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Senate panel probes GDC request to fund correctional officer positions as turnover bites
Summary
The Senate appropriations subcommittee questioned the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) about a $4.9 million recommendation to fund filled correctional‑officer slots, reviewing tenure losses, use of agency revenue to pay staff and the department’s remaining $15–19 million deficit in personal services.
The Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday pressed the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) for details about a $4.9 million request the governor recommended to fund currently filled correctional-officer slots and improve staffing ratios.
The chairman opened the hearing by saying the panel would “drill down and make sure we're spending every dime the best way we can,” and asked GDC leaders to walk members through the amended budget requests. Commissioner Oliver told senators the department currently has about 3,100 correctional officers in position against a budgeted level of roughly 3,087, and said the governor’s recommendation would move staffing toward a Guidehouse benchmark of about 1:11 staff-to-inmate ratios.
Senators sought specifics on how many additional positions the 4.9 million would fund and whether the request would eliminate the department’s practice of covering state slots from agency revenue. The department said the 4.9 million is intended to support a portion of the effort to reach the 1:11 benchmark but will not fully remove reliance on some “other funds” that the agency generates via work‑detail reimbursements, commissary sales and telephone commissions.
Committee members also examined workforce composition and turnover data presented by GDC. Slides showed a marked decline in long‑tenured COs since 2007 and that the current tenure peak for front‑line officers is roughly two years. Senators and staff described the resulting strain on supervision: fewer seasoned sergeants and lieutenants are performing frontline duties to fill gaps, reducing “eyes on” supervision in dorms and during incidents.
Members pressed for a tally of how many positions would be filled with the proposed dollars, and how many additional dollars would be needed to fully fund all filled-but-unfunded slots; department staff cited a larger shortfall in the range of roughly $15 million to $19 million.
The subcommittee took no formal vote at the hearing; the discussion will inform later negotiations as the legislature finalizes the FY26‑27 budget.
