The amount of additional funding for prisons approved by Georgia lawmakers this year. The system has been plagued by security lapses and violence, with state consultants finding that vacancies were at “emergency levels” at 20 of Georgia’s 34 prisons. Much of the money will go to salary increases, maintenance, new construction and technology upgrades. Matt Hatchett, who chairs the state House Appropriations Committee, warned colleagues the additional spending is “just the beginning of a costly but essential endeavor.”
