Georgia State Prison
| Location | 300 1st Avenue South Reidsville, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Status | open |
| Security class | mixed |
| Capacity | 1550 |
| Opened | 1938 |
| Managed by | Georgia Department of Corrections |
Georgia State Prison is the main maximum security facility in the state of Georgia for the Georgia Department of Corrections. First opened in 1938, the prison has housed some of some of the most dangerous inmates in the state's history, and it was the site of Georgia's death row until 1980.
Today the facility houses 1550 inmates, with a wide range of security levels from Trusty to "Hi-Maximum". The current warden is Marty Allen
The prison stands at 300 1st Avenue South in Reidsville, Georgia. The state's extensive farm operation, Rogers State Prison, is also in Reidsville about three miles away.
The facility was designed by Atlanta architects Tucker & Howell. The modern classic architecture included a central tower and courtyard, and frieze by Julian Harris titled Rehabilitation depicting trades and occupations. It opened in 1937. The building has been extensively renovated and expanded since.
On January 1, 1938, Georgia's death row and execution chamber relocated from the old state prison at Milledgeville, where it had been since the September 13, 1924 execution of 22-year-old Howard Hinton, to GSP. One of the prisoners executed here was Lena Baker, an African American maid from Cuthbert, Georgia, who'd been wrongfully convicted of murdering her employer. Killed in March 1945, she remains the only woman electrocuted by the state.
From 1964 until 1976 the U.S. Supreme Court suspended executions. Then in June 1980 Georgia's site of execution was moved to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison (GD&CP) near Jackson, Georgia in Butts County. A new electric chair was installed in place of the previous one, which was put on display on the upper floors of the main building.
...
Wikipedia