ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers should consider expanding mental health services, staffing and de-escalation training to address deaths and neglect at state prisons, a panel of lawmakers said last week.
The panel voted Friday for recommendations for the Georgia legislature to consider when it convenes in January. Two months ago, the Justice Department said it would sue if state prison officials didn't act swiftly to curb the violations of prisoners’ Eighth Amendment protections against cruel punishment. And Georgia prisons are on track to set another record for homicides in 2024, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
State Rep. Matt Hatchett, a Republican from Dublin who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, confirmed he supports spending money to curb the violence and increasing single-cell facilities but he does not think that all facilities need to be single-cell, as the report suggests.
Lawmakers rejected DeKalb County Democratic State Sen. Kim Jackson’s proposal to create an independent oversight committee. Republicans argued there is already oversight through legislative committees.
“Hours and hours and hours of testimony that we heard over the course of the study committee indicated there was a clear lack of oversight over the Department of Corrections,” Jackson said. “Public testimony also shows that people felt like they did not have opportunities to have access to justice. To have somebody answer their questions.”
Georgia's prisons are failing to provide basic care, advocates said at the panel's final meeting Friday. Former prisoners and relatives of people who died in custody railed against prison officials for their lack of transparency about the deaths.
“A lot of the deaths happening in the Georgia Department of Corrections are preventable,” said Nasir Jahid, who left the department’s custody almost two months ago. He told the panel that he saw two people die, including Garry Lloyd Gerald Matthews Jr. He and others had to repeatedly call for help and when officers finally arrived, they “stood by doing nothing," Jahid told lawmakers.
A corrections department spokesperson said in an email that one of the deaths Jahid saw was a suicide, and an investigation into Matthews' death found officers provided adequate support but weren't able to save him for medical reasons.
Heather Hunt testified about what she said was a weak investigation into the death of her son at a state prison. Della Newsome said during testimony she received minimal communication about the death of her fiancée, Joshua Mark Holliday, behind bars. Authorities eventually said the men died by suicide, but the families don’t believe them.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations handles autopsies in prison deaths but does not usually look into their cases. The panel declined to recommend that the bureau investigate those deaths. Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver told the panel that officers investigating deaths undergo the same training as the bureau, and they're instructed to notify relatives or next-of-kin.
The panel also recommended partnering with private prisons and that the federal government let state prisons use cell phone and drone jamming technology. Oliver testified that people in prison use phones and drones to bring contraband into the facility. But advocates say most people use their phones to communicate with family, since options for calling them are limited and expensive.
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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.