Georgia Spent $700 Million on Prisons and Got 66 Homicides: How the State Abandoned Evidence-Based Reform

Georgia's 2012 Justice Reinvestment Initiative under Governor Nathan Deal became a national model: the state reduced its prison population by 6%, avoided $264 million in projected costs, and reinvested $57 million in programs that cut recidivism to 13% for program participants—all without increasing crime. Since Governor Brian Kemp took office in 2019, Georgia has systematically dismantled this approach, adding $700 million to its corrections budget while prison homicides exploded to 66 in 2024, correctional officer vacancies reached 50-76%, and the U.S. Department of Justice documented constitutional violations across the system.