GEORGIA, — On Tuesday, the Department of Justice released their findings from a years-long investigation into Georgia's prisons.
They announced a statewide investigation in 2021 following a spike in deaths and other violence inside Georgia Correctional Facilities. Federal prosecutors described hundreds of serious incidents inside Georgia prisons.
U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Peter Leary says the Georgia Department of Corrections is unable to control the violence due to low staffing and indifference.
“It is impossible to look at these facts and not get a feeling of shock and horror,” Leary said.
Last December, the prison system had five homicides at four different prisons, and serious incidents at others.
Travis Best's brother is in prison for drug trafficking, he says his brother faces violence daily at Dooly State Prison.
“He's already been beat on and stabbed," Best said. "Not just that - where the stab wounds are, they are infected."
He says the staff does nothing to protect his brother from other inmates who have access to phones.
“They hold him in a room, and they say send us money or we're going to kill him or beat him up,” Best said.
He says protecting his brother has cost the family a lot of money.
“$1,000," Best said. "One time it was $1,600, and the other day it was $800."
Leary says some of the problems include poor security, gang activity and the constant flow of contraband.
“Georgia's prison system can do better and most importantly under the constitution it must do better,” Leary said.
Armar McColumn was in a prison in Claxton for almost a year, serving charges from a misdemeanor for violating her probation.
She says the conditions were unlivable.
“We had to throw away our food and wait for them to recook the food for us because there were bugs in our food,” McColumn said.
She says the poor ventilation also made things worse.
“People started getting sick, everybody was catching colds, coughing really bad, chest hurting,” McColumn said.