# Three to a Cell: Georgia’s Commissioner Says Single Cells Cut the Violence. Four Prisons Do the Opposite.

> Georgia's corrections commissioner told senators single cells cut prison violence. At Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox, GDC is packing more Close security men into single-man cells that hold three, at prisons built for 500 and holding up to 1,800, and the homicide rate shows it.

**Published**: 2026-09-26
**Source**: https://gps.press/three-to-a-cell-georgias-commissioner-says-single-cells-cut-the-violence-four-prisons-do-the-opposite/
**Author**: Leo Alexander

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Marcus Walker was 20 years old when he died at Wilcox State Prison. Staff found him on January 10, 2026, in the cell he shared with another man. The state's death records list the manner of death as homicide by manual strangulation. The autopsy found that another person strangled him. The man in the cell with him was moved to lockdown.[GPS mortality database from state death records and GDC mortality reports, Wilcox State Prison](https://gps.press/facility/wilcox-state-prison/)

Wilcox is classified medium-security. The Georgia Department of Corrections' own count puts 694 of its 1,824 men at Close, the level GDC reserves for people with "assaultive criminal or institutional history" who need "constant supervision by an armed correctional officer" outside the fence.[GDC spreadsheet Active Offenders by Facility by Supervision Level Sept 23 2026 produced to GPS](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/mcp-pathimport-3e38d623fa3a.pdf) [Georgia Board of Corrections Rule 125-3-1-.02](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/125-3-1-.02) Inside the cellhouses, two men to a cell is not the arrangement. Many hold three.

Georgia's prison commissioner has said as much himself. He told state senators that single cells reduce violence. At three of the four medium-security prisons GPS has tracked for a year, the count of men classified Close security has gone up. All four house three men in cells built for one.

## The numbers GDC sent us

In November 2025, GPS reported that close to 30% of the men held at four medium-security prisons carried Close security status, while at most medium prisons the number was almost none.[GPS The Classification Crisis Nov 2025](https://gps.press/the-classification-crisis-how-four-medium-security-prisons-are-killing-people/) GDC sent GPS its current figures this September, in response to an open-records request. At three of the four, the share went up.[GDC spreadsheet Active Offenders by Facility by Supervision Level Sept 23 2026 produced to GPS](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/mcp-pathimport-3e38d623fa3a.pdf)

| Prison | Close security, Oct 2025 | Close security, Sept 2026 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Calhoun State Prison | 487 of 1,657 (29.4%) | 619 of 1,516 (40.8%) |
| Wilcox State Prison | 545 of 1,835 (29.7%) | 694 of 1,824 (38.0%) |
| Dooly State Prison | 455 of 1,590 (28.6%) | 601 of 1,701 (35.3%) |
| Washington State Prison | 418 of 1,511 (27.7%) | 241 of 980 (24.6%) |

Calhoun's population fell by 141 over the year, and its Close security count rose by 132. At Washington, the decline followed a January riot: 1,505 men that month, 1,062 by September 1.[GPS mortality database from state death records and GDC mortality reports, Washington State Prison](https://gps.press/facility/washington-state-prison/)

Georgia's medium-security prisons now hold 2,759 of the 12,295 Close security men in GDC custody, according to GDC's own count. That's more than one in five.

## Three to a cell

GDC's own website describes how these four prisons are built, and the descriptions are short. They don't leave much room for interpretation.

- **Calhoun:** "nine housing units with 24 triple-bunked cells each and 24 double-bunked cells each."[GDC Calhoun State Prison facility page](https://gdc.georgia.gov/locations/calhoun-state-prison)
- **Dooly:** "nine living units of which the bottom range are 24 triple bunked cells and the top range are doubled-bunked cells."[GDC Dooly State Prison facility page](https://gdc.georgia.gov/locations/dooly-state-prison)
- **Wilcox:** "120 per dorm in 24 double-bunked and 24 triple-bunked cells each."[GDC Wilcox State Prison facility page](https://gdc.georgia.gov/locations/wilcox-state-prison)
- **Washington:** "Eleven general population dorms with 2 and 3 man cells."[GDC Washington State Prison facility page](https://gdc.georgia.gov/locations/washington-state-prison)

Twenty-four cells hold three men, twenty-four hold two. That's 72 beds in triple cells out of 120. Three of every five cellhouse beds put a man in a cell with two others.

