The three men convicted of tracking down and killing Ahmaud Arbery in the middle of a residential street just outside of Brunswick, Georgia, have been transferred to one of the largest state prisons in the state after their request to serve their time in federal prison was denied. The father and son and their friend will now serve their life sentences in a prison that houses over 2,000 of the state’s most violent inmates.
On Tuesday, Aug. 23, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan were moved from the Glynn County Detention Center to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Butts County. The convicted murderers are serving their time in Georgia’s prison designated for offenders on death row, according to WSB-TV 2.
The state released the men’s mugshots, showing the men looking drastically different from when the case first hit national headlines when they were arrested in May 2020.
According to Prison Insight, Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison is an adult male facility that houses a maximum of 2,487 inmates located near Jackson, Georgia. The massive prison consists of eight cell blocks containing both double-bunked and single-bunked cells, seven dormitories, a medical unit, a fire station, and a 17-bed S.T.E.P (Segregated Transition Education Unit) for sex offenders soon to be released.
The facility “houses offenders assigned to the 90-Day (S.T.E.P -Segregated Transition Educated Program), houses offenders Under Death Sentence (UDS), and carries out state-ordered executions. It also houses a Special Management Unit (SMU), consisting of 192 beds.”
GDCP also has an in-house C.E.R.T. Team and a Tactical Squad.
Atlanta station WXIA reports state prison officials are currently considering the medical history, educational needs, drug and alcohol history, and other issues to determine if GDCP will be a permanent fit for the three inmates, a process expected to take approximately two weeks.
The McMichaels and Bryan were convicted of both malice and felony murder in November 2021 for the death of the 25-year-old Black jogger, killed on Feb. 23, 2020. The father and son team were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the brutal nature of the killing. Their neighbor, who actually leaked the video of the assault and murder, was sentenced to life in prison with a chance of parole after 30 years.
The men were also convicted of federal hate crime charges. U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood sentenced the McMichaels, adding another life sentence plus 10 years to both men’s sentences, while giving Bryan a sentence of 35 years.
Defense attorneys fought hard for the three men to serve their time in federal facilities, stating their lives would be in danger. The lawyers cited over 1,000 death threats to the men during the federal trial and maintained state prisons would be unsafe for their clients. Godbey Wood denied each request.
