ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 29, 2004 –
According to a motion for contempt filed today by attorneys from King &
Spalding LLP and the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR), stabbings,
rapes, and the risk of violence are a daily part of life for inmates at Lee
Arrendale Prison (Arrendale) in Alto, Georgia. This is despite a Consent
Order in the case of Reece v. Whitworth from 1991 that required the
Georgia Department of Corrections to take steps to reduce violence and
provide adequate protection for inmates. The suit contends that the
conditions at the prison are violating a federal court order as well as the
Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
Arrendale is the prison where children convicted as
adults for certain specified offenses are incarcerated. It is also the
prison where many children convicted of other felonies in adult court are
incarcerated at age 17 to serve the remainder of their sentences. There are
currently more than 231 inmates under age 21 at Arrendale. Rapes, stabbings,
chokings, and beatings with locks, broomsticks, trash cans, and other
objects have left some of Georgia's youngest inmates with severe physical
and psychological trauma. Since the rape and murder of Wayne Boatwright, age
18, in February, 2004, there have been more than 52 reported violent
incidents, including multiple stabbings and multiple sexual assaults.
According to SCHR attorney Sarah Geraghty, "Prison
officials are well aware of the chronic and unacceptably high level of
inmate-on-inmate violence at Arrendale. They have failed to take reasonable
steps to address this problem."
The Georgia Department of Corrections has disregarded
threats to inmates' safety by not providing adequate staffing, neglecting to
ensure that officers supervise inmates appropriately by patrolling and
circulating through the cell blocks, failing to repair broken cell doors,
and failing to segregate young, vulnerable inmates from inmates with a
history of violent, predatory behavior towards other inmates. This is
despite letters of warning from attorneys, pleas from family members of
inmates, even a legislative hearing convened by Senator Vincent Fort calling
on the Georgia Department of Corrections to take steps to improve security
at the prison.
Violence and lack of adequate protection for inmates
were central issues in the original case, Reece v. Whitworth when it
was filed more than 22 years ago. The Consent Order contained provisions
that were designed to reduce the incidence of inmate-on-inmate violence at
Arrendale, protect inmates from one another, and protect the rights of
inmates under the Eighth Amendment. The motion for contempt filed today
seeks a declaration from the court that Arrendale and the Department of
Corrections are in contempt of the Consent Order and that immediate steps
must be taken to protect the children, teenagers, and other inmates housed
there.