Contraband Epidemic Plaguing Georgia Prison System

Reduced staffing and aging infrastructure are contributing to an influx of contraband that is driving an increase in criminal activity inside Georgia prisons, the head of the state Department of Corrections said Wednesday.

Correctional officers confiscated 14,497 cellphones inside state prisons last year, double the 7,224 seized in 2019, Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told a Georgia Senate study committee formed to examine safety and security issues affecting the state’s prisons.

Many of those cellphones are being smuggled into the prisons by drones, some carrying payloads of up to 200 pounds, Oliver said.

“These are huge drones we’re seeing,” he said. “It’s a constant battle we’re fighting.”

Prison inmates are using contraband cellphones to coordinate the distribution of illegal drugs inside and outside prison walls. Last week, 23 current or former inmates and outside conspirators were indicted in federal court on charges of using drones to deliver large quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana as well as cellphones to Smith State Prison in Glennville, Telfair State Prison in McRae and various other state prisons.

Contraband cellphones also are being used in connection with violent crimes, said Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson, R-Cataula, the study committee’s chairman.

“We’ve had murders take place outside of prisons that were orchestrated inside of prisons,” Robertson said.

Oliver said staffing losses are spreading the agency’s workforce thin. The Department of Corrections lost more than 2,000 employees during the covid pandemic but has since rebounded by 500 to 700, he said.

“This is by far the toughest mission in public safety, when you walk into a prison,” he said. “(And) there are a lot of jobs out there that pay more.”

Oliver said the condition of prison infrastructure is contributing to the problem with drones. Inmates are able to get on the roofs of crumbling prison buildings to receive drone deliveries, he said.

Inmate deaths inside prison walls from homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural causes have not risen dramatically in recent years, and violent incidents actually are trending down, Oliver said. However, the nature of today’s prison population is resulting in the violent incidents that do occur causing more harm to the victims, he said.

Criminal justice reform has resulted in fewer non-violent offenders being sent to prison, Oliver said. As a result, 75% of today’s inmates inside Georgia prisons are violent offenders, he said.

“They’re not fighting anymore,” he said. “They’re using homemade weapons and other things to cause more harm.”

Octavious Holiday, a former inmate who spent 16 years behind bars in Georgia for a series of armed robberies, praised the Department of Corrections for increasing the number of programs it offers to help inmates turn around their lives since he entered the system in 2004.

For example, 25% of the high school equivalency diplomas awarded in Georgia every year go to state prison inmates, said Jay Sanders, the department’s assistant commissioner of inmate services.

Oliver said recent pay raises targeting the state’s public safety employees have raised the starting salary for correctional officers to $44,000 a year, comparable to salaries neighboring states are offering.

But more needs to be done, said Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, a member of the study committee.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get you guys the resources you need,” Beach told Oliver and several colleagues who attended Wednesday’s meeting.

Robertson said the committee will hold several more meetings before formulating recommendations to the full Senate by a deadline of Dec. 1.