Justice Department Finds Unconstitutional Conditions in Georgia Prisons

The Justice Department announced today its findings that conditions of confinement in Georgia’s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.

“Our findings report lays bare the horrific and inhumane conditions that people are confined to inside 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 stemming from complete indifference and disregard to the safety and security of people Georgia holds in its prisons. People are assaulted stabbed, raped and killed or left to languish inside facilities that are woefully understaffed. Inmates are maimed and tortured, relegated to an existence of fear, filth and not so benign neglect. These dangerous conditions not only harm the people Georgia incarcerates — it places prison employees and the broader community at risk. 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 basic human dignity.”

The department’s 93-page report details its findings from a thorough investigation of Georgia’s state-operated and private correctional facilities. Georgia has the fourth-highest state prison population in the country, with approximately 50,000 people incarcerated. The report concludes that:

• The State of Georgia engages in a pattern or practice of violating incarcerated persons’ constitutional rights by failing to protect individuals housed in medium- and close-security facilities from widespread physical violence and subjecting incarcerated persons to unreasonable risk of harm from sexual abuse across its facilities. Specifically, Georgia fails to protect incarcerated persons, including persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI), from harm caused by sexual violence or abuse.
• Critical understaffing and systemic deficiencies in physical plant, housing and classification, contraband control, incident reporting, and investigations all contribute to the widespread violence.
• Georgia allows gangs to exert improper influence on prison life, including controlling entire housing units and operating unlawful and dangerous schemes in and from the prisons, harming both incarcerated people and the public.

“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 U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “Our constitution requires humane conditions in prisons, that, at a minimum, ensure that people in custody are safe. The findings of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act investigation of the Georgia Department of Corrections reveal grave and diffuse failures to safeguard the men and women housed in its facilities, including disturbing and increasing frequencies of deaths among incarcerated people. 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 Justice Department, our office and our U.S. Attorney partners in the Middle and Southern Districts to remedy these systemic deficiencies in Georgia prisons.”

“We hope these findings are a wake-up call. Incarcerated people and staff in 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 collaboratively with the State of Georgia to improve these deadly conditions; indeed, the Constitution requires it.”

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

The findings announced today are the result of the Justice Department’s civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.

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

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and the Special Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-litigation-section. You can also report civil rights violations to the section by completing the complaint form available at civilrights.justice.gov/. To provide information related to the department’s investigation of Georgia’s prisons, please call 1-844-401-3736 or email the department at Community.GeorgiaDOC@usdoj.gov.

Spanish translation forthcoming. (La traducción al español estará disponible próximamente.)