ATLANTA – Georgia’s prison system is violating inmates’ constitutional rights by failing to protect them from widespread violence, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday.
The agency released a 94-page report following a multi-year investigation that originally focused on whether the state was adequately protecting LGBT inmates from sexual abused and expanded to cover all inmates incarcerated at medium- and close-security prisons.
“Our findings report lays bare the horrific and inhumane conditions that people are confined to inside Georgia’s state prison system,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said during a news conference in Atlanta.
“Our statewide investigation exposes longstanding, systemic violations stemming from complete indifference and disregard to the safety and security of people Georgia holds in its prisons. … The Justice Department is committed to using its authority to bring about humane conditions of confinement that are consistent with contemporary standards of decency and respect for human dignity.”
Georgia has the fourth-highest state prison population in the country, with nearly 50,000 inmates incarcerated in 34 state-operated prisons and four private prisons.
The report attributed widespread violence in the prison system to understaffing and systemic deficiencies in physical plant, housing, control of contraband, and incident reporting and investigations. It also concluded that gangs are exerting improper influence inside prisons, including controlling entire housing units and operating unlawful and dangerous schemes inside and from prisons.
Clarke said the report documented incidents of assault, rape, and murder inside Georgia prisons, while inmates are relegated to fear, filth, and neglect.
“Individuals incarcerated by the Georgia Department of Corrections should not be subjected to life-threatening violence and other forms of severe deprivation while serving their prison terms,” said Ryan Buchanan, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
“We expect the state of Georgia to share our sense of urgency about the seriousness of the violations described in this report and to work cooperatively with the Department of Justice, our office, and our U.S. attorney partners in the Middle and Southern Districts to remedy these systemic deficiencies in Georgia prisons.”
The state has been working to come to grips with conditions inside Georgia prisons. The corrections department hired a consultant in June to conduct an assessment of the state’s prisons, while both the Georgia House and Senate have formed study committees to focus on prison conditions and consider funding recommendations aimed at improving safety.
Georgia Commissioner of Corrections Tyrone Oliver told a Senate study committee in August that reduced staffing and aging infrastructure are contributing to an influx of contraband that is driving an increase in criminal activity inside the prisons.