Via Unsplash.com
By Kaylee Pearlman
WASHINGTON, DC – Senior U.S. Senator from Georgia Jon Ossoff (D) said he has launched a “new inquiry after disturbing jail deaths in Georgia and Indiana.”
Sen. Ossoff said in a statement he has “led bipartisan investigations into conditions of incarceration in Georgia and nationwide…uncovering widespread corruption, sexual abuse of women, and failures to count prisons and jail deaths.”
The inquiry goal, he added, is “to strengthen oversight of jails and prisons where brothel treatment and other human rights abuses have been reported…the Department of Justice has an affirmative obligation to safeguard the civil rights of incarcerated people.”
“The Federal government provides hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to state and local prisons and jails through an array of grant programs…and thus has the responsibility to oversee the use of those resources,” added the lawmaker.
According to Ossoff’s statement, The Atlanta Journal- Constitution “last week…reported that 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson died in Fulton County Jail after being held in the facility’s psychiatric wing.”
Local reports stated, “Thompson’s body was later found covered in bed bugs and insect bites due to the alleged deplorable conditions in his jail cell.”
The Guardian also reported “29-year-old Joshua McLemore was found dead in his cell at Jackson County Jail in Indiana after reportedly suffering from malnutrition and dehydration while in solitary confinement…newly released surveillance footage…revealed that Mr. McLemore was left naked and starving in solitary confinement for nearly three weeks with no medical attention…[malnutrition] led to multiple organ failure and his death.”
Last Congress, Sen. Ossoff claimed in the press release “[his] bipartisan investigations uncovered corruption, abuse and misconduct at U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta; nearly 1,000 uncounted deaths in prisons and jails across the country; and widespread sexual abuse of women in Federal prisons nationwide.”
Sen. Ossoff said he “passed into law bipartisan legislation to upgrade security in Federal prisons.”
