The Office of Investigations and Compliance (OIC) protects and serves the public, employees and offenders by gathering information, examining operations, enforcing departmental standards and laws through audits and investigations and recommending solutions. Established in 2005, the office efficiently and effectively coordinates, collaborates, assimilates and disseminates information, findings and intelligence to the leadership and staff of the Department of Corrections, as well external local, state and federal entities and agencies.
The office accomplishes its mission by recruiting the best, most qualified for the job, promoting quality education and training, optimizing information technology and integrating it into the department’s systems and processes and applying state of the art equipment focused on comprehensive, multi-agency networks focused collaboration, communication and cooperation. The results are unbiased, uncompromising and reflect the highest professional standard.
The OIC falls under the Executive Division of the department. It consists of five units and a special coordinator: Internal Investigations Unit, Offender Affairs/Ombudsman Unit, Intelligence Unit, Compliance Unit and the Apprehension Unit.
The Statewide PREA Coordinator serves as the department’s liaison regarding all PREA-related issues. The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003 and the Department of Justice Final Rule (2012), 28 CFR Part 115, National Standards To Prevent, Detect and Respond to Prison Rape, prohibits and seeks to eliminate sexual abuse of offenders in custody. Pursuant to PREA and Georgia criminal laws, the Georgia Department of Corrections has a zero tolerance policy for sexual abuse of offenders.
The Statewide PREA Coordinator provides consultation, guidance and assistance to facilities’ staff. The Coordinator analyzes reported data, keeps agency and prison leadership informed on trends, lessons learned and best practices for prevention, detection and response to sexual abuse of offenders. The Coordinator conducts annual PREA audits of facilities to guide facility operations toward full PREA compliance and assists with corrective actions for non-compliant areas.
The mission of the Internal Investigations Unit is to enforce departmental standards and laws. They accomplish that task by conducting timely and comprehensive criminal and administrative investigations, collaborating as necessary with appropriate law enforcement agencies, providing results to senior leadership, and when appropriate, sharing data and information with the Intelligence Unit for tracking trends and indicators within the facilities.
The mission of the Criminal Intelligence Unit is to collect, evaluate and analyze information and disseminate intelligence data regarding subversive and criminal activity involving inmates, probationers or employees of the Georgia Department of Corrections. The unit’s goal is to provide operational support to the Office of Investigations and Compliance, Probation Operations, Facility Operations and Senior Leadership.
The Criminal Intelligence Unit is also tasked with maintaining and supervising the department’s security threat group program and coordinating the sharing of STG related intelligence. The unit maintains a strong relationship with the Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center. This relationship facilitates the accomplishment of our tasks and missions allowing us to identify trends, commonalities and threats leading us to the successful completion of our goal. The Criminal Intelligence Unit is always prepared to provide assistance and support. Please contact us at: intel@dcor.state.ga.us.
The mission of the Compliance Unit is to evaluate the operations of facilities and field offices utilizing departmental standards and ensuring safe, secure and efficient operation. They accomplish this by conducting annual comprehensive audits of Category I facilities, security audits of all Category II and III facilities. These audits include private prison facilities and reinspecting significant non-compliant functional areas within 45-90 days after the initial inspection. Additionally, the Compliance Unit examines community supervision standards in all 49 Judicial Circuits.
The Unit offers technical assistance to the community supervision staff in regards to inspections. It maintains and provides information and analysis of completed inspections intra-departmental and gathers new data surrounding critical incidents as directed by Executive Operations Division.
The mission of the Inmate Affairs and Ombudsman office is to promote fairness, accountability and integrity by investigating public and offender grievances, appeals and inquiries regarding unfair practices and non-compliance of policy.
The Office of the Ombudsman acts as a bridge between concerned citizens and the Department of Corrections by gathering information that potentially uncovers and reduces problems within the corrections system thus ensuring the rights and safety of offenders are protected.
The mission of the Apprehension Unit is to recapture escapees from Department of Corrections’ facilities. The Apprehension Unit also conducts criminal investigations to locate and apprehend absconded probationers and wanted dangerous sexual predators. The Investigators conduct criminal investigations to determine how the escape occurred and to identify and arrest anyone who aides or harbors the escapee. They also provide recommendations to the facilities staff to help minimize the chance of future escapes.
The Apprehension Unit is involved in a partnership with the United States Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force to accomplish their mission. All Investigators assigned to the Apprehension Unit are deputized as Special Deputy United States Marshals. The partnership with the Task Force acts as a force multiplier for the Apprehension Unit by providing additional manpower and allows the unit full access to the vast resources of the Marshals Service to aid in the capture of escaped Georgia State prisoners.