Staffing vacancies for correctional officers at 20 of Georgia’s 34 prisons have reached “emergency levels,” making it impossible to keep up with even basic protocols such as routine counts of prisoners, according to consultants hired by Gov. Brian Kemp to evaluate the Department of Corrections.
At some prisons, gangs are “effectively running the facilities,” in part due to a lack of staff, using violence to maintain control, the consultants’ report says. The violence is enhanced by crumbling facilities where prisoners can strip off materials to make weapons and easily leave their cells because the locks don’t work and there’s not enough staff to monitor movements, the consultants found.
Citing the report’s findings, Kemp has proposed allocating an additional $600 million over the next 18 months to address staffing, emergency repairs and infrastructure improvements for the state’s prisons. But a draft report from the consultants, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, indicates that $600 million may only be a start. Many key recommendations in the report are not included in Kemp’s recommendations. And even some of the governor’s budgeted recommendations, such as fixing long broken cell locks, may take years to implement.
Yet time isn’t on the state’s side. The consultants’ report — a frank, data-driven assessment — deals with many of the same issues highlighted by the AJC’s reporting over the past two years, as well as findings detailed by the U.S. Department of Justice in its October report on the state prison system. But the consultants also make the point that the system is operating in “emergency mode” with a litany of issues requiring immediate attention.
Key among them is violence. The AJC has identified 62 people who died from suspected homicides in state prisons last year. The GDC, without offering details, says it investigated 66 prisoner deaths deemed to be homicides in 2024. The tallies far surpass 2023’s record of at least 38 killings. And 2025 has started amid more chaos and violence, with the GDC confirming two prisoners died after altercations with other inmates, five women reportedly arrested on charges of inciting a riot at Lee Arrendale State Prison and nine inmates sent to the hospital with stab wounds after a gang fight at Wilcox State Prison.
The consultants’ report, labeled “Draft for Discussion,” was obtained by the AJC from the governor’s office in response to a request under the Georgia Open Records Act. Kemp hired the consultants — a team from Guidehouse Inc., The Moss Group and Carter, Goble Lee — in June, and they will continue their assessment through early June of this year, according to the contract. The state will pay nearly $2.7 million for the yearlong study.
Until announcing his budget recommendations, Kemp had largely stayed silent about the growing violence, corruption, chaos and widespread criminal activities within the state prison system. He declined AJC interview requests, and when he announced the consultants’ study last June, he said neither he nor the consultants would comment until it was completed. When the DOJ report was released last fall, Kemp said he agreed with the GDC’s response that Georgia’s prisons exceed constitutional requirements and described Georgia’s prisons as facing challenges that are similar to those in other states.
Credit: Lewis Levine
Credit: Lewis Levine
The GDC said this week that the DOJ sent Georgia a proposal for settlement, and Georgia officials are reviewing the document’s terms.
Kemp’s office referred the AJC to the governor’s comments in his announcement of his budget proposal. In a news release, Kemp said the plans for the prison system are part of making public safety his top priority. “Along with our legislative partners in the General Assembly, I look forward to delivering on these historic improvements,” Kemp said in the announcement.
The staffing emergency
In their report, the consultants revealed that working in a Georgia prison is a job where guards face “constant fear and fatigue.”
While national standards say a correctional facility should operate with no more than 10% of its officer jobs open, Georgia’s prisons are nowhere close to meeting that staffing standard, the report found. In 20 of the 34 state prisons, more than half of the correctional officer jobs weren’t filled, and in eight of those prisons, the vacancy rate was 70% or more, the consultants reported.
State officials have tried to hire, using a marketing campaign that blasts out ads on every platform possible. But it’s not working, the consultants found. Most applicants haven’t been able to pass hiring requirements, with the GDC on average only able to hire 118 officers for every 800 applicants in a recent six-month period, the consultants found. And once people experience the realities of the job, they’re quick to quit. Between January 2021 and November 2024, 82.7% left within the first year, according to the report.
The consultants also found most Southern states pay new correctional officers more than Georgia, and retirement benefits for Georgia correctional officers aren’t as generous as they used to be.
Staffing is so low, especially during the overnight shifts, that if two guards need to leave to take a sick or injured prisoner to the hospital, that could mean only one or two officers are left to cover an entire prison, the report says. The realization of working alone in a prison and concerns for their own safety and security prompt some officers to leave, the consulting team was told.
The consultants also said the severe shortage of officers results in fewer incidents of violence being observed, responded to or reported.
The solution proposed in Kemp’s budget proposals is better marketing to find job applicants and a 4% increase in starting salaries for correctional officers and prison teachers, as well as an 8% bump for prison counselors. But the bleak picture presented by the consultants suggests that may not be enough.
During a special budget hearing earlier this month, state Rep. Al Williams asked GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver why he was planning to add only a fraction of the employees the system requires to get fully staffed.
