ATLANTA — Conditions inside Georgia's prisons are in violation of the constitution, leaving inmates to fend for themselves in understaffed and unsafe prisons, the Department of Justice announced in a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
The findings come after a three-year federal investigation into Georgia prisons.
"Time in prison should not be a sentence to death, torture or rape," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said. "We can't turn a blind eye to the wretched conditions and wanton violence unfolding in these institutions."
In a scathing report, the DOJ found that the Georgia Department of Corrections — the fourth largest prison system in the country — has failed to keep the inmates they hold safe behind bars, as required under the U.S. Constitution.
They call it "among the most severe violations" the DOJ has uncovered during their probes into prison systems across the nation.
"Georgia's prison system can do better and, most importantly, under the Constitution — they must do better," U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia Peter Leary said at the press conference.
The DOJ report paints a picture of an "endemic" culture of violence, rampant understaffing and gangs possessing outsized roles in prison facilities, including some cases of gangs controlling bed assignments and shower schedules.
The report also finds that the Department of Corrections fails to adequately protect LGBT inmates from both physical and sexual violence.
"People do not surrender their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door," Clarke said.
In a statement, the GDC says: "The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) is extremely disappointed to learn today of the decision by the Department of Justice to issue a Notice Letter leveling a variety of accusations against our prison system. The Notice Letter fails to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our staff – from corrections officers to nurses to vocational trainers – who have dedicated themselves to the care and rehabilitation of the inmates in our prison system."
The GDC denies the allegations of the DOJ, saying "the State of Georgia’s prison system operates in a manner exceeding the requirements of the United States Constitution" and says the "DOJ’s findings today reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the current challenges of operating any prison system."
Violence behind bars:
In their press conference, the DOJ says that violence in GDC prisons is "out of control." Over six years, at least 142 people were killed in Georgia prisons. They say that may even be low due to reporting problems.
"People are assaulted, stabbed, raped and killed — left to languish in facilities that are woefully understaffed," Clarke said.
They trace a lot of the violence back to the impact of understaffing. In the report, the DOJ says only 50% of correctional officer positions were filled, leaving violence and gangs running rampant in Georgia state prisons.
Compared to the national average, the DOJ said Georgia's murder rate behind bars in 2019 was three times higher than the rest of the nation, and the murder rates in Georgia prisons have increased since then.
Between 2018 and 2020, 48 people were killed in Georgia prisons. But between 2021 and 2023, homicides spiked 95.8% with 94 people being killed.
They include cases such as an inmate found dead in a segregated housing unit. They say his body was badly decomposed, and the county coroner reports that the inmate was likely dead in his cell for at least two days.
"It is impossible to look at these facts and not walk away with a sense of shock and horror," Leary said.
Other cases include the stabbing of the Talfair State Prison warden back in March. Another case involved a prison inmate and food service worker being shot to death at Smith State Prison with a contraband firearm.
"These constitutional violations are not isolated incidents but longstanding, systemic violations stemming from a culture of indifference to the safety and security of the people Georgia holds in its prisons," Clarke said.
Contraband and lack of supervision:
The Department of Justice also honed in on the lack of supervision and highlighted the impact contraband has on safety behind bars — and in the community.
"Violence and lack of supervision and control in state facilities too often threaten those who are outside the prison walls," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia Jill Steinberg said at the conference.
The report highlights "multiple credible reports" of gang members shaking down families of inmates, threatening to harm their loved ones if they don't get what they demand.
With the lack of adequate staffing, it creates an "unsafe and chaotic living environment," the DOJ says.
"Individuals inside the prisons can convey and carry out those threats because of the lack of supervision, using widely available contraband cellphones that provide unsupervised contact with the criminal networks outside the prison walls," Steinberg said.
Steinberg highlighted recent prosecution efforts from her office, attempting to tackle contraband networks getting drugs, weapons and more into Georgia prisons.
How to correct conditions:
After outlining their findings, the report includes 12 pages of "minimum remedial measures" to correct conditions within Georgia prisons.
Among those measures, the reports say that the GDC needs to:
- Address its staffing shortage, filling at least 90% of allocated posts.
- The GDC needs to implement a plan to adequately document and investigate violent incidents behind prison wall
- Reevaluate the housing and inmate classification process
- Clamp down on contraband, including weekly searches of housing units and preventing the introduction of drugs and other contraband behind bars
- Overhaul sexual abuse prevention measures, including improving the housing assignment process for LGBT inmates
In their statement, the GDC says the report overlooks the fact that the Federal Bureau of Prison also suffers many of the same issues. They say the DOJ's previous reports only pave the way for extended court monitoring — at taxpayer expense.
"As history demonstrates, DOJ’s track record in prison oversight is poor – often entangling systems in years of expensive and unproductive court monitoring. As merely one example, court monitoring instigated by DOJ at Riker’s Island remains on-going after eight years, despite the fact that New York City employs one jail guard for every inmate at Riker’s Island. "
The GDC holds over 50,000 inmates in 34 state prisons. In the U.S. Middle District, which includes Macon, there are 17 state prisons ranging from Macon to Baldwin to Washington Counties.