The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Georgia’s Department of Corrections. They’re looking at allegations of chronic under staffing in state prisons, meaning neither the incarcerated nor corrections officers are safe from violence, including self-inflicted harm.
Violence in prisons is nothing new, but the Justice Department is looking into the uptick in violent incidents in Georgia’s prisons. This month, a prisoner at Hays State Prison in Trion appeared in Chattooga County Superior Court on charges of murdering a fellow prisoner following an argument. Some believe that the lack of adequate staffing in Georgia’s prisons are causing more of these types of violent incidents.
Prisoner-on-prisoner violence has been identified as a focus of the Justice Department investigation.
The inquiry, officially launched in September and ongoing, follows spiking murder and suicide rates in Georgia prisons.
Since the beginning of 2020, at least 53 Georgia inmates have been homicide victims, according to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s more than double the total of 21 for 2018 and 2019.
The rise in deaths comes as the state’s prisons face critical staffing shortages because of COVID-19 and other factors.
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