By Sarah N. Lynch and Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday launched a statewide civil investigation into Georgia’s prisons, focusing on prisoner-on-prisoner violence as well as violence against lesbian, gay and transgender inmates.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Civil Rights Division said at a news conference that the department would examine whether the state was adequately protecting prisoners’ constitutional rights and would notify the state of any findings, and work to implement any necessary reforms.
“No prisoner’s sentence should include violence at the hands of other prisoners while behind bars,” she told reporters, citing reports of prisoner deaths behind bars and a major riot at one facility last year.
“Our investigation will examine whether the state of Georgia adequately protects prisoners … from physical harms at the hands of other prisoners as required by the Eighth Amendment,” Clarke said.
In 2020, 26 prisoners died in Georgia prisons by confirmed or suspected homicide, and 18 have died so far in 2021, she said, adding that footage leaked on social media about contraband and weapons in the state’s facilities also raised concerns.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Susan Heavey; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
