Georgia is expected to fight with the government over prison conditions in the state

A massive report from the U.S. Department of Justice released Tuesday tells one horrifying story after another. A prisoner tied up Raised, beaten, waterboarded and sexually abused by his cellmate. Another died of dehydration after angering guards so they turned off his water and stopped his meals. Yet another was attacked and raped by a cellmate and wasted away after other prisoners stole his food. Gangs run entire units. Fatal stabbings as routine events. Murders at record levels.

The findings are among the worst the DOJ has ever uncovered, said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the DOJ's civil rights division, demanding a response. She promised to work “urgently.” and bring about reforms “quickly,” and the DOJ report contains a long list of essential remedies. This also includes increasing the woefully understaffed workforce.

But federal officials' insistence that the situation is serious may not translate into quick action. Shortly after the report was released, the Georgia Department of Corrections announced it would take action. Through spokeswoman Joan Heath, it issued a statement saying the state is “exceeding” constitutional standards for its prisons. In a statement of his own, Gov. Brian Kemp agreed.

Based on these early comments, the DOJ's Georgia investigation could follow the same path as its investigation into the Alabama prison system, which resulted in an equally damning report in 2019. A year and a half later, the DOJ filed a lawsuit saying Alabama had failed or refused to fix the problems. Four years later, the parties are still in court.

In Georgia, advocates, families and prisoners who had hoped the Justice Department investigation would force change fear it would instead lead to a drawn-out legal battle, even as the system sets new records for homicides and is overwhelmed by drug overdoses, sexual assaults, etc Suicides. The DOJ alleges that conditions in Georgia prisons violate the U.S. constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

“The GDC will stand firm and not try to solve anything,” said Susan Sparks Burns, a Georgia prison reform advocate whose Facebook page “They Have No Voice” is a popular information platform for people with loved ones in prison. “The statement that (the GDC) made was, in my opinion, basically a big 'screw you.' But how do you deny all the deaths? All that money spent on emergency rooms and court cases? I don’t believe at all that this authority is capable of handling its tasks responsibly.”

State Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Atlanta, told Kemp GDC officials and members of the Legislature should see the DOJ report as a “wake-up call” that the prison system is in crisis and needs reform. A long-time advocate of improving the system, he said setting up a defensive front was the wrong approach to what appeared to be a carefully documented report.

“We as a state have allowed these problems to fester and culminate in what the DOJ is now telling us,” he said.

New horrors

Many incidents cited by the DOJ were uncovered by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as part of its ongoing investigation into the prison system. But others have not yet been revealed, adding to the litany of atrocities behind the walls.

“It is impossible to consider these facts without feeling a sense of shock and horror,” said Peter Leary, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, when the report was released.

The report details the circumstances of each incident in detail and graphically, although the DOJ, at GDC's urging, did not identify the prisoners or officers by name.

At Smith State Prison in 2020, an inmate was handcuffed, beaten and waterboarded by his cellmate. He also had ligature marks on his neck and most of his upper teeth were broken. When he was taken to the hospital, bars of soap that appeared to have been used in a sexual assault fell from his body, according to the report.

At Calhoun State Prison, an inmate died of dehydration and kidney failure in 2023. According to the Justice Department, prison staff cut off his food and water after he threw water through the flap in his cell door. AJC records indicate he was 24 years old.

In 2020, a prisoner at Georgia State Prison was found to be so malnourished that every bone in his spine was injured. He also had a broken jaw and human bite marks all over his body. According to the report, the prisoner said his cellmate sexually abused him and people stole his food for months. The EMS provider wrote, “This patient is scared. His body is wasting away and is covered in signs of abuse. It is shameful that this has so far gone unnoticed and unaddressed by prison staff.”

“There are people there right now and they're being tied up and they're being beaten and they're being tortured and it's like no one cares,” she said. “This weekend another mother is going to get a call and it’s like Russian roulette – who will it be?”

“Needlessly controversial”

In disclosing its findings, the DOJ revealed a variety of obstacles standing in its way of obtaining documents and access from the GDC.

The GDC said Tuesday it has “fully cooperated” with the DOJ during its investigation and will continue to do so as the state begins discussing “next steps” with the administration.

Although the GDC has not indicated how it will respond to the DOJ, There is at least one sign that Georgia will continue to fight back.

In its previous efforts to withhold records from investigators, the GDC was represented by William Lunsford, the Huntsville, Alabama, attorney representing Alabama in its court battle with the DOJ.

Lunsford, with the law firm Butler Snow, is known for representing correctional facilities and other government agencies under federal supervision. He also serves as legal counsel for the Correctional Leaders Association, of which GDC Commissioner Tyrone Oliver is a member. Reports released last year in Alabama found the state had paid Lunsford nearly $10 million for defense.

More recently, Lunsford took on the role of GDC's attorney in the Southern Center for Human Rights' case over conditions at the Special Management Unit, the supermax prison in Jackson. In April, U.S. District Judge Marc T. Treadwell criticized the GDC in contempt, finding in a blistering ruling that the agency and its officials had defied the requirements of a 2019 agreement that would make necessary changes to the cap, ” turned up their noses.” -Safety device.

Burns said there are several relatively painless ways the GDC can comply with the DOJ's remedial actions. One option would be to offer parole to older, nonviolent offenders, making the state's severely understaffed prisons more manageable. But she pointed to the court battle over the special administrative unit and said she doubted the GDC would be willing to bow even a little to the DOJ.

“How can this be otherwise?” she said. “It has to be resolved in court. And the sad thing is that people continue to die.”