O.C.G.A. § 42-5-58 (2019)
Prohibition against corporal punishment; use of handcuffs, leg chains, and other restraints; permissible punishment generally
(a) 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, that if the accused becomes violent in the courtroom, restraints may be used. (b) 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.
History
Ga. L. 1956, p. 161, § 15; Ga. L. 1983, p. 1806, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 22, § 42; Ga. L. 1989, p. 14, § 42; Ga. L. 2023, p. 730, § 5(b)(2)/HB 475, effective July 1, 2023. The 2023 amendment, effective July 1, 2023, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, inserted “that” near the end of the last sentence of subsection (a).
Annotations
Cross references. Cruel and unusual punishment, U.S. Const., amend. 8 and Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XVII. Prohibition against whipping as pun-
ishment for crimes, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XXI. Penalty for assault by state officer under color of office or commission, § 4511-3. Administrative rules and regulations. Institutional and Center Operations, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Board of Corrections, Chapter 125-3. Law reviews. 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, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 69 (1910), aff’d, 219 U.S. 582, 31 S. Ct. 469, 55 L. Ed. 345, 1911 U.S. LEXIS 1655 (1911). Corporal punishment. - 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, 1909 Ga. LEXIS 279 (1909). Whipping of child by parents with court-supplied strap. - Judge is in violation of O.C.G.A. § 42-5-58 when the judge permits parents to whip an eightyear-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 Ga. LEXIS 978 (1981).
RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 60 Am. Jur. 2d, Penal and Correctional Institutions, § 24 et seq. C.J.S. 18 C.J.S., Convicts, § 3 et seq. 72 C.J.S., Prisons and Rights of Prisoners, §§ 19 et seq., 58.
ALR. 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.