Georgia Goes Gangbusters

by Anthony Brown

In 2018, Attorney General Chris Carr assembled mighty partners including the Governor’s Office, ATF, FBI, US Marshals, and Homeland Security to address gangs in Georgia. This alphabet soup of political offices and law enforcement agencies formed the Georgia Anti-Gang Network. According to a 2022 press release, the network had created Georgia’s first statewide Gang Prosecution Unit with 4 focus areas: Strengthening multi-jurisdictional investigations and prosecutions; Improving intelligence-sharing capabilities; Stopping recruitment; and Identifying proven and effective diversion, intervention, and prevention programs. While this coalition is celebrating increasing convictions, a closer look must be given to the neglected area of work. Identifying, indicting, and incarcerating gang members without “effective diversion, intervention, and prevention programs” only leads to chaotic, violent prisons and cycles of crime that further erode the public trust of true rehabilitation.

Darius Cook was a toddler when the last public housing was demolished as Atlanta prepared to welcome the world for the 1996 Olympics. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation there was an increase of gang activity and gang related crimes in the mid-90’s. The Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act would officially be enacted in 1992. Three decades later, in July 2026, Cook would become the latest poster child for violating the gang act when he was sentenced to 95 years. Cook and two co-defendants were arrested and charged with various felonies (some pictured above). The men were accused of being a gang centered in Paradise East apartments (PDE). By entering guilty pleas, Jamerson McCamey received 20 years and Corey Dumas was sentenced to 5 years in state prison. Cook elected for a jury trial. He was ultimately convicted of three counts of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, one count of unlawfully possessing a machine gun, and 3 counts of violating the gang terrorism law. Prosecutors can add a specific “gang charge” on top of any main crime if the act aids the gang. Judges can elect to add on extra prison time, seize property, and impose long

terms of probation. Therefore, Georgia’s prison system will continue to be overutilized which leads to escalating prison violence, corruption, dysfunction, and in-custody deaths.

In 2024, The US Department of Justice released a 93-page report stating the GDC “allows frequent, pervasive violence in the prison, resulting in serious bodily harm, and, in some cases death.” Following the report, Georgia Lawmakers earmarked $500 million for the construction of a 3,000-bed “state of the art prison” to replace the current troubled Washington State Prison in Davisboro. The report unequivocally reports that gangs have “improper influence on prison life, including controlling entire housing units.” Restorative justice organizations can better serve the general public by providing our expertise and lived experience to the Anti-Gang Network to implement restorative practices within the framework of its original mission, to include identifying proven and effective diversion, intervention, and prevention programs. Our best response for this generation of toddlers who may make future poor decisions cannot be a state-of-the art prison cell.