Senators launch new inquiry into inmate deaths at prisons in Georgia, US

Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock have opened a new inquiry with the U.S. Department of Justice about the number of inmate deaths in prisons in Georgia and across the United States.

According to a statement from the senators, Ossoff and Warnock are urging U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to update federal laws for tracking and preventing the deaths of people in federal and local custody.

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In their statement, the senators referenced a previous effort to investigate prison deaths in the United States that found nearly 1,000 uncounted deaths of inmates in state and local custody in 2022.

The bipartisan probe, which worked on uncovering the information for 10 months, also found that the USDOJ had failed to implement the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which is meant to track data and prevent inmate deaths at prisons nationwide.

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Now, Ossoff and Warnock are asking Garland and the Justice Department to strengthen the policies used to track and collect death data at prisons at federal, state and local levels of custody to better understand, and mitigate, the risks inmates face while incarcerated. In their letter to Justice officials, the senators from Georgia cite deaths at two metro Atlanta prisons as part of the need for reforms.

“In prior outreach, we have urged the Department of Justice to investigate ongoing disturbing reports of deaths in custody in Georgia’s Clayton County and Fulton County Jails. Tragically, deaths have continued—in just the first six months of 2024, at least six individuals have died in custody in Clayton County Jail. Another three have died in custody in the Fulton County Jail this year, following the death of 10 individuals in custody in Fulton County in 2023,” Ossoff and Warnock wrote to Garland. “These alarming numbers underscore the necessity of stronger reporting under the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) to help identify the causes of these deaths and possible interventions to prevent future tragedies.”

In July 2023, the Justice Department formally opened an investigation into the jail conditions in Fulton County. Since that investigation started, Ossoff has also requested a similar civil rights investigation at the Clayton County Jail, but the USDOJ has not opened one as of yet.

The senators also said that while USDOJ has worked to improve compliance with the Death in Custody Reporting Act, there was more that still needed to be done to make sure each death in custody is reported fully and accurately, and that the U.S. government has the information it needs to address possible causes of death within its control.

A September 2022 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that 70% of inmate deaths submitted by states in the 2021 fiscal year were missing at least one category required to be collected by the USDOJ, the senators said in a statement.

The latest move for stronger policies follows an inquiry Ossoff launched into how USDOJ reports and determines causes of death for those who die in federal custody.

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