Lifers Fall Through the Cracks of the Prison Security Classification System

Lifers Fall Through the Cracks of the Prison Security Classification System

The Georgia Department of Corrections assigns every person in its custody a security classification: Minimum, Medium or Close. This classification determines which prisons they can be sent to, what jobs they can be assigned, what programming they have access to and how much their movements are restricted. Anyone whose conviction is designated “violent” is automatically classified Close security, by the court clerks in the county where they were …