs or the gang, but by going silent and disappearing while still alive. An investigation into the despair the state manufactures by policy, refuses to treat, and declines to count.
A federal judge ruled Georgia’s parole process for juvenile lifers may violate the Constitution. Janice Buttrum, imprisoned since age 17, has been denied parole five times. Not a single juvenile lifer resentenced under Supreme Court rulings has been released in Georgia.
An estimated 2,500-5,000 innocent people sit in Georgia’s prisons with every avenue of relief locked shut. GPS investigation connects three systemic failures — the habeas corpus deadline, absent conviction integrity units, and ignored Supreme Court precedent — and calls on the General Assembly to act before Crossover Day.
The Parole Packet Builder is a free tool helping Georgia families create professional parole support packets. With a 28% approval rate, complete documentation and strong support letters can make the difference between release and denial.