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Georgia has an incarceration rate of 968 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Georgia and why.
102,000 people from Georgia are behind bars
Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Georgia is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 236,000 different people are booked into local jails in Georgia.
Also see these Georgia graphs:
Today, Georgia's incarceration rates stand out internationally
See also our detailed graphs about Whites and Blacks in Georgia prisons and jails.
Georgia's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails
The high cost of being incarcerated in Georgia
Prisons and jails in Georgia are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:
Jails in Georgia charge up to $4.65 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge $2.10 for a 15-minute phone call.
Georgia is suspended its $5 medical copays in prisons at the beginning of the pandemic, it should eliminate them completely.
Georgia prisons charge families up to a 18% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
The poorest people in Georgia prisons get some items for free — but they have to pay the state back.
People in Georgia prisons earn nothing for their work.
Our other articles about Georgia
Most people in Georgia jails are eligible to vote, but are disenfranchised by a series of barriers
Bail companies in Georgia have a track record of avoiding accountability, our report All Profit, No Risk and review of state-by-state evidence show
Georgia prisons release about 17,200 people every year
Across Georgia's youth carceral facilities, 90% of entry-level officers left their jobs within the first year in FY2021
Georgia hurts jury diversity by excluding people with felony records
Cruel and unusual punishment: When Georgia prisons don't provide air conditioning
We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Georgia gets an F
Who's helping the 86,329 women released from Georgia correctional facilities each year?
"What about prisons?": A handy video explainer on redistricting in Georgia
Census Data May Be a Big Concern for Georgia County Commissioners
Data on COVID-19 in Georgia jails and prisons
We gave Georgia a failing grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:
Georgia failed to utilize one of the most obvious, and easiest, tools for reducing the prison population — stopping prison admissions for technical violations of probation and parole (which are not crimes).
Georgia is one of only 8 state prison systems that did not offer free phone calls at any point during the pandemic.
For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:
How many COVID-19 cases in Georgia communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)
Research on Georgia in our Research Library