DOJ to investigate conditions at Alabama prisons
Source: Associated Press
DOJ to investigate conditions at Alabama prisons
By KIM CHANDLER
Oct. 7, 2016 5:56 AM EDT
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday launched an investigation into conditions in Alabama prisons, a corrections system that has been troubled by overcrowding and rocked by recent outbreaks of violence.
The investigation by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division will focus on whether male inmates are housed in safe, secure and sanitary conditions and protected from physical harm and sexual abuse, the department indicated.
"The Constitution requires that prisons provide humane conditions of confinement," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement. "We hope to work cooperatively with the state of Alabama in conducting our inquiry and ensuring that the state's facilities keep prisoners safe from harm."
The probe is the latest difficulty for the Alabama corrections system, which has fully acknowledged challenges with crowding and staffing levels. Alabama agreed last year to make changes at its prisons for male inmates and at its only prison for women after the Justice Department launched a similar investigation there following complaints of sexual abuse of inmates by guards.
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