Former Gov. Nathan Deal’s criminal justice reform efforts will be set in stone later this year, when the state’s new judicial complex opens. Georgia’s House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution Wednesday to name the building after him, voting 159-2.
One of those two lawmakers on the negative side? Freshman State Rep. Colton Moore, R-Trenton. Moore told the Times Free Press he didn’t believe the building should be named after anybody, and Deal’s criminal justice reforms didn’t go far enough.
“There are poor, broke and damned people in the state of Georgia that are not receiving justice,” he said. “Until we can find a true leader in justice reform, we shouldn’t rush to name the building the Nathan Deal Justice Center just because he is our recent governor. He should not be the symbol of justice for our state.”
Criminal justice reform was the marquee effort of Deal’s time as governor. When he took office in 2011, Georgia’s incarceration rate was the fourth-highest in the country. It was also on track to grow by 8 percent in five years, putting the total population at 60,000. The state prepared to build two new prisons at a cost of about $260 million.
Deal appropriated millions to open accountability courts across the state, offering alternatives to prison sentences. In the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, local judges now oversee a drug court and a parental accountability court, which is aimed at divorced parents who are behind on child support. With Deal in office, the state also tweaked some sentencing laws – for example, Georgia now has more punishment thresholds for drug possession, with the intention of keeping people out of jail if they are caught with low quantities.