“Trying to hire 2,600 people in a fiscal year is just — it’s just not possible,” Oliver responded. He said the agency will try to add officers and retain new hires and then ask for more money in the coming year.
The consultants also recommended the state expand other incentives, such as child and family care and bonuses, to retain workers and boost staff morale. Those benefits were not listed in the governor’s budget recommendations.
Gangs in control
The lack of supervision that comes with inadequate staffing, particularly at night, has contributed to a rise in the influence of gangs, leading to a multitude of safety and security concerns, the consultants found.
According to the report, the number of incarcerated men and women in Georgia identified as members of security threat groups — the prison designation for gangs — has nearly doubled since 2014. Now, gang members make up a third of the state’s prison population.
Reiterating many of the findings previously reported by the AJC, the consultants noted that gangs are selling bed space, forcing some prisoners to sleep on floors or in common areas instead of their assigned bunks; extorting family members to pay for protection; using violence to collect debts stemming from selling cellphones and drugs; and pressuring female prisoners for sex recorded on cellphones.
Officers have at times stopped issuing disciplinary reports to unruly prisoners, in some cases out of fear of retribution, the consultants found. Fear of retribution was also cited by the consultants as a reason why reports of sexual misconduct, as required under the federal Prison Rape Enforcement Act, sometimes aren’t filed.
“Even if staff observe activity, they are hesitant to hold offenders immediately accountable or write reports that could be used to support subsequent sanctions for fear of retaliation,” the consultants wrote.
Beyond gang influence, the sheer size of the prison population makes it hard to manage with dwindling staff, a situation that can be addressed by the Parole Board, the consultants wrote.
The report points out that the number of prisoners being released on parole between 2019 and 2023 decreased 38%. The number of cases being considered by the Parole Board also declined during that period, the report says.
“Many staff and offenders requested the need for additional transparency from the Parole Board concerning decisions to deny release,” the consultants wrote. A parole board spokesman told the AJC the board makes data-driven decisions in the interest of public safety and its releases have remained consistent.
Crumbling, vandalized prisons
The consultants also found Georgia’s prisons, most built more than 30 years ago, have languished in disrepair, allowing prisoners to turn parts of the crumbling structures into weapons and at times to roam from cell to cell or even gain access to restricted areas.
Citing an internal GDC evaluation completed in January 2023, the consultants said 29 of the 34 Georgia prisons are in need of critical upgrades. Because capital improvement budget requests have remained relatively flat for years, the state has failed to keep up with the needs of the aging buildings, the consultants reported.
A particular concern for the consultants was the widespread failure of locks on cell doors. The inability to secure prisoners in their cells contributes to gang activity, contraband trafficking and other safety concerns, especially in light of the fact that the state’s prisons are so poorly staffed, the consultants wrote.
On top of the faulty locks, many of the facilities housing higher-security prisoners have significant issues that allow for prisoner movement, the consultants found. According to the report, prisoners in those facilities have “easy access” to pipe chases, ventilation and plumbing areas, allowing them to enter restricted areas — including roof tops — hide contraband and make weapons. Hollow-wall construction, wood doors and drop ceilings also make it possible for prisoners to leave their cells and enter others, the consultants wrote.
In a startling assessment of the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, the consultants wrote that almost every part of the facility has been vandalized by prisoners. According to the report, window coverings have been turned into weapons or shields, plumbing isn’t functional in some areas, showers can’t be turned off, cameras have been damaged and blocked, electrical systems have been removed so at times officers’ rounds must be conducted by flashlight and a new fire detection system has been vandalized so prisoners can cook and smoke undetected.
Kemp’s funding proposal includes nearly $90 million in additional funds for repairs and renovations this fiscal year and next. The governor also has called for $34 million this fiscal year to design and replace prison locks. But how much of this can get done in a short amount of time remains open to question.
Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
Credit: Adam Beam/AJC
When presenting Kemp’s recommendations, Oliver told lawmakers it would take five to six years just to fix all the locks and control systems.
In response, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, reminded Oliver of conversations the two have had previously about fixing the locks and urged him to “do whatever you have to do to break all speed records at getting that done.”
Lawmakers impatient
Kemp’s announcement that he wanted to add more than $600 million to the prison system’s budget was a stunning request aimed at “preventing criminal and gang activity in our state,” the governor wrote in the budget document.
But the consultants’ findings suggest the giant infusion of cash will only get things started, even under the best scenarios.
Meanwhile, lawmakers appear to be growing impatient with the violence and prison-based criminal rings that bring trouble into their communities. They worry about the price tag, but they are insisting that something be done — and quickly.
“I know Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Hatchett told Oliver at the January hearing. “That’s an old adage, but we probably want this ‘subdivision’ built very quickly.”