The state budget that paid for these prisons described each prison as "a 500-cell correctional facility (maximum operating capacity 750 inmates)."[Georgia FY1989 state budget capital outlay via Digital Library of Georgia](https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bg620-b-ps1-bb8-b1989-bfolio) That is 500 cells for a design population of 500 men, one man to a cell. Those cells weren't built for three, or for two. GPS has shown what one of them looks like with three men living in it.([Inside a Three-Man Cell](https://gps.press/end-the-warehouse/inside-a-three-man-cell/))

The Close-security prisons don't house men that way. Hancock State Prison was built to the same plan as these four, and its general population dormitories are listed "housing 96 each" in 48-cell units, two men to a cell.[GDC Hancock State Prison facility page](https://gdc.georgia.gov/locations/hancock-state-prison) Smith State Prison, another Close prison of the same design, went further.

## What the commissioner told senators

In 2024 the Senate's Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee heard from Commissioner Tyrone Oliver, and its final report records it plainly.

> The chair highlighted that single-man cells are the modern-day best practice for the health and safety of inmates. Com stated that some prisons are triple bunked. The Commissioner concurred with the chair's statement and pointed to Smith State Prison which saw reduced violence by reducing its population and transitioning to single-man cells.

The report puts the commissioner's own words on the page "highlighted a reduction of inmate-on-inmate violence due to the implementation of single-cell policies." and then, at recommendation five, asks for this: "Convert all existing facilities and construct all new facilities to single person, single cell facilities."[Senate DOC Facilities Study Committee Final Report 2024](https://web.archive.org/web/20260205110629id_/https://www.senate.ga.gov/committees/Documents/2024SenateStudyCommDOCFinalReport.pdf)

Filter reported that Oliver gave senators a different figure: half of the homicides GDC had investigated were "roommate on roommate" assaults. He was quoted on the fix. "The single bunk thing …that's the solution."[Filter Georgia prisons overcrowding and single cells](https://filtermag.org/georgia-prisons-overcrowding-single-cells/)

GDC's own count puts Smith at 1,548 men in March 2023. By September 1, 2026, the number was 1,082, below what the cells hold at two men to a cell.[GPS mortality database from state death records and GDC mortality reports, Smith State Prison](https://gps.press/facility/smith-state-prison/) Fewer men, more single cells: the commissioner credited both.

GDC's own leadership has said it: the cell is where men kill each other, and fewer men in a cell means less violence. At Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox, the Department is moving more of its most assaultive men into cells built for one and holding three.

## Built for 500

The same state prototype produced all four: 500 single cells, a "maximum operating capacity" of 750.[Georgia FY1989 state budget capital outlay via Digital Library of Georgia](https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-bg620-b-ps1-bb8-b1989-bfolio) What they hold now is a different matter.[GDC spreadsheet Active Offenders by Facility by Supervision Level Sept 23 2026 produced to GPS](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/mcp-pathimport-3e38d623fa3a.pdf)

| Prison | Built for | Men held, Sept 2026 | Share of original design |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Wilcox | 500 | 1,824 | 365% |
| Dooly | 500 | 1,701 | 340% |
| Calhoun | 500 | 1,516 | 303% |
| Washington | 500 | 980 (1,505 before the January riot) | 196% (301%) |

Each prison now sits above the 750 the state itself set as its maximum. At Wilcox, the count is almost two and a half times what the state said the facility could run.

The original design capacity matters because everything else in the prison was sized for it.

- **The cells.** A cell built for one man was sized for one man. GPS scanned a standard three-man cell of the kind these prisons use: about 97 square feet in all, and once the bunks, lockers, desk, toilet and sink are counted, about 27 square feet of open floor shared by three men, roughly 9 square feet each ([Inside a Three-Man Cell](https://gps.press/end-the-warehouse/inside-a-three-man-cell/)). Every hour locked in is spent a few feet from two other people, one of whom may be Close security.
- **The officers.** Housing units were staffed for the men they were built to hold. DOJ found that in December 2023 the vacancy rate was "over 60% at 18 medium- and close-security prisons; ten of these prisons had vacancy rates above 70%."[DOJ Findings Report Investigation of Georgia Prisons Oct 1 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf) Fewer officers watching three times the men means fewer eyes on each of them.
- **Everything men share.** Kitchens, medical units, dayrooms, showers, phones and program space were built for the original count. GPS's [End the Warehouse](https://gps.press/end-the-warehouse/) documentation shows how Georgia's dorms tripled and its cells were double- and triple-bunked while the kitchens, medical units and libraries stayed the size they were built.
- **Who controls the housing.** DOJ found that GDC "does not enforce classification housing assignments, enabling gangs and other security threat groups (STG) or other incarcerated individuals to dictate housing assignments and other aspects of daily life."[DOJ Findings Report Investigation of Georgia Prisons Oct 1 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf)

