{"id":36615,"date":"2024-10-02T11:17:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T18:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36615"},"modified":"2024-10-02T11:17:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T18:17:23","slug":"justice-department-finds-unconstitutional-conditions-in-georgia-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/justice-department-finds-unconstitutional-conditions-in-georgia-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Department Finds Unconstitutional Conditions in Georgia Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"78\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-5.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36616\" srcset=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-5.png 300w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-5-150x39.png 150w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/image-5-250x65.png 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>PRESS RELEASE<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tuesday, October 1, 2024 (Justice.gov)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For Immediate Release<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Office of Public Affairs<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Justice Department announced today its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/media\/1371406\/dl\">findings<\/a>&nbsp;that conditions of confinement in Georgia\u2019s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur findings report lays bare the horrific and inhumane conditions that people are confined to inside Georgia\u2019s state prison system,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division. \u201cOur 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.&nbsp;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 \u2014 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The department\u2019s 93-page report details its findings from a thorough investigation of Georgia\u2019s 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The State of Georgia engages in a pattern or practice of violating incarcerated persons\u2019 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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Critical understaffing and systemic deficiencies in physical plant, housing and classification, contraband control, incident reporting, and investigations all contribute to the widespread violence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIndividuals 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,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. \u201cOur 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe 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,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Peter Leary for the Middle District of Georgia. \u201cWe hope to work collaboratively with the State of Georgia to improve these deadly conditions; indeed, the Constitution requires it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe safety and security of Georgia\u2019s prisons are inescapably linked to the overall safety and security of our communities,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Jill E. Steinberg for the Southern District of Georgia. \u201cThe 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\u2019s prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The findings announced today are the result of the Justice Department\u2019s civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Civil Rights Division\u2019s Special Litigation Section and U.S. Attorneys\u2019 Offices for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia conducted the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the Civil Rights Division and the Special Litigation Section, please visit&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/special-litigation-section\">www.justice.gov\/crt\/special-litigation-section<\/a>. You can also report civil rights violations to the section by completing the complaint form available at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/civilrights.justice.gov\/\">civilrights.justice.gov\/<\/a>. To provide information related to the department\u2019s investigation of Georgia\u2019s prisons, please call 1-844-401-3736 or email the department at&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:Community.GeorgiaDOC@usdoj.gov\">Community.GeorgiaDOC@usdoj.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spanish translation forthcoming. (La traducci\u00f3n al espa\u00f1ol estar\u00e1 disponible pr\u00f3ximamente.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Updated October 1, 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PRESS RELEASE Tuesday, October 1, 2024 (Justice.gov) For Immediate Release Office of Public Affairs The Justice Department announced today its&nbsp;findings&nbsp;that conditions of confinement in Georgia\u2019s prisons violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. \u201cOur findings report lays bare the horrific and inhumane conditions that people are confined to inside Georgia\u2019s&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/02\/justice-department-finds-unconstitutional-conditions-in-georgia-prisons\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36617,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36615\/revisions\/36617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}