Baldwin State Prison

Baldwin State Prison

Location	140 Laying Farm Road Milledgeville, Georgia (Hardwick postal address)
Status	open
Security class	medium
Capacity	925
Opened	1976
Managed by	Georgia Department of Corrections

The Baldwin State Prison, previously the Baldwin Correctional Institution and the Georgia Women's Correctional Institution (GWCI), is a prison located in Milledgeville, Georgia, United States,^[1] with a Hardwick postal address.^[2] The prison has a capacity of 900.^[3] After complaints in the early 1990s by more than 200 women of sexual abuse by guards, an investigation was conducted. More than a dozen guards were prosecuted. The state decided to move the women to other prison facilities for a total change in culture. This facility now houses only adult male felons, with a capacity of 992.

Also on the prison grounds is a boot camp which houses 240. It was constructed and opened in 1979. It was renovated in 1989 and re-opened in 1990. It is a medium security prison.^{[citation needed]} It is a part of the Georgia Department of Corrections.

History

In 1984 several women at GWCI sued the prison, accusing employees of committing sexual abuse.^[4] By September 1, 1992, 70 women at GWCI said that prison guards had sexually abused them.^[5] By 1993 over 180 prisoners at GWCI stated that prison guards had sexually abused them.^[6]

In the early 1990s, based on affidavits of almost 200 prisoners at GWCI who said they had been abused, more than 12 DOC employees were suspended, fired, and transferred. Several top administrators in the department and several top employees at GWCI were relieved of their positions.^[7] As part of the scandal, 15 men and women were indicted on criminal charges of sexually abusing prisoners. Two prison guards pleaded guilty and received probation. A Baldwin County jury acquitted another prison guard. The state dropped charges against the other accused parties.^[7] In 1992 Mary Esposito, a native of Waycross, Georgia and the first female warden of an all-male prison in Georgia, took over as the warden of Baldwin State; she had been transferred from the Burruss Correctional Training Center.^[3]

Until 1992 the prison housed female death row inmates.^[8][9] In 1992 the sentence of the state's only female death row inmate was commuted to life in prison.^[10]

In 1993 Governor of Georgia Zell Miller announced that the women from the Georgia Women's Correctional Institution would be moved to the Metro State Prison near Atlanta, which was to be emptied of its male prisoners. The officials scheduled the completion of the swap on July 1, 1993.^[6] Lynn Cook of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that the swap occurred partly "to get the female inmates out of a culture at Georgia Women’s Correctional Institution that had allowed officers and other workers at the prison to engage in sexual relationships with inmates."^[7] The former GWCI was renamed as the Baldwin Correctional Institution and used to house male inmates.^[11]

On April 28, 1995, the remaining 30 women at the facility were transferred out. Most of the women were sent to Washington Correctional Institution. Others went to Metro and to the Pulaski Correctional Institution.^[12]

Baldwin was one of the 7 prisons that participated in the 2010 Georgia prison strike.

Baldwin was one of nine Georgia state prisons implicated in an FBI sting operation announced in February 2016. The agency indicted 47 correction officers who had agreed to deliver illegal drugs while in uniform. These charges were "part of a larger public corruption investigation into Georgia Correctional Facilities".^[13]

Around 5:45 a.m. on June 13, 2017, a group of inmates from this prison were being transported in a bus on Georgia Highway 16, in Putnam County, Georgia. Two inmates overpowered the guards and obtained their firearms. The suspects then shot and killed two of the guards, escaped the scene and later stole a vehicle.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]} Following an unsuccessful home invasion, the suspects were caught two days later in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and taken into custody.^{[23][24][25][26]}

Location

The prison is located in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia.^[1] with a Hardwick postal address.^[2] It is in proximity to Hardwick,^[3] and south of the center of Milledgeville,^[27] in the middle Georgia region.^[11] The prison was in a wooded area off of a main road.^[27] It is a part of the Middle Georgia Correctional Complex, which has five prisons.^[12]

In 1992 Eric Harrison of the Los Angeles Times said that it "resembles nothing so much as a low-lying suburban office park or a modern middle school."^[27]

References

• Siegel, Larry and Clemens Bartollas. Corrections Today. Cengage Learning, January 29, 2010. ISBN 049560240X, 9780495602408.

Notes

External links

• Baldwin State Prison - Georgia Department of Corrections

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Georgia Department of Corrections facilities

State prisons

• Arrendale State Prison
• Augusta State Medical Prison
• Autry State Prison
• Baldwin State Prison
• Burruss Correctional Training Center
• Calhoun State Prison
• Central State Prison
• Coastal State Prison
• Dodge State Prison
• Dooly State Prison
• Emanuel Women’s Facility
• Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison
• Hancock State Prison
• Hays State Prison
• Helms Facility
• Johnson State Prison
• Lee State Prison
• Long State Prison
• Macon State Prison
• Montgomery State Prison
• Phillips State Prison
• Pulaski State Prison
• Rogers State Prison
• Rutledge State Prison
• Smith State Prison
• Special Management Unit at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison
• Telfair State Prison
• Valdosta State Prison & Annex
• Walker State Prison
• Ware State Prison
• Washington State Prison
• Whitworth Women's Facility
• Wilcox State Prison

Reentry facilities

• Metro Reentry Facility

Transitional centers

• Albany Transitional Center
• Arrendale Transitional Center
• Atlanta Transitional Center
• Augusta Transitional Center
• Charles D. Hudson Transitional Center
• Clayton Transitional Center
• Coastal Transitional Center
• Columbus Transitional Center
• Macon Transitional Center
• Metro Transitional Center
• Phillips Transitional Center
• Smith Transitional Center
• Valdosta Transitional Center

Probation facilities

• Bacon Probation Detention Center
• Bainbridge Probation Substance Abuse Treatment Center
• Bleckley Probation Detention Center
• Colwell Probation Detention Center
• Emanuel Probation Detention Center
• McEver Probation Detention Center
• Patten Probation Detention Center
• Paulding Probation Detention Center
• Treutlen Probation Detention Center
• Women’s Probation Detention Center

Substance abuse facilities

• Appling Integrated Treatment Facility
• Northwest Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center
• Turner Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center
• West Central Integrated Treatment Facility

Private facilities

• Coffee Correctional Facility
• Jenkins Correctional Facility
• Riverbend Correctional Facility
• Wheeler Correctional Facility

County facilities

• Athens-Clarke County Correctional Institution
• Bulloch County Correctional Institution
• Carroll County Correctional Institute
• Clayton County Prison
• Colquitt County Prison
• Coweta County Prison
• Decatur County Prison
• Effingham County Prison
• Floyd County Prison
• Gwinnett County Prison
• Hall County Correctional Institution
• Harris County Prison
• Jackson County Correctional Institution
• Jefferson County Correctional Institute
• Mitchell County Correctional Institute
• Muscogee County Prison
• Richmond County Correctional Institution
• Screven County Prison
• Spalding County Correctional Institution
• Sumter County Correctional Institute
• Terrell County Correctional Institute

Closed facilities (partial list)

• Bostick State Prison
• Georgia State Prison
• Homerville State Prison
• Men's State Prison
• Metro State Prison
• Milan State Prison
• Rivers State Prison
• Scott State Prison
• Thomas County Prison
• Troup County Correctional Institution
• Wayne State Prison

See also

• 2010 Georgia prison strike

33°01′41″N 83°13′10″W / 33.02806°N 83.21944°W / 33.02806; -83.21944