ATLANTA – Two former administrators at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta told members of a congressional subcommittee Tuesday inmates have been severely abused amid inhumane conditions at least since 2014.
Terri Whitehead, a recently retired former jail administrator at the prison, and Erika Ramirez, who served as chief psychologist there, described a dilapidated rat-infested facility with moldy walls and sewer backups where drug abuse is rampant and neither guards nor inmates are held accountable for their actions.
“Any suggestion for change was met with resistance,” Ramirez testified during a hearing held by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “It’s devastating to see such a disregard for human life.”
The subcommittee has been investigating the Atlanta penitentiary for 10 months, interviewing whistleblowers from the federal Bureau of Prisons and reviewing internal agency documents.
“Interviews and records reveal a facility where inmates … were denied proper nutrition, access to clean drinking water, and hygiene products; lacked access to the outdoors or basic services; and had rats and roaches in their food and cells,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., the subcommittee’s chairman.
Rebecca Shepard, a lawyer with the federal Defender Services Office, testified the victims of abuse include pre-trial detainees, who are supposed to be presumed innocent. They receive little exercise and inadequate access to showers and telephones to call relatives, Shepard...
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