ATLANTA — Georgia state senators voted unanimously to create a study committee aimed at researching and finding solutions to safety problems in state prisons.
Lawmakers have spent years looking at how to improve conditions in state prisons. Even going county-by-county, more changes are needed.
According to Senate Resolution 570, the Senate is moving to create the Senate Supporting Safety and Welfare of All Individuals in Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee.
The legislation cites concerns of lawmakers surrounding prison populations compared to a large reduction in staff in recent years, and how an understaffed prison is a more dangerous prison both for staff and those in custody.
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In Fulton County, as has been reported on numerous occasions by Channel 2 Action News, county officials and Fulton Sheriff Pat Labat have been looking for ways to improve safety conditions and the overall prison environment.
Concerns over staffing are just one issue, but the parties involved in overseeing the prison and solutions to correct issues don’t always see eye to eye. Labat recently requested an approval to increase the wages for staff overtime to double, rather than time-and-a-half, but the county commissioners tabled the plan. Labat cited recruitment and retention issues as reason to request the pay increases for staff.
In the same vein, the statistics mentioned in the resolution say that on average, Georgia prisons had more than 50,000 people in custody every day in 2023.
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As of March 15, the Georgia Department of Corrections reported there were 49,255 inmates in department custody. Of those, 34,936 were inmates housed in state prisons.
Additionally, from the 2020 fiscal year to the 2022 fiscal year, which ended in July 2023, the Georgia Department of Corrections’ number of employees shrank from 8,158 to 6,169. In the facilities division, which GDC said directly supervises offenders, staff had fallen from 7,527 to 5,546 by the end of FY2022. The overall staffing levels shrank 24.4%, while the facilities division staffing shrank by 26.4%.
More recent data shows some recruitment levels have improved.
The latest fiscal year annual report showed overall full-time staff had increased to 6,397, while the facilities division staffing had increased to 5,767. GDC said facilities division employees make up roughly 90% of all full-time staff. However, turnover remains a problem for the department, as well as at municipal facilities like the Fulton County Jail.
“Recruitment and retention of Correctional Officers (COs) continues to challenge the GDC. Although CO hirings were 74% of GDC recruitments during FY 2023, 62% of separations also came from these positions,” GDC’s report said.
Recently, a Channel 2 Action News photographer was given a tour of the Clayton County Jail as community leaders pushed for reforms to improve the conditions inside for inmates serving time there or waiting to head to court to face justice.
As reported by Channel 2 Action News, Georgia’s U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff has also appealed to U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Clayton County Jail.
The USDOJ has also initiated multiple investigations of Georgia prisons, including one at the Fulton County Jail, based on concerns over the inmates’ civil liberties being violated due to what it’s like inside.
While federal officials are now investigating conditions at the Fulton County Jail, Georgia lawmakers have opened their own investigation.
In the past four years, USDOJ has opened investigations into the Fulton County Jail in 2023, an investigation of the South Fulton County Jail in 2019 and three other issues involving GDOC in full from 2021 to 2024.
Addressing the needs of Georgia prisons, the new committee would be charged with studying prison conditions, needs, issues and problems for jail staff and inmates and must make a report with recommendations on their findings by Dec. 1.
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