Don't Go to Prison in Georgia

Not exactly new advice -- prison in the Deep South has been a good thing to avoid since at least the 19th century, and was the subject matter of many dramas including Cool Hand Luke. It sounds like it's still pretty miserable, though.

"In one instance, prison staff had to borrow a razor blade from a prisoner to cut the ligature suspending a prisoner who had hung himself in his cell," [Sen. Jon] Ossoff said, referring to the BOP's documents....

...a crumbling physical structure infested by mold and rats. Regular sewage back-ups often left standing pools of human foot waste a foot deep....

... unmanaged flow of drugs that persisted for years contributed to a rash of suicides.... "so many rats" in the inmate dining hall and other areas that staffers often left the doors open to allow cats in to catch the rodents....

Repeatedly pressed about his lack of knowledge of the conditions in Atlanta, [Bureau of Prisons Director Michael] Carvajal said the agency appeared to be "stuck" in information silos.

"This is clearly a diseased bureaucracy," Ossoff said.

After the hearing Carvajal fled to a freight elevator to avoid reporters, who crowded in after him to ask questions anyway. So, he likewise fled the elevator and ran down the stairs

3 comments:

james said...

I'd heard that federal prisons were generally better run than state ones. If true, that must be a low bar.

Grim said...

"Hey, has one of you guys got a knife or something so we can cut this guy down?" That's a secure facility.

RonF said...

I think it's worth clarifying that this is a Federal prison, not one run by the State of Georgia.