# Georgia

Georgia’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) certifies arrest-authorized corrections and community supervision officers as peace officers, and county jail officers must complete a POST-approved course. Since 2023 POST has let sheriffs run their own jail officer academies and added yearly human trafficking and gang awareness training, and the State has set a 10-year sentence for Department of Corrections staff who smuggle contraband and required PTSD insurance for correctional and jail officers. Georgia acts without an effective-date section take effect July 1 under the default rule; those dates are computed.

Source: https://uscli.org/corrections-tracker/georgia

## At a glance

- **Certifying body:** Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST); see the [Georgia Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/georgia). Under the POST Act, “peace officer” includes “Personnel who are authorized to exercise the power of arrest and who are employed or appointed by the Department of Corrections, the Department of Community Supervision, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, municipal correctional institutions employing 300 or more correctional officers, county probation systems, and county correctional institutions.” County and city “jail officers” must complete a POST-approved jail officer course and are subject to POST’s powers. POST has separate certification tracks for Corrections; Jailer; and Community Supervision, Pardons and Parole ([O.C.G.A. 35-8-2(5.1), (8)(C); 35-8-24](https://gapost.org/about-post/post-act/)).
- **Statute:** O.C.G.A. Title 35, Chapter 8 (Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Act) and Title 42 (Penal Institutions), including 42-1-11.3 (pregnant inmates) and 42-5-18 (contraband). POST rules: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. chapter 464 ([chapter 464](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/464)). The copy of the POST Act on POST’s website predates the 2025 amendments in HB 288.
- **Minimum standards:** The O.C.G.A. 35-8-8(a) standards on the Officer Ledger page apply: at least 18, a U.S. citizen, a high school diploma or equivalent, no conviction of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a state or federal prison, fingerprint checks, good moral character, a physician’s exam, and the POST entrance exam. Jail officers must meet the same requirements except the entrance exam and training that applies to peace officers only (35-8-24(c)). The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) lists for correctional officers: at least 18, a high school diploma or GED, and a passing POST entrance exam ([GDC, Become a Correctional Officer](https://gdc.georgia.gov/become-correctional-officer)).
- **Basic training:** State correctional officers: GDC’s Basic Correctional Officer Training is “five weeks of job relevant Basic Correctional Officer Training which will total 240 hours,” beginning with a firearms week (80% passing score twice), at the Georgia Corrections Academy in Forsyth and regional academies in Alto, Milledgeville, and Reidsville ([GDC](https://gdc.georgia.gov/become-correctional-officer)). Jail officers must complete a POST-approved jail officer course within 6 months of first employment or may not work in a jail (O.C.G.A. 35-8-24(a), (b)). Officers changing type, for example from law enforcement to corrections, must complete that field’s basic course (Rule 464-5-.02). Hours for the jail and community supervision basic courses were not found in an official source.
- **In-service training:** Every peace officer, including arrest-authorized GDC, Department of Community Supervision, and Pardons and Paroles personnel, must complete 20 hours of training each calendar year, including firearms requalification, deadly force, de-escalation, community policing, and since November 19, 2024, 1 hour each of human trafficking and gang awareness training; missing it costs the power of arrest ([O.C.G.A. 35-8-21](https://gapost.org/certification-requirements/annual-training-requirements/); Rules 464-5-.03.1 to .03.4). Whether jail officers owe the 20 hours was not confirmed, because 35-8-24(c) excludes “peace officer training requirements applicable to peace officers only.”
- **Decertification:** The POST discipline process on the [Georgia Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/georgia) applies to certified corrections and community supervision officers: all grounds are discretionary, with emergency suspension authority (O.C.G.A. 35-8-7.1). Jail officers are “subject to the powers and authority” of POST (35-8-24(c)). No statutory public decertification list was found.
- **Jail standards:** No State body that sets or inspects county jail standards was identified. The official free text of O.C.G.A. Title 42, chapter 4 could not be read: the public-access code site requires JavaScript, and the General Assembly’s data service refused the request. State regulation reaches jail staff through POST jail officer certification (35-8-24).
- **Probation and parole officers:** Adult felony probation and parole supervision is by the Department of Community Supervision. Its arrest-authorized personnel are peace officers under the POST Act and are POST-certified, subject to the 35-8-8 standards and the 20-hour annual requirement; arrest-authorized personnel of county probation systems are also covered. Municipal probation officers hired on or after July 1, 2017 must complete POST-approved training and certification before exercising arrest powers under 35-8-13.1 ([O.C.G.A. 35-8-2(8)(C), 35-8-13.1, 35-8-21](https://gapost.org/about-post/post-act/)).
- **Restrictive housing:** No general statutory limit was found. For pregnant and postpartum women, “A pregnant woman or woman who is in the immediate postpartum period shall not be placed in solitary confinement, in administrative segregation, or for medical observation in a solitary confinement setting,” though a single cell or hospital room is allowed. This applies to all penal institutions, State and local (O.C.G.A. 42-1-11.3(e), as enacted by [HB 345 (2019)](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/signed-legislation/hb-345pdf/download); current codified text not read).
- **Corrections use of force:** Restraint of pregnant women: a custodian, meaning a warden, sheriff, jailer, deputy, or other law enforcement officer, “shall not use handcuffs, waist shackles, leg irons, or restraints of any kind” on a woman in the second or third trimester, in labor or delivery, or in the 6-week postpartum period. Postpartum women may be restrained only with front wrist handcuffs on compelling grounds of an immediate serious threat or a substantial flight risk, documented within 2 days and reviewed by the officer in charge. No squat-and-cough strip searches in the second or third trimester (O.C.G.A. 42-1-11.3(b) to (d), as enacted by [HB 345 (2019)](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/signed-legislation/hb-345pdf/download)). No general corrections-specific use-of-force statute was confirmed from an official source.

