Georgia Department of Corrections officials began laying the groundwork Wednesday for an infusion of state funding to beef up staffing, replace aging infrastructure, and improve inmate health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state\u2019s workforce of correctional officers plummeted during the COVID pandemic and has yet to fully recover, Georgia Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told members of a Georgia House Appropriations subcommittee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 26% annual turnover rate before the pandemic struck in 2020 soared at one point to more than 40% before dropping slightly to 37%, Oliver said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is by far the toughest position in public safety,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t always grasp that when they go in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oliver said the state prison system doesn\u2019t have a difficult time recruiting correctional officers, but keeping them more than one or two years is a challenge. He said the large numbers of jobs in other industries that opened up after the pandemic are luring correctional officers away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can make more money with less stress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oliver said deteriorating infrastructure across the system is making prisons less safe. Inmates can easily use crumbling infrastructure to fashion dangerous weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oliver said the department is working to increase the number of single-bunk cells because many of the assaults that take place inside the prisons involve inmates in two- or three-bunk cells attacking each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commissioner said additional funding also would help the department combat the growing problem of contraband weapons and cell phones getting to inmates, often via drones. The federal prison system has begun using jamming devices to disrupt cell phone signals inside prisons but has not yet authorized state systems to pilot the technology, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oliver said another factor driving up the prison system\u2019s costs is growing health-care needs resulting from an aging prison population. The average age for inmates is now 40, which results in more inmates suffering from chronic illnesses, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assistant Corrections Commissioner Jay Sanders said some of the self-help programs the prison system operates for inmates are aimed at those with substance abuse or with cognitive issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In most cases, those who complete those programs as well as education and job training activities are both less likely to commit additional crimes after release from prison and less likely to commit violence while they\u2019re still behind bars, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey get up every day with a purpose,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cThey\u2019re active. Their mind is engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, the subcommittee\u2019s chairman, said he expects funding for the prison system to be a major priority when lawmakers take up Gov. Brian Kemp\u2019s budget recommendations during the 2025 General Assembly session starting in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHopefully, we can fund the improvements you need,\u201d he told Oliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hatchett said he expects the subcommittee to hold a final meeting shortly before the session begins.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Georgia Department of Corrections officials began laying the groundwork Wednesday for an infusion of state funding to beef up staffing, replace aging infrastructure, and improve inmate health care. The state\u2019s workforce of correctional officers plummeted during the COVID pandemic and has yet to fully recover, Georgia Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told members of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":948,"featured_media":199247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[14361,16270],"class_list":["post-210127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-prison","tag-prisons","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/948"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegeorgiasun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}