PRIVATE PROBATION

Companies act as armed collection agencies, not as agents of justice. Every day, over 150,000 Georgians are on misdemeanor probation. More than 80 percent are supervised by a private company. Their primary goal is not rehabilitation or public safety. It is profit.

These companies provide no meaningful case management. They ignore the root causes of poverty, unemployment, and instability that often lead to court involvement. Instead, they threaten and intimidate people into paying weekly fees for minor, poverty-related offenses. Probation was intended to monitor those who posed a threat. Now, it traps the poor in a cycle of debt.

The profit motive is clear. Companies are rewarded for keeping as many people on probation for as long as possible. This corrupts justice. It erodes public trust in law enforcement and undermines the integrity of our courts.

The Southern Center for Human Rights rejects this system. We will not tolerate a legal process where your bank account determines your fate. We fight against a mercenary culture that puts revenue above justice. We are dismantling the machinery of private probation to build a system that values dignity over dollars.