Georgia
Kemp unveils plan to to spend millions intended to restore order in Georgia prisons • Georgia Recorder
The Georgia Department of Corrections and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp unveiled a plan Tuesday to spend an additional $600 million on the state prison system, which has suffered from inadequate staffing, violence, and facilities in disrepair.
During a joint meeting of House and Senate appropriation subcommittees Tuesday, state corrections department Commissioner Tyrone Oliver presented the wide ranging list of budget recommendations, describing them as necessary investments for strengthening prison security, increasing staffing levels, increasing compensation for correctional officers and other staff and renovating facilities. The conditions of Georgia’s prisons were so poor that the United States Department of Justice threatened a lawsuit if the state did not shore up a myriad of problems it found to violate the constitutional rights of inmates.
The federal report contains descriptions of numerous assaults, including beatings, stabbings, rapes and acts of torture. It finds that the homicide rate in Georgia prisons is nearly triple that of the national average, and that other serious and life-threatening incidents are “exponentially more frequent.”
According to Oliver, the additional money is needed to address the near-term challenges of the prisons, which often leave staff and inmates in dangerous situations.
“Staffing levels for correctional officers are low all around this, all around the country and also at the federal level,” Oliver said. “This leads to insufficient staffing patterns and existing staff do not feel safe. Staffing patterns and training needs need to be updated to meet the needs of the modern workforce.”
The corrections department is requesting an additional $6.1 million for the current budget in order to begin the process of hiring an additional 882 correctional and security officers over the next several years. In order to reduce the current staff-to-offender ratio of 14 to 11, the corrections department aims to add 330 correctional and security officer positions over the next year.
The department is also requesting several million dollars for a 4% salary increase for correctional officers and staff working in education, chaplain, food service and maintenance. The governor’s recommendations also call for an 8% salary hike for behavioral health counselors, which would put them close in line with statewide averages in surrounding states.
The department is also pushing for potential officer promotions every six months that will provide better pay as a way to retain staff.
Several legislators on Tuesday’s panels addressed the department’s plans to significantly increase staffing over the next several years, referencing the current hiring and retention challenges that have resulted in a system-wide deficit of about 2,600 personnel.
“While adding new positions sounds great, and we should strive for that, we’re having a devil of a time trying to get there to begin with in our current ones,” said Sen. John Albers, a Roswell Republican.
Kemp said the corrections budget proposal is the latest in a series of significant spending on public safety designed to reduce crime by targeting violent offenders and improving training and compensation for law enforcement officers.
The budget recommendations included input from independent consulting firm Guidehouse Inc., appointed by Kemp in June to create an in-depth assessment of a Georgia prison system that houses about 50,000 inmates and employs about 9,000 people.
“Public safety is the number one priority of the state government, and that is why we have taken a comprehensive and deliberate approach to strengthening law enforcement and improving our corrections system,” Kemp said in a statement Tuesday.
The governor’s budget proposal also includes money addressing inmate overcrowding in state prisons. Kemp’s recommendations include spending $40 million to design and plan a new prison facility, adding 446 beds to an existing private prison contract, and adding 126 bed units to ease inmate movement while capital and security improvements are underway.
The corrections department is also requesting an extra $50 million to install new contraband interdiction technology, including equipment to detect cell phones and drones, which prison officials say is the most common method of smuggling drugs and weapons into prisons.
Another $77 million would be used to replace locks inside the facilities as well as perform other major infrastructure improvements. The corrections department is also recommending spending an additional $86 million for emergency repairs and maintenance at facilities.
The $600 million budget plan will be split between this year’s budget and the budget for next year, which will both be voted on by the Legislature this spring.
The Georgia corrections department has labeled the Justice Department’s accusations as a misunderstanding of the systemic challenges of operating expansive prison systems, and also criticized the federal department for its poor record of overseeing federal prisons.
Dublin Republican Rep. Matt Hatchett said holding a state department’s budget subcommittee meeting the week prior to the start of the Legislative session is a sign of pressing needs to address within the state corrections department.
“It is out of the ordinary, and I think it shows the emphasis that (Kemp) and us collectively are putting on this issue,” said Hatchett, chairman of the House Special Subcommittee of Appropriations on State Prisons, “I do appreciate him agreeing to do that. You can study things for a long time and hope that you get the right answer and the right path forward. Well, this has been studied and studied, and I think it’s time to get something done.”
