An eight-year investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice has uncovered crisis-level conditions in all 34 of Georgia’s state prisons. The investigation revealed understaffing and inhumane conditions throughout the prison system.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes learned that the Justice Department found that every one of Georgia’s state prisons is failing to protect the inmates.
“Time in prison should not be a sentence to death, torture or rape,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke.
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Clarke emphasized that civil rights apply to everyone, including incarcerated individuals. In 2016, the Department of Justice began looking into accusations of severe mistreatment within Georgia’s prison system.
Over nearly eight years, they reviewed documents, interviewed inmates and prison staff, and spoke with advocates and medical personnel. Their findings showed that the conditions impact roughly 50,000 incarcerated Georgians, which Clarke stated is unconstitutional.