Department of Justice finds unconstitutional conditions in Georgia prisons

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it has determined that the conditions of confinement in Georgia’s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

“Our findings report exposes the horrific and inhumane conditions people are incarcerated in within Georgia’s state prison system,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our statewide investigation exposes long-standing, systemic violations that stem from complete indifference and disregard for the safety and security of people Georgia holds in its prisons. People are being attacked, stabbed, raped and murdered or languishing in woefully understaffed facilities. Prisoners are mutilated and tortured, relegated to an existence of fear, filth and not-so-benign neglect.”

The department’s 93-page report details the findings of a thorough investigation into Georgia’s state-run and private prisons, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia. Georgia has the fourth highest state prison population in the country, with approximately 50,000 inmates.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia, said the report concludes that:

• The State of Georgia is engaged in a pattern or practice of violating the constitutional rights of incarcerated persons by failing to protect persons housed in medium-security facilities from widespread physical violence and by subjecting incarcerated persons to an unreasonable risk of harm if as a result of sexual abuse in its facilities.
  • In particular, Georgia is failing to protect incarcerated individuals, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI), from harm caused by sexual violence or abuse.
• Critical understaffing and systemic deficiencies in physical facilities, housing and classification, contraband control, incident reporting and investigations all contribute to the widespread violence.
• Georgia allows gangs to exert undue influence on prison life, including controlling entire housing units and executing unlawful and dangerous schemes in and out of prisons, harming both inmates and the public.

“These dangerous conditions not only harm the people Georgia locks up – they endanger prison staff and the broader community,” Clarke said. “The Department of Justice is committed to using its authority to establish humane conditions of confinement that are consistent with contemporary standards of decency and respect for basic human dignity.”

The findings announced Tuesday are the result of the Justice Department’s civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department, the news release said.

The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia conducted the investigation.

Comments from Georgia U.S. Attorneys on the Justice Department’s Findings:

“Individuals incarcerated by the Georgia Department of Corrections shall not be exposed to life-threatening violence and other forms of severe hardship while serving their sentences,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “Our Constitution requires humane conditions in prisons, which at the very least guarantee that people in custody are safe. The findings of the Georgia Department of Corrections’ Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act investigation reveal serious and diffuse failures to protect the men and women housed in the facilities, including disturbing and increasing inmate deaths. We expect the State of Georgia to share our sense of urgency about the severity of the violations described in this report and to work with the Department of Justice, our office, and our U.S. Attorney partners in the Central and Southern Districts to address these systemic deficiencies in the field of human rights. Prisons in Georgia.”

“We hope these findings are a wake-up call. Incarcerated people and employees of the Georgia Department of Corrections face unacceptable systemic risks, and the impact affects all of our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Peter Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. “We hope to work with the State of Georgia to improve these deadly conditions; indeed, the Constitution requires this.”

“The safety and security of Georgia’s prisons are ineluctably linked to the overall safety and security of our communities,” said U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg for the Southern District of Georgia. “The longstanding dysfunction in the management of the prison system has led to the proliferation of criminal networks within those facilities that endanger private citizens, staff and inmates and directly lead to unacceptable and avoidable violence and abuse against inmates. We are committed to working with the Georgia Department of Corrections to create a safer environment inside and outside Georgia’s prisons.”