ATLANTA – The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday it has opened a statewide investigation into conditions inside Georgia’s prisons.
The investigation will examine whether the state provides prisoners reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners.
The agency also will continue an existing investigation into whether Georgia provides lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other prisoners who identify with the LGBTQ community reasonable protection from sexual abuse by other prisoners and by staff.
“Ensuring the inherent human dignity and worth of everyone, including people who are incarcerated inside our nation’s jails and prisons, is a top priority,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“The Justice Department’s investigations into prison conditions have been successful at identifying systemic constitutional violations and their causes, fixing those causes and stopping the violations. We are investigating prison violence and abuse in Georgia’s prisons to determine whether constitutional violations exist, and if so, how to stop them.”
The investigation was sparked by complaints from civil rights groups and others who have expressed concerns about inmate safety.
Clarke said at least 26 prisoners died in Georgia prisons by confirmed or suspected homicide last year, and 18 have died so far in 2021.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., also raised concerns about Georgia prisons earlier this year during a Judiciary Committee hearing into President Joe Biden’s nomination of Merrick Garland to serve as attorney general.
Specifically, Ossoff cited the treatment of prisoners at the South Fulton Jail. He read from a plaintiff’s brief in a federal lawsuit against the facility filed by a nonprofit organization.
“The cells were covered in bodily fluids, rust, and mold,” Ossoff read from the brief. “In these conditions, the inmates deteriorated, leaving them incoherent, screaming unintelligibly, laying catatonic, banging their heads against walls, and repeatedly attempting suicide.”
Ossoff went on to urge then-nominee Garland to make securing the human rights of incarcerated Americans a top priority.
Clarke said the new investigation is the Justice Department’s second into prison conditions in Georgia. The agency launched an investigation into sexual violence against lesbian, gay and transgender inmates at the hands of staff and other prisoners, which remains ongoing, she said.
All three U.S. attorney’s offices in Georgia said they would cooperate with the probe.
“Individuals sentenced to prison in Georgia Department of Corrections facilities deserve to be treated humanely,” said Kurt R. Erskine, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
“Our office is committed to ensuring state prisoners are safe while serving their sentences. We look forward to working cooperatively with the Georgia Department of Corrections to ensure the safety of all individuals in its prisons.”
The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) responded Wednesday with the following statement: “The GDC is committed to the safety of all of the offenders in its custody and denies that it has engaged in a pattern or practice of violating their civil rights or failing to protect them from harm due to violence.
“This commitment includes the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) prisoners from sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual assault. We cooperated fully with the [Justice Department’s] initial investigation in 2016 and are proud of the service and dedication of our team since then to perform during unprecedented challenges.”
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Almost 60% of all new COVID-19 outbreaks are now in Georgia’s K-12 schools, the state’s top epidemiologist said Tuesday.
Cherie Drenzek, state epidemiologist for the Georgia Department of Public Health, said the highly contagious delta variant is responsible for the surge.
“The delta variant began spreading in Georgia around July 4,” Drenzek told a virtual meeting of the state’s Board of Public Health. “There has been an exponential increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the last 60 days.”
Image: Georgia Department of Public Health
According to Monday’s COVID totals provided by the state Department of Public Health, more than 1.1 million Georgians have contracted coronavirus since the pandemic began in March 2020. A total of 20,705 Georgians have died, and there have been more than 76,000 hospitalizations.
According to data provided by Drenzek to the board, there has been a 20-fold increase in cases; a 13-fold increase in hospitalizations; and a 17-fold increase in COVID deaths since July 1.
However, both Gov. Brian Kemp’s office and Drenzek said state data has begun to show slight decreases over the last seven days.
Dr. R. Chris Rustin, director of the department’s Division of Health Protection, said as of Tuesday, more than 10 million vaccine doses have been administered in Georgia, with 4.7 million Georgians, or 45% of the state’s population, being fully vaccinated. About 5.4 million of the state’s residents, or 53%, have received at least one vaccine dose.
Rustin also said Georgia is offering 136 sites for monoclonal antibody treatments, commonly known as Regeneron infusion.
Rustin said preliminary data shows monoclonal antibody therapy is effective mostly early in treatment.
“You have to get it early on,” Rustin said, who added the state Department of Public Health is collaborating with the Department of Community Health to support the existing sites across the state.
“It’s important to stress this is not a substitute for vaccines,” Rustin said.
The treatment, according to the Southeast Georgia Health System, helps the immune system stop COVID-19 from spreading in people with mild to moderate symptoms. The antibodies are synthetic proteins that are manufactured in a lab.
The therapy, according to the health system, isn’t new; doctors have long used this treatment to deliver drugs or radioactive substances directly to cancer cells.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given monoclonal antibody therapy emergency use authorization for the treatment of COVID-19.
According to the FDA, clinical trials showed that COVID-19 patients who received antibody infusions had a significant reduction in hospitalizations and deaths compared to patients who received a placebo.
Florida is one state that has launched a statewide initiative that offers the treatment at 21 sites. While Georgia offers the treatment at far more sites than its Sunshine State neighbor, it seemingly has no plans to sponsor a statewide program.
When asked by Capitol Beat if Gov. Brian Kemp has any plans for such an initiative, the governor’s office referred to Kemp’s Aug. 24, 2021, authorization of 105 Georgia National Guard personnel to 10 hospitals around the state.
