Georgia’s got a criminal problem and it’s up to us to fix it.

Pause for a moment and try to think of a close friend or associate who has a criminal record. If you’re in Georgia like me, that shouldn’t be too hard. Four out of ten Georgians have a criminal record (that’s over 4 million individuals, and to put that in perspective, that means nearly half our state is in some form of corrections.)

The probation population in the Peach State is more than 400,000 individuals — this is the largest probation population of any state, including Texas. Another sobering fact : over 60% of the individuals currently locked up in our 143 county jails are on pre-trial detention. That’s more county jails than Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nevada and California combined.

(What is pre-trial detention? = Pre-trial detention is for those who cannot afford bail or are held for another reason. These people, for the vast majority, have not yet been convicted of a criminal activity.)

If the numbers weren’t already clear, Georgia’s total probation population is the largest of any state, with a probation rate four times the national average.

But can’t those returning to life after incarceration just get better? Get on track again? That’s where the story gets tricky, especially in Georgia. If you have a criminal record, you may…