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Oct 19, 2025 — **POST career certification rules amended** — Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 464-13-.06 to 464-13-.10 (amended), filed September 29, 2025 · Effective October 19, 2025 — POST amended the requirements for its voluntary Intermediate, Advanced, Supervisory, Management, and Executive certifications, which certified corrections and community supervision officers may also earn. Under current Rule 464-13-.06, the Intermediate certificate requires a certified, registered, or exempt officer in good standing who has “at least 2 years’ experience as a full-time, paid peace officer” and has completed “150 hours of P.O.S.T. approved Specialized or Advanced Training.” The specific changes from the prior text were not compared. — **For corrections staff:** Check the current hour and experience thresholds before applying for a POST career certificate. — [Rule 464-13-.06](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/464-13-.06)
- Jan 1, 2025 — **Ashley Wilson Act: PTSD insurance benefits for correctional and jail officers** — HB 451 (2024 session), creating O.C.G.A. chapter 45-25 · “This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2025” — Public entities must “provide and maintain sufficient insurance coverage on each of its first responders” for occupational post-traumatic stress disorder from line-of-duty traumatic events. Benefits are a $3,000 lifetime lump sum on clinical diagnosis and an income-replacement disability benefit that starts 90 days after the condition prevents duty, subject to lifetime caps, and are exempt from State income tax. “First responder” expressly includes “(B) ‘Correctional officer’ as defined in Code Section 45-1-8” and “(G) Jail officer,” and juvenile correctional officers. — **For corrections staff:** If you are diagnosed with job-related PTSD, your employer’s coverage must pay the lump sum and the disability benefit. — [HB 451 as signed](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2024-signed-legislation/hb-451/download)
- Nov 19, 2024 — **Yearly 1-hour human trafficking and 1-hour gang awareness training for all peace officers** — Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 464-5-.03.3 and 464-5-.03.4 (new), filed October 30, 2024 · Effective November 19, 2024, per the rule histories on the Secretary of State’s rules site — As part of the 20 annual hours under O.C.G.A. 35-8-21, “Each person employed or appointed as a peace officer shall, as part of the annual training required by O.C.G.A. 35-8-21, satisfactorily complete during each calendar year the annual Human Trafficking training mandated by this rule,” and the companion rule sets 1 hour of gang awareness training. Failure “shall result in the loss of that officer’s power of arrest.” The rules apply to arrest-authorized GDC, community supervision, and Pardons and Paroles personnel, who are peace officers under 35-8-2(8)(C). The Georgia Officer Ledger page lists these rules but could not date them. — **For corrections staff:** Certified corrections and community supervision officers need both 1-hour courses every calendar year or lose arrest powers. — [Rule 464-5-.03.3](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/464-5-.03.3)[Rule 464-5-.03.4](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/464-5-.03.4)
- Jul 1, 2024 — **Ten-year sentence for Department of Corrections employees or contractors who smuggle contraband** — SB 159 (2024 session), amending O.C.G.A. 42-5-18 · No effective-date section; effective July 1, 2024 under O.C.G.A. 1-3-4 (computed); approval date not confirmed — New 42-5-18(d)(4): “An employee or contractor of the department who commits or attempts to commit a violation of subsection (b) or (b.1) of this Code section shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of ten years.” Subsection (b) covers giving or getting for an inmate weapons, liquor, drugs, telecommunications devices, or other unauthorized items; (b.1) covers tobacco. The act also revises penalties for others and for drone photography of prisons, and “place of incarceration” includes prisons, probation detention centers, and jails. — **For corrections staff:** A GDC employee or contractor convicted of bringing in phones, drugs, tobacco, or other contraband faces a 10-year sentence. — [SB 159 as signed](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2024-signed-legislation/sb-159/download)[Governor’s 2024 signed legislation](https://gov.georgia.gov/executive-action/legislation/signed-legislation/2024)
- Jul 1, 2024 — **Jail-based competency restoration programs authorized** — SB 533 (2024 session), amending O.C.G.A. 17-7-130(b) · No effective-date section; effective July 1, 2024 under O.C.G.A. 1-3-4 (computed) — The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities may place a person found incompetent to stand trial in a secure facility or a jail-based competency restoration program, meaning “clinical services for competency restoration that are provided in jails to persons found incompetent to stand trial pursuant to mutual agreements entered into between sheriffs and the department.” — **For corrections staff:** In counties whose sheriffs sign agreements, jail staff may house people receiving competency restoration treatment in the jail. — [SB 533 as signed](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2024-signed-legislation/sb-533/download)
- Jan 18, 2024 — **Sheriffs may run their own certified jail officer academies** — Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 464-5-.21 (new), filed December 29, 2023 · Effective January 18, 2024 — “A Limited Purpose School (Academy) is defined as an academy that exists solely to provide a single type of mandated certification training such as Basic Jail Officer Training,” Basic Communications Officer Training, or Forensic Investigator Training. Basic Law Enforcement Officer Training is excluded, the Council limits the number of such schools, and they must be certified. POST’s January 2024 update says the rule “allows Sheriff departments to establish an in house Jailer certification” academy. — **For corrections staff:** New jail officers may complete the required basic jail course at a certified academy run by their sheriff. — [Rule 464-5-.21](https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/464-5-.21)[POST update, January 2024](https://gapost.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/January-2024-Rev.pdf)

