2021 Georgia Code
Title 42 - Penal Institutions
Chapter 5 - Correctional Institutions of State and Counties
Article 3 - Conditions of Detention Generally
§ 42-5-58. Prohibition Against Corporal Punishment; Use of Handcuffs, Leg Chains, and Other Restraints; Permissible Punishment Generally

1. Whipping of inmates and all forms of corporal punishment shall be prohibited. All shackles, manacles, picks, leg irons, and chains shall be barred from use as punishment by any penal institution operated under authority of the board. In transferring violent or potentially dangerous inmates within an institution or between facilities, handcuffs, leg chains, waist chains, and waist belts may be utilized. Handcuffs, leg chains, waist chains, and waist belts may also be used in securing violent or potentially dangerous inmates within an institution and in public and private areas such as hospitals and clinics; but in no event may handcuffs, leg chains, waist chains, and waist belts be used as punishment; provided, however, if the accused becomes violent in the courtroom, restraints may be used.
2. The department shall restrict punishment for an infraction of correctional rules and regulations to isolation and restricted diet or to uniform standard humane punishment which the department may deem necessary for the control of inmates.

(Ga. L. 1956, p. 161, § 15; Ga. L. 1983, p. 1806, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 42; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 42.)

- Cruel and unusual punishment, U.S. Const., amend. 8 and Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XVII.

Prohibition against whipping as punishment for crimes, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXI.

Penalty for assault by state officer under color of office or commission, § 45-11-3.

- For note, "Behind Closed Doors: An Empirical Inquiry Into the Nature of Prison Discipline in Georgia," see 8 Ga. L. Rev. 919 (1974).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code 1910, § 1176 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

One in charge of state convicts cannot act with unlawful evidence towards a person under one's control; and if one does so, he may be guilty of a punishable offense. Loeb v. Jennings, 133 Ga. 796, 67 S.E. 101, 18 Ann. Cas. 376 (1910), aff'd, 219 U.S. 582, 31 S. Ct. 469, 55 L. Ed. 345 (1911).

- Warden has no authority to administer corporal punishment to a convict, except such as may be reasonably necessary to compel the convict to work or to maintain proper discipline. Therefore, corporal punishment of a convict by a warden, administered when the circumstances are not of a character sufficient to authorize such punishment is an assault. Westbrook v. State, 133 Ga. 578, 66 S.E. 788, 25 L.R.A. (n.s.) 591, 18 Ann. Cas. 295 (1909).

- Judge is in violation of O.C.G.A. § 42-5-58 when the judge permits parents to whip an eight-year-old child with a court-supplied strap, rather than subjecting the child to incarceration and a criminal record. In re Ellerbee, 248 Ga. 246, 282 S.E.2d 313 (1981).

Cited in Wilkes County v. Arrendale, 227 Ga. 289, 180 S.E.2d 548 (1971); Patterson v. MacDougall, 506 F.2d 1 (5th Cir. 1975); Jenkins v. Department of Cors., 238 Ga. App. 336, 518 S.E.2d 730 (1999).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 60 Am. Jur. 2d, Penal and Correctional Institutions, §§ 119, 122-127.

- 18 C.J.S., Convicts, § 15. 72 C.J.S., Prisons and Rights of Prisoners, §§ 19, 20, 24, 25, 60.

- Constitutionality of statutes in relation to treatment or discipline of convicts, 50 A.L.R. 104.

Prison conditions as amounting to cruel and unusual punishment, 51 A.L.R.3d 111.