A federal Bureau of Prisons review of the crowding studies reached the same conclusion, though the literature isn't unanimous. It reported that "A 1-percent increase in social density resulted in a .3-percent increase in the rate of inmates assaulting other inmates."[Federal Bureau of Prisons research review on prison crowding and violence](https://www.bop.gov/resources/research_projects/published_reports/cond_envir/oreprvariance.pdf) The National Academies put the pattern this story describes in its own words: "With overcrowding, cells designed for a single inmate often house two and sometimes three people." Overcrowding, the Academies found, "particularly when it persists at high levels," is associated with "a range of poor consequences for health and behavior and an increased risk of suicide."[National Academies The Growth of Incarceration in the United States 2014](https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18613/the-growth-of-incarceration-in-the-united-states-exploring-causes)

GDC's own rules classify close security men as the inmates requiring the most supervision. At these four prisons, they're housed three to a cell built for one. The same four prisons hold two to nearly four times their designed capacity, and the officer posts were already hard to fill.

## The killings

GPS's mortality database records 10 homicides across those four prisons in the 12 months ending September 26, 2026.

- **Washington:** four men died after the January 11 riot. GDC reported three killed that day and later confirmed a fourth death tied to the disturbance.[GDC press release Disturbance at Washington State Prison Jan 12 2026](https://gdc.georgia.gov/press-releases/2026-01-12/disturbance-washington-state-prison) [41NBC GDC confirms fourth inmate death tied to Washington State Prison disturbance](https://www.41nbc.com/fourth-inmate-death-washington-state-prison-disturbance/) Twelve men were charged with murder.[WRDW 12 inmates charged with murder in deadly fight at Washington State Prison](https://www.wrdw.com/2026/04/29/12-inmates-charged-with-murder-deadly-fight-washington-state-prison/) Two more men died there in June, deaths GPS counts as homicides.[GPS mortality database from state death records and GDC mortality reports, Washington State Prison](https://gps.press/facility/washington-state-prison/)
- **Wilcox:** Marcus Walker in January, and on September 3, a man killed in what GDC described as a gang-related fight in his dorm. Nine others were hurt, and seven were taken to hospitals.[WALB Inmate killed numerous others injured in supposed gang-related fight at Wilcox State Prison](https://www.walb.com/2026/09/04/coroner-confirms-inmate-death-wilcox-state-prison/)
- **Calhoun:** a 37-year-old man in December 2025. State death records give the cause as blunt force trauma, "assaulted by another individual."[GPS mortality database from state death records and GDC mortality reports, Calhoun State Prison](https://gps.press/facility/calhoun-state-prison/)
- **Dooly:** Darrow Brown, 58, stabbed on the walk in November 2025.[GPS The Classification Crisis Nov 2025](https://gps.press/the-classification-crisis-how-four-medium-security-prisons-are-killing-people/)

Set against the number of men held, that count is hard to miss.

| Prisons | Men held (monthly average) | Homicides, past 12 months | Per 1,000 men |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Calhoun, Dooly, Washington, Wilcox | 6,362 | 10 | 1.57 |
| Johnson State Prison (see sidebar) | 1,562 | 4 | 2.56 |
| All other medium prisons, state and private | 17,587 | 4 | 0.23 |
| Smith State Prison (Close, mostly single cells) | 1,103 | 1 | 0.91 |

GDC's August 2026 death report isn't out yet. For deaths after July, GPS counts from the reports it has verified itself, among them the September 3 killing at Wilcox, which GDC confirmed.

The four prisons hold 6,362 of the 25,511 men in Georgia's medium-security system, about a quarter of them. The 18 homicides recorded at medium prisons include 10 at those four, more than half, and Johnson alone accounts for four more. That works out to 1.57 homicides per 1,000 men, against 0.23 at the other medium prisons: a man held at one of the four was roughly seven times as likely to be killed. He was also more likely to be killed than a man at Smith, a Close prison that now holds most of its men in single cells.

## For every killing, dozens of attacks

Homicides are the violence that can be counted with certainty. They aren't most of the violence.

