Prison & Jail Conditions

The Deep South’s addiction to incarceration is not a reflection of higher crime rates or a stronger commitment to public safety.

To the contrary, the overuse of incarceration as a “solution” to addiction, mental illness, and poverty has caused a number of serious problems: the level of overcrowding in prisons and jails throughout the South is inherently dangerous; prisons and jails compromise public health systems by making people sicker and disrupting care; and conditions inside prisons and jails often contribute to the creation of a culture of violence and abuse that extends beyond the prison walls.

Violence, guard brutality, draconian conditions of solitary confinement, extreme heat, poor medical care, and intolerable living conditions have all been challenged in litigation brought by SCHR.