Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison
Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison Entrance on Hwy. 36 in Jackson, Georgia
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 Location in Georgia
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| Location | Jackson, Georgia, USA |
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| Coordinates | 33°13′16″N 84°03′39″W / 33.22111°N 84.06083°WCoordinates: 33°13′16″N 84°03′39″W / 33.22111°N 84.06083°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Security class | Maximum Security / Death Row |
| Capacity | 2300 |
| Population | Adult Male Felons - 2,238 Inmates - 5.67% of state prison population. |
| Opened | 1968 (renovated in 1998) |
| Managed by | Georgia Department of Corrections |
| Governor | Nathan Deal |
| Warden | Eric Sellers (as of July 1, 2016) |
Opened in 1968, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison (GDCP) is a Georgia Department of Corrections prison for men in unincorporated Butts County, Georgia, near Jackson. The prison holds the state execution chamber; the execution equipment was moved to the prison in June 1980, with the first execution in the facility occurring on December 15, 1983. The prison houses the male death row (UDs, "under death sentence"), while female death row inmates resided in the Metro State Prison until it was closed in 2011 due to state budget cuts.
The prison, the largest in the state, consists of eight cellblocks containing both double-bunked and single-bunked cells. There are also eight dormitories and a medical unit. The prison conducts diagnostic processing for the state correctional system, houses male offenders under death sentence (UDS), and carries out state ordered executions by lethal injection. The prison complex also contains a special management unit that houses some of the most aggressive and dangerous prisoners in the correctional system.
The Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison serves as a central hub where sentenced felons begin the process of being admitted into the Georgia State Correctional System. Numerous county jails are paid by the state to house sentenced felons until space becomes available in the prison system. Sentenced felons may spend years in local jails until housing space becomes available in the state prison system. While at GDCP, inmates are either in the process of being classified and tested, or they are assigned as a "permanent." Those inmates who are 'permanents' will serve their entire sentence at the GDCP, while the remainder of inmates will be tested and then moved to other prisons based on their classifications. Based on published research statistics by the Georgia Department of Corrections, inmates who are being diagnosed and classified undergo a battery of tests and diagnostic questionnaires. Tests and diagnostic notations include: the culture fair IQ test; Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) (reading, math, and spelling); scope of substance abuse (summary & detailed report); latest mental health treatment; PULHESDWIT medical scale; criminality, alcoholism, and/or drug abuse in immediate family; one or both parents absent during childhood; manipulative or assaultive tendency diagnostics; and criminal history report with prior incarcerations and a full account of all previous and current offenses.
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