ATLANTA — The man put in place to clean up Georgia’s corrections system is talking only with Channel 2 Action News about drugs, weapons, and corruption going on behind prison walls.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne spoke one-on-one with Georgia Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver who said he’s not going to tolerate bad behavior from his employees.
“As long as I’m sitting in this seat as commissioner of GDC, I’ll have a zero tolerance for corruption. I’ll stand on the Capitol stairs, I’ll stand anywhere to let people know that we’re not going to put up with it,” Oliver said.
Oliver told Winne that corruption combines with contraband -- weapons, drugs, illegal cellphones, and more—as well as with gangs and prison violence.
“If we can reduce the number of contraband coming in we can reduce the violence,” Oliver said. “Gangs drive a lot of the issues that we’re seeing in the prison system. They’re coming in younger. And they’re going to stay with us a lot longer and they’re becoming more violent.”
Oliver said this is what he has been tasked with changing since Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to lead the Georgia Department of Corrections in late December:
“What I got from the governor is, No. 1, hold the offenders accountable, do the right thing and I’m going to use every tool and resource at my disposal to make sure that we’re operating safe secure facilities and were going to have zero tolerance on gang activity,” Oliver said.
Warrant documents dated Feb. 3 suggest Larissa White allegedly accepted more than $7,000 through the Cash App from an inmate at the Riverbend Correctional Facility in return for organizing other employees to introduce contraband into Riverbend.
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The commissioner said White was a mid-level manager at Riverbend, a private prison run by the Geo Group, but which gets state inmates from GDC.
A statement from Geo Group, while not naming White, said an arrest was made thanks to due diligence by another Geo staff member who informed facility leadership of suspected activity.
“From my understanding, she’s from a private prison, she’s not a GDC or state employee,” Oliver said.
Oliver showed Winne data that shows there were 27 prison homicides in the fiscal year 2022, and 21 just roughly halfway through the fiscal year 2023.
Inmate-on-inmate assaults averaged 56 a month in the fiscal year 2022, and there have been 80 a month so far in the fiscal year 2023, which started in July.
“Regardless of what rules we put in place, what kind of systems we put in place, they’re playing by a different set of rules,” Oliver said.
But cellphone seizures are at 4,134 so far in the fiscal year 2023, on a pace to far exceed 5,604 from the previous fiscal year.
The same goes with the 9,502 weapons found so far in the fiscal year 2023, compared to 11,724 for all of 2022.
Oliver said officers are doing more shakedowns.
“Last year alone, we conducted over 126 full shakedowns that include our tactical teams and with the combination of our investigative teams. I plan on increasing that in the upcoming months,” Oliver said.
The commissioner said GDC arrests of staff are slowing with 22 so far in the fiscal year 2023, compared to 72 for the previous fiscal year.
In both years, the number of civilian arrests dwarfs staff arrests.
Oliver said the vast majority of GDC officers are honest, hardworking, and dedicated.
Winne tried reaching White for comment on this story by phone, text, and social media but never heard back from her.
The Geo Group statement said, “the arrested staff member has been terminated.”
It adds “Geo has a zero-tolerance policy for such staff misconduct, especially when it jeopardizes the safety of the facility. We are proud that we were able to address this matter immediately and in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Corrections.”
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