![\"Department](\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Department-of-Justice-Loo.jpg\")
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The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it opened a statewide investigation into the conditions of Alabama’s prisons for men.<\/p>\n
The investigation will focus on whether prisoners are adequately protected from physical harm and sexual abuse at the hands of other prisoners; whether prisoners are adequately protected from use of excessive force and staff sexual abuse by correctional officers; and whether the prisons provide sanitary, secure and safe living conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Constitution requires that prisons provide humane conditions of confinement,\u201d said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division.\u00a0 \u201cWe hope to work cooperatively with the state of Alabama in conducting our inquiry and ensuring that the state\u2019s facilities keep prisoners safe from harm.\u201d<\/p>\n “The vulnerability of a prisoner makes it even more important that basic hygiene and safe accommodations are afforded the inmates,\u201d said U.S. Attorney George L. Beck Jr. of the Middle District of Alabama.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very pleased to have my office join the Northern and Middle Districts of Alabama as well as the Civil Rights Division in opening an investigation into the Alabama prison system,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama.\u00a0 \u201cAll citizens, even those who are incarcerated, should expect sanitary conditions of habitation that are free of physical harm and sexual abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n The Anniston Star newspaper reported today that Alabama\u2019s prison system has been under increasing scrutiny in recent years, due to violence inside prison walls and allegations of sexual abuse. Federal officials have already intervened at Tutwiler Prison for Women after complaints of sexual abuse of inmates there. The state\u2019s men\u2019s prisons have seen several riots and stabbings in recent years; just Wednesday, state officials came to Anniston for a memorial service for Kenneth Bettis, a Holman Prison guard who died of stab wounds last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n State officials often say overcrowding and aging facilities are to blame for much of the problem, according to officials.<\/p>\n There are now nearly 24,000 inmates housed in state prisons built for 13,300. The number of inmates was even higher a few years ago, before sentencing reforms began to chip away at the numbers, the Anniston Star reported.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In Anniston on Wednesday, Gov. Robert Bentley again called for a plan to build four new prisons to replace some of the state\u2019s older facilities.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n![\"alabama-prison\"](\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Alabama-Prison-300x195.jpg\")
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