Georgia Bristles at Federal Law that Prohibits Drone Interceptions
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that the Georgia Department of Corrections (DOC) prisons are buckling under a 15-year high incarceration rate, now exceeding 50,000, and projected to climb past 55,000 by 2030 due to tougher sentencing. Simultaneously, guard staffing is at a 15-year low, signaling a severe retention crisis despite budget increases. Another growing problem: drones.
DOC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver reported that massive drones, some capable of lifting 225 pounds, are easily delivering drugs and cellphones directly to cell windows and rooftops of Georgia’s prisons. And these incidents are on the rise, with the DOC recording 71 cases of drone activity in November 2025 alone. Prisoners will often take advantage of a Georgia prison’s crumbling infrastructure to intercept a package. “The majority of [packages] are dropping on the ceiling,” Oliver said. “So what you have, when you’re talking about our aging infrastructure, most of the prisons that were built, they have internal pipe chases inside the dorm, inside the dormitory themselves. The inmates are able to get inside the pipe chase, access the roof, which is the metal roof, push it up, get the contraband, come back in.”
While technology exists to “mitigate” these flights, DOC is federally barred from using jamming equipment by the FAA and FCC. Oliver is lobbying federal agencies for a national policy shift. Louisiana passed the “We Will Act” Act in June 2025 and became the first U.S. state allowing law enforcement to intercept and disable drones that pose a threat. The new law, which became effective on August 1, 2025, permits specially trained officers to use kinetic and non-kinetic technology to neutralize unlawful drone activity near prisons, schools, and critical infrastructure, bypassing prior federal restrictions.
Several contraband drone deliveries in other states have made headlines in recent weeks, such as a drone that dropped crab legs, steak, cigarettes, weed, and Old Bay seasoning into a South Carolina prison. [See: PLN, Jan. 2026, p. 63]
Sources: ABC, The Chattanooga Times Free Press
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