Conditions at Georgia Prisons Violate Constitution, Justice Dept. Says

A Justice Department investigation into Georgia’s state prison system found conditions that violate the Constitution, including rampant violence, sexual assault, drug smuggling and gang activity, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The investigation by the department’s Civil Rights Division comes as the system, which houses around 50,000 inmates at any given time, is in crisis — with 142 homicides reported at facilities run by the Georgia Department of Corrections from 2018 to 2023.

That number has skyrocketed, with 94 homicides reported in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and at least 24 in the first six months of 2024.

In most similar cases, federal and state officials eventually hash out a restructuring plan that includes federal assistance and compliance benchmarks, with the possibility of filing a lawsuit if state officials do not comply.

Driving the dysfunction is a severe and chronic staffing shortage, a growing problem for many corrections systems, including the federal Bureau of Prisons. In Georgia, some lockups have only half the necessary personnel to provide security and basic services, according to the findings of the scathing report.

“People are assaulted, stabbed raped and killed or left to languish inside facilities that are woefully understaffed,” according to the report’s authors, led by Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general overseeing the Civil Rights Division. “Inmates are maimed and tortured, relegated to an existence of fear, filth and not-so-benign neglect.”