The 20-Year View
Over the last 20 years, the costs of running Georgia’s prisons have risen by almost 70%. Despite promises of reform over the years, the number of individuals within the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections has largely remained unchanged, hovering near 51,000 in 2023. During this period, GBPI has continued to work on key issues like reducing local reliance on fines and fees that entangle communities of color in the criminal legal system and contribute to the incarceration of Georgians in poverty.
Georgia Department of Corrections FY 2025 Budget
Georgia’s Department of Corrections (GDC) budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025 is $1.5 billion. This year’s budget continues a three-year trend in prison spending. This increase is driven by efforts to improve employee retention through pay raises and to address the increased spending on health care contracts in response to issues such as rising prison violence, chronic health needs and an aging incarcerated population.
GDC Policies Work Against Health and Safety Needs and Perpetuate Workforce Exploitation
GDC’s FY 2025 spending is $166 million higher than FY 2024 and over $214 million higher than FY 2023. This includes nearly $52 million for prison safety and infrastructure. This approach appears to be focused on expanding incarceration through increased spending, and it perpetuates unsafe prison dynamics and repeats unsuccessful approaches that undermine steps toward humane, rehabilitative policies for successful re-entry.
Despite a nearly $72 million increase in health and pharmacy contract spending in FY 2025 and a nearly 40% increase in prison health spending since FY 2022, incarcerated Georgians’ mental and physical health often depends on their ability to pay GDC’s medical co-pay, prescription, phone and commissary fees. For each of the last three years on record, incarcerated Georgians and their loved ones have been charged more than $10 million in fees by GDC,[1] which they often cannot afford but pay as a means of survival. GDC has yet to apply for federal funding opportunities to help facilitate the closing of health care coverage gaps for Georgians returning from incarceration.[2]
Lawmakers allocated nearly $43 million to increase GDC staff pay, yet incarcerated Georgians continue to be used as a source of unpaid and unprotected labor.[3] Lawmakers added nearly $52 million in FY 2025 for prison safety and infrastructure, but undermined these efforts by maintaining inequitable prison labor practices and fees, which contribute to toxic stress, illness, and injury, perpetuating an unsafe environment for those incarcerated in Georgia.[4]
Endnotes
[1] FY 2025 Governor’s Budget Report. GA Department of Corrections’ annual revenue data from FY 2021 to FY 2023.
[2] Hinton, E., Pillai, A., & Diana, A. (2024, April 16). Section 1115 waiver watch: Medicaid pre-release services for people who are incarcerated. KFF. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/ section-1115-waiver-watch-medicaid-pre-release-services-for-people-who-are-incarcerated/
[3] Lyons, B. (2022, June 30). California lawmakers reject ballot proposal that aimed to end forced prison labor. Cal Matters. https://calmatters.org/justice/2022/06/california-prisoners- work-involuntary-servitude/
[4] Christman, A., & Lu, H. (2024, April). Workers doing time must be protected by job safety laws. National Employment Law Project.
