The Senate Subcommittee on Investigations held a special hearing on July 26 to unveil and address corruption, abuse and misconduct that has occurred at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.
“The evidence the Subcommittee has secured to date reveals stunning long-term failures of federal prison administration that likely contributed to loss of life; jeopardized the health and safety of inmates and staff; and undermined public safety and civil rights in the state of Georgia and the Southeast Region of the United States,” Jon Ossoff, senator and chair of Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, said at the hearing.
Subcommittee ranking member Senator Ron Johnson delivered the opening statement for the hearing, establishing the nature of the investigation and the extent of the corruption in the Georgia-based, federal prison. Johnson discussed how USPA staff referred to the culture of corruption as ‘the Atlanta Way’ and touched on numerous issues that contributed to it including more than half of the security cameras not working, staff not knowing how to properly load and unload their weapons, and staff intentionally damaging drug-detecting equipment.
The first witness to testify was Erika Ramirez, former chief psychologist for U.S. Penitentiary-Atlanta. Ramirez said that despite repeatedly reporting “ongoing and uncorrected gross mismanagement of suicide prevention practices,” USP-Atlanta did nothing to prevent needless and unusual suicides. Ramirez also testified that she was retaliated against for her actions by being involuntarily transferred from USP-Atlanta to the Federal Correction Institution in Seagoville, Texas, at the end of 2021. Her testimony, which was wide-ranging and extensive, revealed that the USP-Atlanta was physically deteriorating, contraband was commonplace, the education department wasn’t educating inmates, staff refused to make necessary changes to schedules, and workplace violence was commonplace among the staff.
Next to testify was former jail administrator Terri Whitehead. Whitehead spoke about several specific instances of staff misconduct she observed in which staff were disciplined for wrongdoing only to be promoted shortly afterward. She also said she “reported at least three problem staff cases to the USP-Atlanta acting warden for failure to follow supervisor’s instructions, breach of security, inattention to duty, and refusing to wear a mask for COVID-19 purposes,” but hasn’t been interviewed about any of those cases yet.
The third witness was Rebecca Shepard, assistant federal public defender for the Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Georgia. Shepard discussed how inmates at USP-Atlanta were denied pretrial during their incarceration, a key component of due process.
“The pretrial conditions at USP-Atlanta have repercussions beyond the hardships experienced by detained clients," Shepard said. "The barriers to effective attorney-client communication consistently result in delays in resolving cases and unduly extend the periods our clients are subjected to egregious pretrial conditions. Defenders are forced to seek continuances—often repeatedly—because we cannot comply with court deadlines when we cannot communicate with our clients. These delays burden the court system.”
Last to testify was Michael Carvajal, the director for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, who discussed various solutions to the current problems faced by USP-Atlanta, including filling all staffing vacancies, increasing audits of penitentiary operations, fortifying and improving infrastructure, providing supplemental suicide prevention training, reporting misconduct and destroying contraband.
