Of the 159 Georgia county Sheriffs’ Departments that received our request, 63 have completed it, 14 have claimed to have no responsive documents, and another 15 are requesting payment for the materials. (You can help us pay for these fees by contributing to the crowdfund on the project page.)

The Federal Communications Commission is currently considering a bid by Securus Technologies, one of the largest providers of prison phone services in the country, to further consolidate its hold on the inmate communications market by acquiring a competitor, Inmate Calling Solutions, which is currently owned by Keefe Group. The companies argue that a merger wouldn’t edge out competitors.