Q: A recent magazine article claims that 80 percent of all males in Georgia prisons lived in three metro Atlanta ZIP codes. Can this possibly be true?
— Dennis Fournier, Marietta
A: The majority of inmates in Georgia's prisons are from a variety of counties, not just from three ZIP codes, according to the state's Department of Corrections. Of the 50,969 male inmates in Georgia's prisons, 5,263 (10.3 percent) are from Fulton County, the highest percentage of any county in the state, according to the department's "Inmate Statistical Profile," released Oct. 1. Counting men and women, about 10.1 percent of inmates in Georgia's prisons are from Fulton County. DeKalb County accounts for 6 percent of inmates (male and female), followed by Cobb (4.1 percent), Chatham (3.7), Gwinnett (3.4), Richmond (3.3), Clayton (2.9) and Muscogee (2.2) counties. The county of origin is not known for 10.8 percent of Georgia's inmates.
Q: When driving on a two-lane road or highway, and a police-escorted funeral procession approaches heading in the opposite direction, what action, if any, is required?
— Ray Woolfolk, Villa Rica
A: It's tradition, not a state law, for drivers heading in the opposite direction of a funeral procession to pull to the side of the road. "The tradition of stopping has become more a sign of respect," Katie Fallon, a spokeswoman with the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, told Q&A on the News in an email. Georgia Code 40-6-76 states that drivers who are not in a funeral procession should not join it "by operating their headlights for the purpose of securing the right of way" or "attempt to pass vehicles in a funeral procession on a two-lane highway," if headed in the same direction.
Andy Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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