The DOJ told Georgia to separate gang members. Georgia refused. Now 100+ die annually. Arizona cut violence 50% with gang segregation. After the January 2026 Washington SP massacre killed 4, Georgia’s prisons remain on lockdown—but lockdowns don’t stop gang wars. They postpone them. Separate the gangs or keep burying the dead.
Four dead. Five officers for 69 posts. Zero incident reports filed. A coroner who claims no knowledge of deaths he confirmed to media. Open records expose what Georgia tried to hide about the January 2026 Washington State Prison riot.
Georgia added $700 million to its corrections budget between FY 2022 and FY 2026—the fastest spending growth in agency history. Prison homicides rose from 8 annually to 100 in 2024. Staffing remains 50-76% vacant. The DOJ found healthcare unconstitutional. The money bought nothing.
Georgia doesn’t treat dental disease in prison.
It removes teeth.
Extraction replaces fillings. Waiting lists replace care. Commissary replaces basic supplies. And the damage follows people home long after their sentence ends.
This is healthcare as punishment.
New federal nutrition guidelines officially warn against ultra-processed foods. Georgia’s prisons still serve inadequate meals while commissaries profit from junk food sales. When will the state follow the science?
The Supreme Court’s Brown v. Plata decision forced California to release 46,000 prisoners due to unconstitutional overcrowding. With federal enforcement abandoned, Georgia families must now pursue private litigation using the same legal roadmap.
The ancient Greeks called it amathia—willful ignorance, a moral failure. Governor Kemp commissioned reports documenting Georgia’s prison crisis. One year later: staffing at a fifteen-year low, population at a fifteen-year high, and over 100 homicides. The evidence exists. Leadership refuses to see.
Mass incarceration was not a response to crime—it was a political project. From the War on Drugs to Iran–Contra, the federal government made deliberate choices that devastated communities. Georgia inherited this framework and intensified it. This is the history we must confront.
Georgia voters will choose a new Governor and Lieutenant Governor in 2026 amid a prison crisis. GPS surveyed candidates on parole reform, prison conditions, and sentencing policy. Only two candidates—Jake Olinger and Josh McLaurin—have detailed positions. Here’s what we found.
Georgia families are spending hundreds each month on commissary, phone calls, and visitation just to keep their loved ones alive. These firsthand testimonies reveal the hidden human cost of Georgia’s predatory prison economy.