ATLANTA — At least 360 employees of Georgia’s state prison system have been arrested since 2018 on charges of smuggling contraband into prisons, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Twenty-five other employees were fired on smuggling charges but were not arrested.
The newspaper notes that nearly 8 in 10 of the Georgia Department of Corrections employees arrested were women, with nearly half of them 30 or younger when age could be verified.
Those numbers reflect, in part, a prison system that has difficulty recruiting staff and often hires young women with no law enforcement experience. Despite recent pay increases, correctional officers in Georgia are paid less than in many other states.
Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver said he has taken steps to identify corrupt staff since being appointed to the post in December. “As soon as we know they may be compromised and we get that information, we take care of it and get them out of there,” he said.
Oliver acknowledged that contraband is the “driving force” of violence in Georgia’s prisons as well as violence spreading outward.
Gang members sometimes recruit allies to work as officers and smugglers. Other officials may be corrupted by money or intimidated by threats of violence, according to the report.
“We have a chronic, ongoing problem in the state of Georgia with bad officers in the Department of Corrections doing all sorts of things. It’s a problem we deal with every day,” said District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale, whose eight county jails include several.
Barksdale said his office prosecutes as many murder cases from attacks staged inside prisons as from outside.
Some prison employees were paid thousands of dollars before becoming embroiled in schemes that lasted for months or years, the newspaper’s investigation found. Defendants rarely face prison time. Employees may import illegal cell phones, drugs and tobacco, or turn a blind eye to the delivery of contraband. They can also issue warnings about impending raids, help launder money, or open doors.
The requirements for training to become a prison officer in Georgia are minimal: a high school diploma and a criminal history that does not include felonies. Unlike the federal prison system, Georgia’s system does not research the credit or financial history of its applicants.
The newspaper noted that at least 13 officers with the rank of sergeant or higher have been arrested or fired for smuggling offenses since 2018.
Killings outside and an extensive smuggling program at Smith State Prison in Glennville led to the arrest and firing of warden Brian Adams. He is accused of extortion, bribery, making or writing false statements and violating his oath of office.
According to the warrants, Adams was bribed in connection with a gang that ran contraband at the prison. The members of the gang, including their alleged leader, are accused of three murders. It was not immediately known whether Adams has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
One of those killed was Bobby Kicklighter, an 88-year-old man who was shot in his bed in the middle of the night in 2021. Investigators said they determined Kicklighter was killed accidentally after the gang leader ordered the killing of a security guard who was suspected of being anti-smuggling.
Aaron Littman, assistant professor at the UCLA School of Law and faculty director of UCLA’s Prisoners’ Rights Clinic, said corruption can be “deeply toxic.”
Staff shortages and corruption also encourage prisoners to join gangs and obtain weapons because the few guards on duty cannot ensure their safety.
“Putting someone in a facility where serious crimes are being committed by the operators is not exactly a promising way to rehabilitate someone,” Littman said.
