Georgia's prisons not suited for today's violent inmates

(The Center Square) — While Georgia's prison system has been often criticized, the head of the state's prison system told lawmakers that the state's aging prison infrastructure is no longer suited for modern inmates.

"Our aging infrastructure is one of our biggest challenges," Tyrone Oliver, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, said during a Senate study committee meeting last week. "Our newest prison is ... 34 years old. That's our biggest challenge. The prisons that we have today are not built and designed to handle the type of offenders that we have in our custody.

"It's making it more difficult to integrate technology and upgrade facilities with our aging infrastructure," Oliver said. The "inmate population, they'll get to whatever infrastructure or technology that we could put in there and either destroy it or make weapons out of."

At the end of June, the Georgia Department of Corrections had 49,911 inmates, up from 47,962 at the end of June 2023 and 46,607 at the end of June 2022. With 35,070 inmates in state prisons at the end of June, state prisons had a utilization rate of 93.7%.

Additionally, corrections officials said its violent population stands at 74% of inmates, and the prison system's population has increased by 12% since 2012.

In fiscal 2025, state lawmakers appropriated more than $1.5 billion for the Department of Corrections, most of which was state taxpayer money. In June, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and the Georgia Department of Corrections announced a system-wide assessment of the state corrections system to identify strengths and opportunities — and possible recommendations — to improve the state prison system's "efficiency and effectiveness."

Additionally, by passing Senate Resolution 570, lawmakers established the Senate Supporting Safety and Welfare of All Individuals in Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee. The committee will build off the efforts of another committee that looked into the Fulton County Jail.

"I will be a state senator as long as the people elect me, but I will always be a cop," state Sen. Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, said during the hearing. "I think facts are the important thing, and we determine that by parking our opinions in the corner and going in there and asking the right questions.

"And I hope that's what we do throughout this process, but as we move through the process, some of those more controversial issues will be discussed."

In July 2023, Balfour Beatty said it had been awarded a roughly $320 million project to build a new state prison.