The Georgia Department of Corrections is receiving yet another slate of recommendations to improve its ability to operate secure and safe facilities.
A Georgia Senate study committee said at its final meeting on Friday, Dec. 13, that it wants the General Assembly to raise correctional officer salaries, increase mental health services, audit vendor contracts and form a consistent culture among wardens.
But, it stopped short of creating independent oversight.
The Republican-led study committee, which state Sen. John Albers sits on, held hours of testimony at a series of meetings that began in August.
“Oversight is provided by regular committees, subcommittees and study committees, and I’m not sure we need to create yet another level [of bureaucracy],” Albers said.
State Sen. Randy Robertson, chair of the study committee, agreed.
“Basically, what you have is somebody that’s not answerable to anyone above or below, and I’m always concerned about ombudsman being put in here,” Robertson said. “And I think a part of oversight is what we’re doing right now.”
The study committee voted and approved the recommendations in the middle of public comment, which included people like William “Allen” Wigington. The former chief magistrate judge in Pickens County was recently released from prison after being convicted for theft and credit card fraud.
“If you want to know what’s going wrong in Georgia’s prisons, stop asking the people who are running them,” Wigington said. “We have to stop throwing money at our prison system. We have to start throwing ideas at our prison system.”
The study committee’s recommendations come after the Justice Department completed a multi-year investigation into Georgia’s prisons and issued its own recommendations in October. The agency threatened to sue the state if it didn’t take steps to prevent violations of prisoner’s Eighth Amendment rights — though the Georgia Department of Corrections has denied any wrongdoing.
Commissioner Tyrone Oliver began leading the agency in 2022.
“I know we’re not a perfect organization — I don’t think one exists in the world — but we’re always looking for ways to improve and ways to make things better,” Oliver said. “And I appreciate this body for giving us a platform to do so.”
