ATLANTA — Georgia’s Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne that more than $600 million in proposed prison system improvements are part of Gov. Brian Kemp’s proposed budget.
What happens at the Georgia state capitol in the coming months will have a lot to do with what happens in Georgia’s state prisons for years to come.
Oliver said a joint hearing on Tuesday before the State Senate Public Safety Subcommittee and a State House of Representatives Special Subcommittee of Appropriations on state prisons represents the unveiling of budget moves proposed by Kemp that adds over $600 million in corrections spending during the current fiscal year and the next.
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“We’re in a situation where we have to invest a lot of money and a lot of resources to correct a situation that has been evolved over time,” State Rep. Matt Hatchett said.
If the budget passes, Oliver said more than $100 million would go to adding prison beds for 950 inmates, about $50 million would go to address officer pay and related issues including adding 440 officers. Over $34 million would go towards replacing locks in the prisons.
“Can inmates beat your locks you’ve got right now?” Winne asked. “Yes,” Oliver responded. And more than $34 million would go to adding anti-cellphone technology that are installed in or in the process of being installed in 13 prisons - to another 14 prisons.
“Cellphones inside a state prison are the source of most of our problems,” Oliver said. The inmates are able to continue to do their gang and criminal activity inside and outside the wire.”
Oliver said many of the budget additions come in response to an in-depth, independent, comprehensive assessment by outside consultants about what is working and what needs to be improved in Georgia’s prisons.
“If you get this money, how much will it change Georgia’s prisons?” Winne asked. “Drastically. It will make our prisons safer, not only for our staff but for the offender population as well,” Oliver replied.
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