Corrections officers (COs) have long relied on prisoners to do various parts of their jobs. But since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic when the nation’s state and federal prisons began seeing staff quit en masse, people currently incarcerated in Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) facilities report that COs are deputizing some of them to secure cell doors, inventory personal property and escort patients to medical. Some reports describe prisoners in restraints being escorted by other prisoners, with no officer present.
GDC has been losing staff since 2010. While the prison population has also been shrinking, the rate of staff turnover has been significantly faster. As of early 2024 almost half the corrections officer (CO) posts were vacant.
Big D*, 32, is trying to keep his head down at Johnson State Prison in the hope of paroling out earlier than his max release date in 2028. He told Filter that he’s seen staff give certain “handpicked” favorites the metal detectors and have them conduct contraband shakedowns. “They might as well just start hiring convicts,” he said, “since they run the prison and do the jobs better.”
In a statement released to Filter on September 17 and later published online, incarcerated representatives of the advocacy group Georgia Prisoners Speak confirmed similar reports from at least three GDC prisons in addition to those reached for this article.
“This practice goes beyond basic tasks, such as serving food in segregation units,” Georgia Prisoners Speak stated. “Inmates have been reported assisting officers with duties such as monitoring chow halls, accompanying officers during inmate counts and even escorting other inmates while they are in restraints.”
GDC did not respond to Filter‘s request for comment.
Using prisoners to police other prisoners introduces new power dynamics that are dangerous and frequently exploitative. It creates significantly more opportunity for property theft, blackmail and extortion.
Jug*, who’s been incarcerated at Central State Prison for the past two of his five years in GDC custody, said the changes are stark. “Instead of officers directing traffic or escorting to chow, medical or education,” he told Filter, “it’s now an inmate.”
Jug told Filter that prisoners given such responsibilities are able to move about the prison much more freely than most of the rest of the population, and tend to use their position in service of personal agendas like bringing in contraband.
The practice also appears to extend to tasks that fall outside formal CO duties. These include what many refer to as the “gladiator system.”
“Over the past several years, officers have been using inmates to beat other inmates as a form of punishment,” John*, incarcerated in GDC for the past 19 years and currently in Central State Prison, told Filter. “It has went from bad to worse and is currently out of control.”
He described one July 29 incident in which a prisoner believed to be experiencing a mental health episode swung at COs once they removed his restraints, after which they “beat [him] down for a while.” Rather than having him taken to medical or to segregation once they were through, they reportedly called on other prisoners to continue the beating. Four officers were arrested in connection with the incident, but staff being arrested for conduct while on the job is common. The facility isn’t necessarily safer. There are just more vacancies to fill.
Names have been changed to protect sources
Image (cropped) via Georgia Department of Corrections/YouTube
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