The U.S. Department of Justice released its findings report on Georgia's prisons on October 1, 2024. Between January 2022 and April 2023, the report counted "more than 1,400 reported incidents of violence, including fights, assaults, hostage incidents, and homicides" at 24 close and medium prisons, Calhoun, Dooly and Wilcox among them. A weapon was involved in almost one in five of those 1,400-plus incidents, and nearly half ended in serious injury.[DOJ Findings Report Investigation of Georgia Prisons Oct 1 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf) GDC's mortality data appears in the same report: 31 homicides in 2022, 35 in 2023.

Spread the homicide counts across the same 16 months and the total comes to about 42 killings. That works out to roughly 33 reported violent incidents for every homicide. The figure is rough, and it runs low: the incidents cover 24 prisons, the homicides cover all of them, and DOJ says violent incidents "are consistently underreported."

Apply that ratio, low as it is, to the four prisons. Ten homicides in a year at Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox would mean something like 330 reported violent incidents.

In May 2022, "a 21-year-old man was killed by his cellmate at Calhoun State Prison following multiple failures in GDC's classification and housing systems." That was DOJ's account of what happens inside a shared cell. The finding was not confined to one facility. GDC "does not enforce classification housing assignments."[DOJ Findings Report Investigation of Georgia Prisons Oct 1 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf)

## GDC's own rules

Two rules govern where a Georgia prisoner sleeps, and the Board of Corrections wrote both. The first sets the assignment of each man to quarters "in a manner which is consistent with the degree of control indicated by his/her individual security classification."[Georgia Board of Corrections Rule 125-3-1-.02](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/125-3-1-.02) The second covers the buildings those quarters sit in: "The physical aspects of each building shall conform to the security requirements dictated by the classification of offenders to be housed therein."[Georgia Board of Corrections Rule 125-2-2-.01](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/125-2-2-.01)

The 1989 and 1990 building program put all four of these prisons in the budget as medium-security.[GDC Annual Report FY1989 via Digital Library of Georgia](https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ggpd_y-ga-br300-b-pa1-b1989) [GDC Annual Report FY1990 via Digital Library of Georgia](https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ggpd_y-ga-br300-b-pa1-b1990) The labels have moved before. Washington and Wilcox appear as Level V prisons in GDC's FY1999 annual report, listed with Smith and Hancock, and the same report sets out what that level's mission was: "secure housing for inmates with management problems."[GDC Annual Report FY1999 p12 via Digital Library of Georgia](https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/id:dlg_ggpd_y-ga-br300-b-pa1-b1999-belec-p-btext)

The Department runs Close prisons. At these four, it's filling buildings funded as medium-security with men classified Close, and the triple bunks stay where they are.

## Accredited anyway

Georgia's prisons are measured against national standards by the American Correctional Association. The ACA reaccredited all four of these prisons within the last two years, according to GDC's own accreditation register. The scores run from 97.9% to 98.4%: Wilcox at 98% in February 2025, Washington at 98.4% in March 2025, Calhoun at 98.3% in June 2025, and Dooly at 97.9% on August 27, 2026.[GDC ACA accreditation register produced to GPS under ORR R031380](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/mcp-pathimport-ba242563dfbe.pdf)

Dooly scored 98.2% on August 3, 2023, its prior accreditation figure. Six weeks earlier, on June 23, 2023, DOJ reports that "a gang fight broke out at Dooly State Prison," and that the prison's security threat group (STG) sergeant position had sat vacant for three months around that time.[DOJ Findings Report Investigation of Georgia Prisons Oct 1 2024](https://www.justice.gov/d9/2024-09/findings_report_-_investigation_of_georgia_prisons.pdf) That score was an increase over the 97.6% Dooly recorded in its 2020 audit.

The American Correctional Association's own standard for cell space, quoted in New Mexico's corrections policy, sets a floor of "shall provide at a minimum, twenty-five (25) square feet of unencumbered space per occupant."[New Mexico Corrections Department policy CD-163000 quoting ACA standard 5-ACI-2C-01](https://www.cd.nm.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/CD-163000.pdf) Under that number, three men require 75 square feet of open floor. A three-man cell of the type these prisons use holds roughly 27. All four prisons carry ACA accreditation regardless. How the auditors scored that standard, or whether they set it aside, sits in audit reports that aren't public.

## Sidebar: Johnson State Prison, One to Watch

Johnson State Prison in Wrightsville came out of the same 1990 program that funded Dooly, Calhoun and Wilcox.[GDC Annual Report FY1990 via Digital Library of Georgia](https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_ggpd_y-ga-br300-b-pa1-b1990) It hasn't reached their level. The direction is the same.

