How Georgia’s Sex Offender Registry Traps People in Debt and Homelessness I was arrested in 2010 while engaging in sex work to survive and later forced to register as a sex offender. Since then, social stigma, footage laws, and crushing monthly court debts have made it difficult to get back on my own two feet and succeed after prison. Christina Lynch
Internal Report Details Severely Malnourished Detainees at Atlanta-Area Jail The facility’s medical provider described people with mental illness wasting away in a unit overrun by an outbreak of lice and scabies. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Sheriffs Offered Caribbean Cruises and Florida Retreats as Part of Jail Telecom Contracts Smart Communications, a for-profit Florida company that sells phone, videochat, and email-like services to prisons and jails, told at least one sheriff’s department that it can live “the resort life” on a trip to Florida. Hayden Betts
Nearly Half the People at Crowded Atlanta Jail Haven’t Been Formally Charged With a Crime, ACLU Says Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat says the county needs more jail beds to fix the jail's crisis. But a new ACLU report says that significant numbers of people in the jail can be released. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
‘I Did Not Shake My Son’: Is a Father Serving Life for a Crime That Never Occurred? Expert says trauma from childbirth, not shaking, led to the death of Danyel Smith's two-month-old child. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Georgia’s Unique Death Penalty Law Is Killing the Mentally Disabled Georgia is the strictest state in America when it comes to proving intellectual disability in capital cases. This month, the Supreme Court could save the life of a man who says he is mentally disabled—or let the state kill him. Lauren Gill
Why Atlantans Are Pushing to Stop ‘Cop City’ After the city council passed the ground lease for massive police facility known as “Cop City,” local opposition hasn’t ceased; it’s evolved. Aja Arnold
Democrats’ Win in Georgia Shows What Voters Really Want From Government It’s time for political leaders, no matter their party, to listen to voters—and provide financial relief from the pandemic. Emily Galvin-Almanza, Sean McElwee, Ethan Winter
The Future of Voting Rights Is at Stake in the Georgia Runoffs By winning a narrow majority in the upper chamber, Democrats could at last stop the Republican assault on voting rights—if its centrist members have the courage to do so. Jay Willis
A Voter’s Guide To Georgia’s Runoff Election Control of the U.S. Senate hinges on the results of next month’s runoff. Dawn Milam
‘Democracy Pressure-Tested’: Voter Suppression Efforts Underway As Election Nears Efforts by elected leaders in several states are making it harder to get to the polls and fomenting misinformation about the election amid a pandemic. Joshua Vaughn
Criminal Justice Advocates Say New Law Undermines Georgia’s Efforts at Bail Reform The law, known as SB 402, eliminates the use of signature bonds for a number of felonies, putting poor people who might not be able to afford cash bail at a disadvantage. Victoria Law
Prisoners Inside Georgia’s Clayton County Jail Describe Desperate Efforts To Avoid COVID-19 They shared their stories as part of a lawsuit seeking urgent changes to protect prisoners. One prisoner wrote that a jail officer denied his request for a mask, so he tied old underwear around his face. Lauren Gill
Georgia Budget Cuts Threaten Prisoners’ Ability To Challenge Convictions Citing the pandemic, state legislators asked all agencies to trim their budgets. The cuts could eliminate positions for public defenders who can show a trial or sentence was unjust, overturn convictions, or reduce a person’s time. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Atlanta’s Mayor Wants $13 Million More For Police. Four Officers Were Just Fired For Using Excessive Force. Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has asked for the budget increase amid ongoing local and national reports of police violence against protesters. Ko Bragg
Advocates Push For Details On Georgia’s Response To COVID-19 In Prisons and Jails ‘Our state and local officials have a responsibility to not endanger those who are under correctional control,’ the ACLU of Georgia’s executive director said. Lauren Gill
Five Jurists Said Donnie Lance Deserved a New Sentence. Georgia Executed Him Anyway. Three Supreme Court justices and others said competent counsel could have saved his life. Kyle C. Barry
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Wants to Slash Public Defender Funding By $3 Million Advocates warn that the cuts could push an already overburdened system to the breaking point. Jay Willis
Man Spared From Execution After Rare Clemency Grant It’s the first time since 2014 that someone on Georgia’s death row has been granted clemency. Braden Goyette
Instagram Photos Offer Glimpse Inside Notorious Georgia Jail The DeKalb County Jail, now at the center of protests, has a long history of problems and a legacy of housing people for unpaid fines. Raven Rakia
Atlanta Bail Reform Is Leaving Behind Homeless and Mentally Ill People A number of people spent multiple days at the Atlanta City Detention Center for low-level offenses, including for driving while using a cell phone and for walking in the roadway. Aaron Morrison
Trans Woman Jailed and Harassed Because She Didn’t Pay A $15 Seatbelt Fine, Lawsuit Says Sierra Castle alleges she faced discrimination and harassment after being placed in a men’s holding cell in the Cobb County, Georgia, jail. Raven Rakia
Deputies ‘Tortured, Then Killed’ Man At Georgia Jail On ‘Taser Tuesday,’ Attorneys Say Antonio May, a 32 year-old father of three, died in the Fulton County Jail in September after deputies pepper-sprayed and shot him with a Taser. Aaron Morrison
Jailed Men Get Help While Women Languish, Georgia Lawsuit Claims Women with mental illness are left in isolation and filth, and often placed in solitary confinement, according to a suit against the Fulton County sheriff. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Party Guests Suing Over Mass Arrest for Less Than An Ounce of Marijuana Attorneys representing the arrestees in Cartersville, Georgia, say they were mistreated in jail, lost jobs, and endured public humiliation. Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
Georgia Woman Endured Arrest, Million-Dollar Bond, and Months of Jail Over ‘Meth’ That Was Actually Cotton Candy A notoriously unreliable roadside drug test administered by Monroe County sheriff's deputies led to Dasha Fincher being charged with methamphetamine trafficking. Lauren Gill
‘Worse Than Guantánamo’ Dozens of former detainees at the Gwinnett County jail in Georgia claim they were subjected to brutality at the hands of its Rapid Response Team. Kira Lerner
Deported Before His Case Was Closed Immigrants are being deported while their cases are still pending, immigration attorneys say. Zack Peterson
Keith Tharpe’s Scheduled Execution Tests Our Tolerance for Racial Bias in Executions There are two types of Black people, the juror said, and Tharpe wasn’t a “good” one. Cassandra Stubbs