“This Georgia National Guard mission is in addition to the 2,800 state-supported staff and 450 new beds brought online, at a total state investment of $625 million through December of this year,” Kemp said.
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – A top state public health official told a House of Representatives study committee on Monday that Georgia should require a full clearance inspection after a lead abatement inspection.
Currently, according to Christy Kuriatnyk, director of the Georgia Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, all that’s required is a visual inspection.
“You can’t see lead dust,” Kuriatnyk told the House study committee on childhood lead exposure.
Kuriatnyk also recommended the state should increase the length of time a landlord must submit a lead abatement plan from 14 to 30 days; and require landlords to submit a letter the property will no longer be used as a dwelling, if that is the intent.
Another recommendation: if a landlord does not disclose a home has the potential for lead hazards and such hazards are found, then tenants can void their lease.
“We are making recommendations that keep pace with science,” Kuriatnyk said.
Lead abatement, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is designed to eliminate lead-based paint hazards. Abatement is sometimes ordered by a state or local government, and can involve specialized techniques not typical of most residential contractors.
The committee was formed via a special Georgia General Assembly resolution. Rep. Katie Dempsey (R-Rome) chairs the committee, which was designed to study early intervention and prevention of childhood lead exposure. According to the legislature, lead paint is present in one-third of the nation’s homes, particularly older residences.
Monday’s meeting was the second held by the committee, the first being Sept. 2. At that meeting, Dempsey said the committee was created to study the impact of lead in children’s bloodstreams.
“In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its lead recommendations, and Georgia has not updated” its standards, Dempsey said earlier this month.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
The Capitol building in Atlanta looms on “crossover” eve on March 12, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
ATLANTA – Democrats on the Georgia House Higher Education Committee urged Gov. Brian Kemp Monday to drop his opposition to mask mandates and leave the decision to administrators at the state’s public colleges and universities.
The lawmakers’ plea came as University System of Georgia professors and students launched a weeklong series of demonstrations on campuses across the state demanding mask mandates to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“We need our leaders to fight against the virus, not against our students and faculty,” said Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn.
“A leader makes decisions,” added Rep. Rhonda Burnough, D-Riverdale. “Georgia needs a leader, not a follower.”
Kemp has held firm against imposing statewide mask mandates on either college campuses or K-12 classrooms in Georgia, criticizing such requirements as divisive.
He and other Republican governors also have strongly objected to an executive order President Joe Biden issued late last week requiring all federal employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and any employers with 100 or more employees to make sure they get the shots or are tested regularly for the virus.
GOP opponents have argued the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration lacks the legal authority to enforce such workplace mandates, and a legal challenge is expected.
Last week, university system Acting Chancellor Teresa MacCartney defended Kemp’s position on mask mandates. She said campus administrators have worked hard to put all necessary health and safety protocols in place for students returning for in-person classes this semester.
The system is encouraging but not requiring students and professors to wear masks and get vaccinated.
But Clark, who holds a doctorate in microbiology from Emory University, said nothing works to prevent the spread of COVID-19 better than making mask wearing and vaccinations mandatory.
“We have data [showing] that mask mandates work. We also know vaccines work,” she said. “The more people we have vaccinated on our campuses, the better we’re able to stop the virus.”
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Agriculture should play a role in the state’s fledgling medical marijuana program, a member of a legislative oversight committee said Monday.
“This is an agricultural product. We’re an agricultural state,” Georgia Rep. Micah Gravley, R-Douglasville, said during the inaugural meeting of the Medical Cannabis Commission Oversight Committee. “Having them involved going forward is a good thing.”
Gravley was chief sponsor of legislation the General Assembly passed two years ago creating a state commission to award licenses to companies to grow marijuana and convert the leaf crop into low-THC cannabis oil.
The oil is intended to treat patients with a variety of diseases including cancer, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, mitochondrial disease and sickle-cell anemia.
The 2019 law also established a legislative oversight committee to monitor the program. But the oversight panel didn’t meet for the first time until Monday due to delays the seven-member state commission has encountered getting the program off the ground.
The commission took until this summer to award cannabis oil production licenses to six companies.
Two “Class 1” licensees will be authorized to grow marijuana under close supervision in up to 100,000 square feet of space. Four other companies received “Class 2” licenses limiting them to no more than 50,000 square feet of growing space.
While Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black has been a strong supporter of the state’s hemp farming program, he has been cool toward the Peach State getting into the cannabis oil business.
However, with Black now seeking next year’s Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, Georgia likely will have a new agriculture chief after the 2022 elections.
Rep. Sam Watson, R-Moultrie, said Utah’s agriculture department is playing an active role in that state’s cannabis oil program, which Georgia is looking to as a model.
Both states permit only low-THC in cannabis oil, far below a level that would make a user “high,” and neither permit recreational use of marijuana.
Watson said getting the agriculture department involved in Georgia’s program is “definitely a conversation to be had.”
The commission, meanwhile, has been working on responses to seven protests filed by companies whose bids for Class 1 licenses were rejected and 14 protests filed by bidders rejected for Class 2 licenses.
While that process continues, Gravley said the oversight committee should move as quickly as possible to identify labs that can test the licensees’ cannabis oil for quality and compliance with the low-THC requirement.
“Having a variety of labs available to cultivators would be a good thing,” he said. “There are those who are in need of this oil.”
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