- **Close security:** 163 of 1,573 men (10.4%) in October 2025; 250 of 1,532 (16.3%) in September 2026.[GDC spreadsheet Active Offenders by Facility by Supervision Level Sept 23 2026 produced to GPS](https://gps.press/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/mcp-pathimport-3e38d623fa3a.pdf)
- **Homicides:** four in the past 12 months, three of them between January and March 2026.[GPS mortality database from state death records and GDC mortality reports, Johnson State Prison](https://gps.press/facility/johnson-state-prison/)
- **Rate:** four homicides among an average of 1,562 men, about 2.6 per 1,000, higher than the four prisons above.

GPS will keep counting.

## What could change

The General Assembly and the Governor fund the system and write the sentencing laws that set its population; the Parole Board decides who goes home. Where each man sleeps, and how many men share his cell, is the department's decision. GDC doesn't fill these prisons alone.

The commissioner has named the fix, and a Senate committee has endorsed it. GDC can start where the risk is highest:

- Stop putting Close security men in triple-bunked cells.
- Move Close security men at Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox to cells of no more than two, or to Close prisons that house them that way.
- Publish, every month, how many Close, Medium and Minimum men each prison holds, so the public can see whether this changes.

Marcus Walker was killed in a cell he shared with another man, and the commissioner told senators that half the homicides GDC had investigated were "roommate on roommate." The Department already has its own words to act on.

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## 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, and we handle the rest.

**Send a 60-Second Message**: Pick an issue, get a ready-to-edit message with the verified facts already in it, and email your state House representative and senator directly from your own inbox at [https://gps.press/send-a-message/.](https://gps.press/send-a-message/.) No signup, nothing stored. It takes about a minute.

**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.

**Message the Board of Corrections**: The citizen board that oversees the GDC publishes no contact details for its members. GPS built the missing front door: pick a board member and a policy message and send it from your own email at [https://gps.press/write-the-board/.](https://gps.press/write-the-board/.)

**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. Start with the GPS Action Toolkits at [https://gps.press/toolkits/.](https://gps.press/toolkits/.) The Open Records Toolkit walks you through what to ask for, gives you ready-to-file request templates, and tells you what to do when the state says no. File directly with GDC 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.

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## Part of Something Bigger

This article is part of the [GPS Reform Agenda](/our-vision/), two active campaigns to transform Georgia's criminal justice system.

**[End the Warehouse](/end-the-warehouse/)** THIS SERIES

Transform Georgia's prisons from punishment to rehabilitation. Two tracks: litigation to reduce overcrowding + evidence-based programs that work.

**[Vision 2027](/vision2027/)**

Three model bills for the 2027 Georgia legislature. The legislature doesn't need new laws. It needs to [enforce two dormant statutes](/the-sleeping-giants/) it already passed.

[Read the full GPS Reform Agenda →](/our-vision/)

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## Further Reading

**[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/)**

*GPS's first report on the Close security men packed into Calhoun, Dooly, Washington and Wilcox.*

**[Inside a Three-Man Cell](https://gps.press/end-the-warehouse/inside-a-three-man-cell/)**

*What a cell built for one man looks like when it holds three.*

**["Contained to One Dorm": The Squad Left Wilcox at Noon. The Coroner Was Called at Two.](https://gps.press/contained-to-one-dorm-the-squad-left-wilcox-at-noon-the-coroner-was-called-at-two/)**

*The September killing at Wilcox State Prison, hour by hour.*

**[Separate the Gangs. It Costs Nothing. Georgia Keeps Choosing the Bodies.](https://gps.press/separate-the-gangs-it-costs-nothing/)**

*The housing decisions that keep putting rivals side by side.*

**[Who Is Responsible for Georgia Prison Violence?](https://gps.press/who-is-responsible-for-georgia-prison-violence/)**

*Where the decisions behind the violence are made, and by whom.*

---

## 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 in Georgia's Prisons](https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/violence/)**

*The system-wide record of assaults, homicides and gang violence that this article's four prisons sit inside.*

**[End the Warehouse](https://gps.press/intelligence/issue/end-the-warehouse/)**

*The overcrowding and triple-bunking behind the cells described here.*

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## 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, with no other configuration needed. It is the fastest way to ground an AI conversation in verified GPS data.
- **[GPS Public MCP Server](https://data.gps.press/mcp)**: For AI tools that support the Model Context Protocol (Claude, ChatGPT, and others), connect directly to GPS's data: read-only tools covering population, facilities, mortality, parole, the Georgia Code, settlements, and more. Every answer arrives with its source link and citation built in.

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.

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## 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.

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