Georgia prison homicides soar as lawmakers focus on fixes

Carrie Teegardin and Danny Robbins, Tribune News Service

As state legislators work to craft complex and costly plans to fix Georgia’s troubled prison system, they may face an extra challenge: Conditions inside the wire appear to be getting even worse. Thirteen prison deaths from Jan. 1 to Feb. 4 are being investigated as homicides, prison officials told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s an extraordinarily high number when compared even to the record-setting level of violent deaths over the past two years, according to data tracked by the AJC. If all 13 deaths are eventually confirmed as homicides, that would represent the bloodiest start of a year going back at least a decade, according to an AJC analysis.

Overall last year, the Georgia Department of Corrections told the AJC it investigated 66 prisoner deaths deemed to be homicides. The agency has not named those killed or revealed the prisons where they died, but the AJC has identified 62 people who died from suspected or confirmed homicides last year throughout the state prison system. The 2024 figure greatly exceeds 2023’s record of at least 38 killings. Meanwhile, a tally of all prisoner deaths last year reached a stunning record of 332, up about 27% from the prior year’s toll and well above the total deaths within Georgia’s prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic, the AJC found. The count covers natural deaths, along with suicides, homicides and accidental deaths, such as overdoses.

Violent deaths inside Georgia’s prisons have been rising steadily in recent years. In 2017, there were just eight homicides in the state prisons, and in 2018 there were nine, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. Now, one prison alone may have more than the entire system used to have in a year’s time. The AJC found that Macon State Prison, which is about two hours south of Atlanta in rural Macon County, was the deadliest in Georgia last year, with at least nine homicides. The killings have continued this year, with two confirmed homicides in January. The county’s coroner, Eddie T. Hosley, said Henry Finley died on Jan. 18 after being stabbed. Days later, Jonathan Mitchell died at a hospital after he was beaten. According to arrest warrants obtained by the AJC, Jon Edward Pippin, another prisoner, was accused of using his “foot, knee and fist” to beat the head and face of Mitchell, causing head trauma and leading to his death.

The warrants say Pippin confessed to the assault. Macon State Prison is a high-security facility that houses more than 1,700 men in Oglethorpe, the county seat of Macon County, which has a population of 11,800. The GDC announced that Gregory Sampson, the former warden at Dooly State Prison, became the new warden at Macon State Prison on Feb. 1. Also in January, two prisoners at Hancock State Prison were found dead just feet apart after an incident described as gang-related violence. Hancock, which houses nearly 1,200 prisoners, is also a high-security prison and one of the worst-staffed in the state. A prisoner at Valdosta State Prison and one at Dooly also died in January after altercations with other inmates. The AJC hasn’t identified other January homicide victims.

When he comes to the Macon prison after a death to investigate, Hosley said, it’s not unusual to find just five to eight officers staffing the entire facility. “They’re just short-staffed,” he said. “They don’t have the staffing to look after the numbers of prisoners that they have.” The coroner said his office works closely with the GDC investigators to gather the evidence to determine the cause and manner of death. But he said the burden on a rural county coroner’s office can be significant given the number and complexities of the prison death cases and the coordination they require. “The emotional toll is also considerable,” Hosley told the AJC, “as these cases often involve tragic circumstances. We are dedicated to serving our community and ensuring that justice is served, even under challenging circumstances.” Consultants hired by Gov. Brian Kemp found that staffing vacancies for correctional officers at the majority 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 staffing records obtained by the AJC, about two-thirds of the correctional officer jobs at Macon State Prison were not filled as of October, and at Hancock more than 70% of the correctional officer jobs were vacant.

The consultants found that guards working in Georgia’s prisons face “constant fear and fatigue.” Once new correctional officers see the reality, they usually don’t last long: The consultants found that between January 2021 and November 2024, 82.7% of officers left within the first year of employment with GDC. Low staffing, the consultants wrote, allows gangs to exert influence, and violence is enhanced by poorly maintained facilities where most of the locks don’t work and prisoners can easily make shanks by stripping materials off the walls and ceilings. Citing the report’s findings, Kemp proposed allocating an additional $600 million over the next 18 months to address staffing, emergency repairs and infrastructure improvements. Lawmakers studying the prisons have heard hours of testimony and have been reviewing Kemp’s proposal with a sense of urgency.

Joan Heath, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said the agency was thankful for the support from the governor and the Legislature. “We will continue to ensure the public knows that we all take this responsibility seriously and we are committed to making sure our prison system is safe for all of Georgia,” Heath said in a statement to the AJC. Kemp’s office referred the AJC to the GDC’s statement and made no further comment.

Kemp’s plan comes in the wake of a U.S. Department of Justice report in October that described horrific conditions where assaults, stabbings and rapes had become routine at woefully understaffed prisons. The moves also follow a two-year investigation by the AJC that has tracked extreme understaffing, extensive illicit drug use by inmates, extraordinary violence and large criminal enterprises run by prisoners that victimized people well beyond the prison walls. The AJC’s stories also exposed widespread corruption in the system, with hundreds of GDC employees arrested and fired for smuggling in drugs and other forms of contraband. The realities of corruption among the staff continue to surface. On Monday, federal officials announced the sentencing of a former guard at Hays State Prison, who smuggled methamphetamine and other contraband to inmates for over a month.

Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said when presenting the amended budget that the “most pressing issues” covered in the spending plan were prison system conditions and relief for the damage caused by Hurricane Helene. Money added to the Georgia Department of Corrections will go toward a wide range of categories, including overdue repairs, replacements of locks, security improvements and new staff. Hatchett thanked the governor for calling for a massive investment and hiring consultants to help map out solutions to problems that he acknowledged will take time to fix. “I know this is still just the beginning of a costly but essential endeavor,” Hatchett said during the meeting.