1
0
Staffing vacancies for correctional officers at 20 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.
At some prisons, gangs are effectively running the facilities, in part due to a lack of staff, using violence to maintain control.
The violence is enhanced by crumbling facilities where prisoners can strip off materials to make weapons and easily leave their cells because the locks don’t work and there’s not enough staff to monitor movements.
The lack of supervision that comes with inadequate staffing, particularly at night, has contributed to a rise in the influence of gangs, leading to a multitude of safety and security concerns.
The number of incarcerated men and women in Georgia identified as members of security threat groups — the prison designation for gangs — has nearly doubled since 2014. Now, gang members make up a third of the state’s prison population.
Source – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Average Rating