Georgia is refusing to allow the DOJ to investigate allegations of violence in the state's prisons
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Georgia has long had a problem with its prison system—everything from brutal sexual abuse and assault on LGBTQ inmates, to unchecked gang violence, to the deaths of incarcerated people at the hands of fellow prisoners.
On Mar. 28, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a petition against the state demanding that the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) comply with a subpoena and hand over documents related to an investigation into a slew of alleged issues. But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reports that the GDC is refusing, citing the need for the DOJ to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) in order to maintain the safety of staff and inmates.
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In addition to not allowing DOJ access inside any of the state’s prisons or to speak with inmates or staff, the AJC reports, the DOJ also alleges that thus far, the GDC has given them “only an incomplete set of policies” amounting to “a fraction of those requested,” and “blank form documents,” the filing reads.
In an email sent to the AJC, GDC spokesperson Joan Heath wrote:
“GDC will provide DOJ with the requested information once the DOJ agrees to take the appropriate precautions with these documents. … In the interim, GDC cannot and will not forfeit the safety and security of our staff and offenders.”
On Sept. 14, 2021, the DOJ announced its official investigation into the Georgia prisons in order to explore “whether Georgia provides prisoners reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners,” and “whether Georgia provides lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex prisoners reasonable protection from sexual abuse by other prisoners and by staff.”
According to The Georgia Voice, the DOJ began an investigation based on the case of Ashley Diamond, a transgender woman. In 2015, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a suit on Diamond’s behalf alleging that the GDC denied her doctor-prescribed hormone medication while she was imprisoned and that she’d been sexually assaulted by several inmates.
In a press release at the time, Chinyere Ezie, a staff attorney for SPLC, wrote:
“Ashley Diamond was not sentenced to sexual assault and a gender change when she was imprisoned for a parole violation. … Tragically, the state of Georgia is forcing Ashley to transition from female to male by denying her the protection and medical care she needs. Transgender inmates like Ashley have a right to be kept safe and to receive medically necessary treatment, including hormones.”
The frightening thing is that the GDC is also declining to offer documentation on the homicide rates inside the state’s prisons. AJC reported last month that at least 57 inmates were murdered while imprisoned in Georgia, with 29 deaths in 2020 and 28 in 2021.
Ultimately, the GDC and its attorneys are claiming that the DOJ hasn’t laid out a framework for why it’s investigating the prisons, and that the NDA is vital because privacy is at the center of inmates’ health records.
Meanwhile, according to The Current, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is pushing to allocate $600 million to begin building two new prisons in exchange for closing four others.
In a January budget report, Kemp wrote: “As our judicial system has focused on providing rehabilitative support in the community where appropriate for low-level, nonviolent offenders to avoid recidivism, our state prison population has become filled with increasingly violent offenders. … Our aging prison facility infrastructure was not intended to house the level of offender who resides there today, and it requires higher levels staffing and facility maintenance to manage these dangerous environments.”
Criminal justice activists argue that Kemp’s $600 million would be better spent on improving mental health facilities and educational programs as a preventative measure to being incarcerated, The Current reports.
Georgia boasts “one of the largest prison systems” in the nation, with nearly 53,000 inmates.