How Many Prisoners Are In Georgia? Prisoners Population in Georgia
The prisoner population in Georgia is 47,010, with an incarceration rate of 968 per 100,000 population.
Georgia is a beautiful state in the US, ranking fourth in total area and first in land area. Initially, Georgia comprised other states like Mississippi and Alabama in 1732, making it even larger. However, with a large area and population, the number of crimes and criminals in Georgia is also high and requires many prisons to keep the offenders. So, the question arises, "How many prisoners are in Georgia?”
The prisoner population in Georgia is 47,010, with an incarceration rate of 968 per 100,000 population.
Prisons in Georgia
Georgia has 47,010 prisoners in 34 state prisons, including non-violent, violent, and repeat offenders. Criminals sent to state prisons have usually committed felonies instead of misdemeanors or are repeat offenders who have paid fines and served jail time.
Prisons offer health facilities, educational programs, and self-improvement classes for prisoners.
Security Levels in Georgia Prisons
Georgia's prisons and correctional facilities are categorized into three levels depending on the offender's criminal history, nature of the crime, sentence, violence history, and medical needs. They include:
Minimum Security
Minimum security facilities have prisoners who are non-violent and abide by prison regulations. They have a minimal escape risk and pose a minimal threat to the community. They may be sent to transitional centers.
Medium Security
Medium security prisons have inmates who do not have a high risk of escape but do not abide by the prison rules and regulations easily. Most of the offenders coming to prison belong to this category. While they may work outside the prison fence, they need continuous monitoring.
Close Security
Close-security prisons are maximum-security facilities that have offenders with high escape risks and may pose harm to other inmates. They are not allowed to leave the prison as most have an assault and violence history; a correctional officer must always be present with them.
Read The Prison Population in Ohio? How Many Prisoners Are in Ohio?
Prisoner Population in Georgia
Georgia has 47,010offenders in different facilities like prisons, jails, juvenile justice facilities, and immigration detention centers.
Around 50% of the total prisoners are locked up in state prisons, with more than a quarter population serving jail time. Approximately 15% of offenders are in federal prisons, whereas a few are in Youth and Involuntary Commitment facilities.
Prison Trends in Georgia
Gender
Besides the increasing number of male inmates in jails, a significant increase has been seen in the number of female offenders being sent to prison.
Race
You can see racial and ethnic disparity across the US, with many black people serving in jails. In Georgia, Black people comprise 32% of the total state residents, out of which 60% are in prison.
Geography
Like other parts of the United States, Georgia also exhibits a high number of jailed convicts and offenders sent to prison from rural areas.
Georgia Prison Stats 2019
Georgia has 183 jails in 159 counties throughout the state. Other details of prisons and jails in Georgia include:
- Jail population: 45,340
- Prisons in Georgia: 34
- Prisoner population in Georgia: 54,113
- Prison staff: 9,169
- Budget: $1,205,012,739
- Under-probation Georgia community corrections population: 411,768
- Under-parole Georgia community corrections population: 19,256
Read The Prison Population In Texas? How Many Prisoners Are in Texas?
Work Details in Georgia State Prisons
Able-bodies offenders in prison are assigned work duties, including cleaning, cooking, laundry, and repairing. They may also be asked to join correctional programs or help with other work around the prison facility, such as farming and serving food. Some minimum-security offenders may also be chosen to work in prison fire stations responding to nearby emergencies.
Able-bodied workers in prison may build, repair, and maintain prison and other buildings and clean other public buildings. Some also work at the Georgia Correctional Industries to gain skills in manufacturing industries such as optics, footwear, printing, metal fabrication, screen printing, woodwork, license plates, etc.
Georgia’s Prison Population and Politics
While all of the prisoners in the prisons of Georgia might not be from the county they are in. However, the state considers them prisoners of the country the prison is in; it leads to problems in the political landscape by increasing the population of counties with prisons. Though criminals with felony charges cannot vote, it makes a difference.
The Prison Policy Initiative, calls it “prison gerrymandering” and mentions, “The big problem with prison gerrymandering is it takes political representation from areas, generally areas where there are a lot of people of color, and concentrates it in generally rural areas where there are prisons, and those tend to be whiter areas. So, it concentrates political representation.”
The Democratic state Rep. Winfred Dukes of Albany also mentioned that including the population counts from prisons comprising mostly black and brown inmates also alters the racial breakdown of districts. Thus, it can make an area that is made up mostly of white voters appear racially diverse on paper.
Prisons in 11 states also attempt to relocate prison populations to adjust the numbers given by the government; a few Georgian counties and cities also consider the numbers.
County Administrator Mandie Milner said, “We have five districts in Calhoun County,” she said, “and we’re trying to make sure that we have the same amount of people in each district voting.”
Furthermore, State Sen. Blake Tillery, a Vidalia Republican, mentions, “If a census is being mailed to their old address, and we know it’s not getting to them, we do need to make sure that they’re counted. They’re people. They’re citizens. We have to make sure they’re counted.”
Other States with High Prisoner Populations
Now that we have shared the prisoner population in Georgia, it is important to mention that Georgia has the fourth-highest prison population. Texas has the highest prison population in the US, followed by California, Florida, and Georgia.
After Georgia, Ohio is the fifth state in terms of prison population, while Pennsylvania is sixth. Arizona, Michigan, Virginia, and New York are the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth states with high prison populations.
Final Words
While Georgia is the fourth largest state in the US in terms of the total area, it also has the fourth-highest number of prisoners. The prison population in Georgia is 47,010 in 34 state prisons, with an incarceration rate of 968 per 100,000 population.
A large fraction of offenders in Georgia are in state prisons, while a quarter are serving jail time; some are also in federal prisons and youth and involuntary commitment facilities. County Administration has been working to create a healthy prisoner balance between different countries to prevent political bias.
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