Three sites outside the Atlanta area are being considered as the new headquarters for Georgia's Department of Corrections.
Under consideration are Macon, the former Tift College campus in Forsyth and the state's death row facility in Jackson.
The move could mean nearly 500 new jobs for central Georgia. But a decision won't be made until 2008, said Scheree Lipscomb, spokeswoman for state prisons chief James Donald.
Donald, who was named commissioner of the Department of Corrections in November, wants to move the agency closer to its prisons, Lipscomb said.
Currently, the department has 483 employees in downtown Atlanta. But few of the state's jails are in the Atlanta area or north Georgia.
"Most of our prisons are in central Georgia and also in the south," Lipscomb said.
State prisons located in central Georgia include Central State Prison in Macon; Baldwin State Prison, Bostick State Prison, Men's State Prison, Rivers State Prison and Scott State Prison in Hardwick; the Macon State Prison in Oglethorpe; the Pulaski State Women's Prison in Hawkinsville; and Dooly State Prison in Unadilla. One of the state's largest prisons, Georgia State Prison, is located in Reidsville. The state also has contracts with private companies to operate other large prisons in Charlton and Telfair counties in south Georgia.
The Corrections Department's headquarters move would be part of an ongoing effort by the state to decentralize operations, moving workers out of Atlanta and spreading them across the state.