Gov. Late on Monday, Brian Kemp announced that the Georgian Department of Corrections would go through an in-depth analysis to determine ways to improve the incarceration system.
Over the next 12 months, professionals with Guidehouse Inc. may visit prison, conduct interviews with partners, work with GDC employees and do research, before coming up with tips on changes to the program. Until that exam is complete, the statement said, neither the condition nor the experts will post.
The Moss Group and CGL Organizations, both of which have a focus on the planning and operation of custodial facilities, form Guidehouse Inc. What the professionals ‘ salaries were not disclosed in the governor’s announcement.
In response to previous reports of violent behavior and disconcerting deaths, including the deadly shooting of a slave at Smith State Prison on Sunday, Kemp made the announcement. The condition is also in the midst of the U.S. Department of Justice’s long-anticipated statement on prison violence.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s analysis from last year revealed widespread problem in the jail system, including how lots of GDC workers had smuggled in medicines and other forms of illegal. Additionally, the reports described prisoner-run big legal businesses that killed and victimized people on the outside, broad illegal drug use by prisoners, and record amounts of murders and suicides.
Kemp referred to the evaluation as his most recent initiative to improve overall public safety.
” By ensuring our custodial facilities have the money, systems, facilities, and activities to fulfill their vision, this comprehensive analysis is the next step in achieving a safer, stronger Georgia for all who call the Peach State home”, Kemp said in a press release.
One of the more remarkable things that has happened within the Department of Corrections over the past few years is the death of the food service contractor on Sunday by an criminal who later committed suicide.
A , a Georgia correctional officer reportedly allowed three individuals armed with a knife into another man’s cell in May on suspicion of felony murder. A federal judge found that GDC officials purposefully ignored requirements to strengthen the horrible conditions inside the high-security Special Management Unit prison in a burning 100-page contempt order issued in April.
Before anyone on the prison staff arrived, a Georgia prison inmate lay dead in his bunk for five days, his body stuffed full of a mattress and decomposing.
At the same prison, the warden, Brian Adams,  , was arrested and fired , last year for being part of a massive contraband scheme operating out of the prison. According to the prosecution, Nathan Weekes, the scheme’s leader, is alleged to have planned three murders outside. One of those killed was 88- year- old Bobby Kicklighter, a beloved resident of Glennville, who was shot to death in the middle of the night. Following Weekes ‘ alleged assault on a correctional officer, an investigation determined it to be a case of mistaken identity.
When it was revealed that Arthur Lee Cofield, a member of the Special Management Unit, was able to steal$ 11 million from a billionaire movie producer’s Charles Schwab account, the prison system also attracted national attention.
The civil rights division of the DOJ started looking into the GDC in September 2021, and its initial report is anticipated to be released soon. A state Senate panel, which was set up earlier this year, is also reviewing the system.
___
© 2024 The Atlanta Journal- Constitution
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
