---
title: O.C.G.A. § 42-5-37. Employees in control of inmates prohibited from receiving profit from inmate labor; penalties.
collection: code
id: 42-5-37
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 42-5-37 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/42-5-37
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/42-5-37.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/42-5-37/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t41-t42-(v29a)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=4afea80d_0#page=292
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/42-5.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/42-5-36.md
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: PENAL INSTITUTIONS / CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF STATE AND COUNTIES / WARDENS, SUPERINTENDENTS, AND OTHER PERSONNEL
---

# O.C.G.A. § 42-5-37. Employees in control of inmates prohibited from receiving profit from inmate labor; penalties.

(a) No warden, superintendent, deputy, inspector, physician, or any officer or other employee who has charge, control, or direction of inmates shall be interested in any manner whatever in the work or profit of the labor of any inmate; nor shall any such personnel receive any pay, gift, gratuity, or favor of a valuable character from any person interested, either directly or indirectly, in such labor.

(b) Any person violating subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of not less than two years and not more than five years. The offense may be reduced to a misdemeanor by recommendation of the jury trying the case, if the court concurs in the jury’s recommendation. In addition, a person who violates subsection (a) of this Code section shall be summarily discharged from the service of the state by the department.

(c) This Code section shall not prohibit a part-time professional employee from the regular practice of his profession.

## History

Ga. L. 1908, p. 1119, § 11; Penal Code 1910, § 1196; Code 1933, § 77-9906; Ga. L. 1984, p. 639, § 3.