Nearly 400 pre-trial detainees to be transferred from private prison in Georgia in move critics say is “a catastrophe”

The U.S. Marshals Service is preparing to transfer some 400 pre-trial detainees from a private prison in Georgia run by the Florida-based GEO Group to another facility nearly 200 miles away. Sources familiar with the plan say federal defenders, prosecutors and judges fear the move could disrupt criminal prosecutions in Atlanta, where the state’s busiest federal courthouse is located.  

An internal email from the U.S. Marshals Service viewed by CBS News said the move will begin the week of Sept. 21.

“Our plan is to move the prisoners in waves over the next five weeks,” the email said, adding that prisoners who don’t have a date on the court docket would be moved first. The remaining prisoners will be removed “weekly until all are removed from RADD [the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility] by 10/31/2026.” 

The U.S. Marshals Service’s decision to move the detainees stems from concerns about inadequate and unsafe conditions at the Deyton facility in Lovejoy, a 600-bed detention center, two of the sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. They added that the problems have persisted without any improvement.

Defendants are generally only detained pre-trial if a magistrate judge determines that no other condition or combination of conditions can reasonably assure a person will appear in court. 

Typically the people who qualify for pre-trial detention are accused of committing violent crimes or crimes that carry lengthy sentences. Other circumstances that can lead to being detained include cases where someone poses a flight risk or if prosecutors believe there is a risk the person could obstruct justice or tamper with witnesses.

In the Northern District of Georgia, some of the most common crimes that lead to pre-trial detention include illegal reentry to the U.S. after a prior deportation, fraud, possessing or distributing controlled substances and gun offenses.

The Marshals Service decided not to renew the option on the GEO contract, a decision that comes as the fiscal year is nearing its end. A spokesperson told CBS News that the Marshals Service “takes prisoner safety seriously and does everything we can to ensure those in our custody are safe” but declined to answer further questions.

Letters obtained by CBS News show opponents of the plan argue that moving the inmates would have an impact on the people’s access to counsel and discovery in their cases. The current Deyton facility is about a 25-mile drive from the Atlanta courthouse.

Critics also fear that moving people to a location that is too far from the courthouse will make it difficult to conduct trials in Atlanta because of the extensive travel time.

“Because of specific circumstances that exist in our District, ceasing to use RADD to house pre-trial detainees would be a catastrophe,” wrote Chief Judge Leigh Martin May for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, in a letter sent to Georgia’s two U.S. senators.

“All stakeholders — the U.S. Attorney, Federal Public Defender, U.S. Marshal, and the Court — agree that RADD is the best option for housing the Northern District of Georgia’s pre-trial detainees because it is close to the courthouse and easily accessed by attorneys, family members, and USMS personnel,” she added.

Natasha Silas, the executive director of the Federal Defender Program in the Northern District of Georgia, said in a letter last month to Georgia’s chief judge that the move “would impose substantial additional costs on the Judiciary while making it materially more difficult for appointed counsel to provide the effective representation our clients are constitutionally entitled to receive.” 

Silas later told CBS News, “I don’t understand why we would move so many people so far away — almost to Florida — from their families, lawyers and the courts.”

ICDC is approximately 188 miles from Atlanta — a 376-mile round trip. 

“To arrive at the Atlanta courthouse by 8:30 a.m., a detainee would need to leave Irwin County by 5:00 a.m., which means they would need to get up at 3:30 a.m.,” Chief Judge May wrote in the letter to lawmakers. “If they left the Atlanta courthouse by 5:00 p.m., they would be caught in Atlanta rush hour traffic heading south and return to the detention facility in Irwin County around 9:00 p.m.” 

A single attorney could incur travel costs exceeding $1,000 before they even had a chance to meet with their client, Silas told CBS News.

Silas also expressed concern that conditions at the detention center in Ocilla, Georgia, might not be an improvement over the Lovejoy prison. The Ocilla facility is run by La Salle Corrections, a Louisiana-based private prison company that has faced a number of lawsuits and human rights complaints.

La Salle says on its website that it operates approximately 18 correctional facilities located primarily across Louisiana, Texas and Georgia. In total, its facilities can house a total of over 13,000 inmates and detainees.

There have been several civil lawsuits and human rights complaints filed about facilities run by La Salle Corrections. The Trump administration reopened its Irwin County Detention Center in 2025 after the facility had been closed because of numerous investigations surrounding human rights abuses. 

Silas wrote that she didn’t have enough current information to assess whether conditions there had improved, but she pointed out that previous concerns about the facility “ultimately led the United States Marshals Service to discontinue its use of the facility for federal detainees.”

Silas said: “I have no reason to believe why Irwin County would be better,” adding that there are no hospitals nearby.

La Salle Corrections did not respond to questions CBS News sent by email.

The people incarcerated at the Deyton facility are being relocated because of problems including missing tools, holes in the walls between cells and cases of malfunctioning locks, according to a source familiar with the Marshals’ decision.

This is not the first time that the GEO-run private prison in Lovejoy has been under scrutiny — but for different issues. A 2020 audit by the Justice Department’s inspector general found that the U.S. Marshals Service needed to take more steps to hold GEO Group accountable for staffing shortages at the facility. 

“We found that GEO did not consistently maintain the required 90 percent staffing level for detention security services, did not consistently fill essential positions, and had numerous positions vacant for more than 120 days,” the audit said. 

The audit said that the vacant positions would have justified invoice deductions of more than $3.1 million, but the Marshals Service did not deduct any payments from the contract. 

GEO Group first started housing pre-trial detainees at the facility for the U.S. Marshals Service after winning a 20-year contract in 2008. The inspector general said in its 2020 audit that the contract was valued at $650 million over 20 years. GEO Group has $894 million in contracts with the federal government in 2026, primarily with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. 

CBS News reached out to GEO Group with questions but did not receive a response. 

The GEO Group has faced various lawsuits about its facility conditions in different states over the past year, even as the private detention company prepares to operate previously shuttered prisons refurbished to house immigration detainees.