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The SEC has announced the future Georgia football conference opponents for the 2026 through 2029 seasons.
Georgia will face Florida, South Carolina and Auburn every season. The SEC announced on Friday that the annual opponents will be revisited every four seasons.
Georgia football future SEC opponents, schedule
- 2026: Florida (Atlanta), at South Carolina, Auburn, at Alabama, at Ole Miss, at Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Vanderbilt
- 2027: Florida (Tampa), South Carolina, at Auburn, at Kentucky, at Texas, at Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee
- 2028: Florida (Jacksonville), at South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama, Ole Miss, Arkansas, at Oklahoma, at Missouri, at Vanderbilt
- 2029: Florida (Jacksonville), South Carolina, at Auburn, Kentucky, Texas, Texas A&M, at LSU, at Mississippi State, at Tennessee
“it’s hard. I mean, it’s brutal. And everybody’s the same,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said on Tuesday night. “I mean, we all gotta play each other. It’s really tough, highly ranked teams, physical teams. It’s just going to continue to be a grind. I mean, looking forward with the nines coming, it’s going to be scary because you just don’t have enough. Nobody has enough depth.”
Dates for the 2026 schedule will be announced in December, according to the conference. The schedules will be flipped in 2028 and 2029 from the home-road splits in 2026 and 2027.
In its scheduling outline, the SEC made it clear it wants competitively balanced schedules, which will be determined using the entire schedule and not just the annual opponents. Tennessee reportedly will face Alabama, Vanderbilt and Kentucky in each of the next four years. The latter two are not exactly football powerhouses.
According to the SEC, the highest opponent average winning percentage for any school in the 2026-29 schedules is 55.67% while the lowest is 46.65%, a difference of only 9.02%. From 2020 through 2023 — when the league still used the divisional format — the highest winning percentage was 61.32% and the lowest was 39.76%.
In addition to nine conference games, the SEC stipulates that schools face one Power Four in its nonconference scheduling.
Georgia’s game against Georgia Tech satisfies that requirement. Georgia has future nonconference games against Louisville, Florida State, Clemson and Ohio State on its schedule for the time being.
As it stands, Georgia has 13 games scheduled for the 2025 season. The Bulldogs have nonconfernce games against Tennessee State, Western Kentucky, Louisville and Georgia Tech.
“We’re working through that right now, and a lot of that’s going to be determined as we learn when and where our schedule is going to be in the next few weeks,” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks said. “But that’s something we’re attacking right now to see what our options are going to be in 2026. So we’re going to take it one year at a time right now. The first focus is going to be on 2026 and then 2027 and moving on. So still a lot of work to be done, and I work closely with Coach Smart and Mark Robinson and the league to kind of figure out what is that going to mean for our schedule moving forward.”
Georgia takes on Alabama this week, with the game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
The grounds for his arrest are still unknown, even to his attorneys.
We’re back for another week of college football action and the slate is loaded, including three games between ranked opponents.
Here’s how to watch in Week 3. Scroll down for live scores, highlights and more.
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Here are the best games this Saturday:
Clemson at Georgia Tech (+3), Noon ET, ESPN: The Tigers are just 3-point favorites ahead of their first road game. It’s a sign that expectations for Clemson have been way off. With Haynes King back, the Yellow Jackets will want to keep it on the ground.
Georgia at Tennessee (+4), 3:30 p.m., ABC: Has Georgia’s offense been good enough ahead of this pivotal SEC game? Saturday is the day to air it out as Tennessee will be without its top two corners again.
South Florida at Miami (-17.5), 4:30 p.m., The CW: The Bulls are the surprise team so far this season. Can they pull off a third straight upset, or will the ‘Canes handle business?
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Florida at LSU (-7), 7:30 p.m., ABC: This game was going to be the day’s marquee matchup before Florida’s loss to USF. A Florida victory would certainly quiet the idea that Billy Napier is on the hot seat.
Texas A&M at Notre Dame (-6.5), 7:30 p.m., NBC: Aggies QB Marcel Reed has thrown for seven TDs so far and A&M’s offense has racked up 953 total yards. The Irish will surely try to get the ball to their star running backs after a subpar opener.
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