## Enacted, not yet in force, pending, and bills that did not pass

- **Retirement at 55 for sworn officers (HB 438, 2026):** regular Employees’ Retirement System retirement at age 55 for sworn law enforcement officers, with related disability provisions; the text refers to DOC probation officers, community supervision officers, and DOC criminal investigators and K9 handlers. It takes effect July 1, 2026 only if funded at the same time and is otherwise repealed. Whether it was funded, and whether it covers correctional officers, was not confirmed ([HB 438 as signed](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2026-signed-legislation/hb-438/download)).

The General Assembly’s 2025 to 2026 term has ended, so bills not passed are dead. No list of failed corrections bills was compiled.

## Checked and unchanged

- The peace officer changes on the [Georgia Officer Ledger page](https://uscli.org/officer-certification-tracker/georgia) also reach certified corrections and community supervision officers, including HB 288 (2025) on Giglio lists and the 2025 POST probation procedure; they are not repeated here.
- Not counted: SB 147 (2025), which revises O.C.G.A. 42-5-64 on release documents, identification cards, and a Program and Treatment Completion Certificate for people leaving GDC custody, and HB 497 (2023), new O.C.G.A. 31-2-19, which lets State penal institutions and their medical vendors use certified medication aides. Neither has an effective-date section, so each took effect July 1 of its year (computed), and neither changes officer standards ([SB 147](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2025-signed-legislation/sb-147/download); [HB 497](https://gov.georgia.gov/document/2023-signed-legislation/hb-497/download)).
- Not counted here: SB 517 (2024, use-of-force immunity), covered on the Officer Ledger page, and HB 130 (2024, student loan repayment for peace officers), whose approval date was not confirmed.
- The statutory text here comes from POST’s copy of the POST Act, whose latest history citation is 2022, and O.C.G.A. 42-1-11.3 is quoted as enacted in 2019, not from the current code.