ATLANTA — Family and friends of inmates inside Georgia's prison system rallied at the state Capitol building Wednesday, protesting conditions in the Department of Corrections.
The rally came a week after an 11Alive investigation revealed widespread safety failures across the state prison system.
"We're here to lend our voice and help those that are behind the walls that need our help," Human and Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia Executive Director Brian Randolph said.
About 20 people joined him at the statehouse, calling for a change in a corrections system they say is understaffed and plagued with violence.
"We're starting a new year and it's already past crisis level," Randolph said. "Murders. Suicides. Gang violence through the roof."
A recent 11Alive investigation revealed state prison data showing that from 2021 to 2023, there were more than 3,500 assaults between inmates and nearly 100 homicides.
Laura Pirtle said she has family currently incarcerated, and because of this experience, it doesn't come as a surprise to her.
"Even the officers are afraid of the inmates," she said. "There's drugs. There's weapons. There's everything in the prison."
State records show that staff levels cratered over the last decade.
The Georgia Department of Corrections counted more than 6,500 correctional officers among its ranks in 2012. By 2022, that number had fallen to just over 2,500.
It’s a more than 60% decline in guards systemwide; at the same time, inmate populations have only fallen by about 15%.
It's an alarming statistic for Isaac Lester, who said his son died inside Georgia's prison system last year.
"If the prisons are understaffed and you don't have no workers to work in them, call the national guard," Lester said. "That's what they're there for. Get the national guard to come in and clean them up."
To Randolph, it doesn't matter what an inmate is convicted of. He said Georgia's current prison conditions are untenable.
"They are sentenced to those facilities," he said. "They are not sentenced to a death sentence."
Demonstrators are asking lawmakers to address the problems before the legislative session ends next month.