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Washington (AFP)

The US Justice Department painted a harrowing picture on Wednesday of conditions at men's prisons in the southern state of Alabama including "regular" violence, drug use, sexual abuse and inmate deaths.

The investigation conducted by the department's Civil Rights Division found conditions that violate prohibitions against "cruel and unusual punishment" in the US Constitution.

"We have reasonable cause to believe that Alabama routinely violates the constitutional rights of prisoners housed in Alabama's prisons by failing to protect them from prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse, and by failing to provide safe conditions," the lawyers who conducted the two-and-a-half year probe said.

"Our investigation revealed that an excessive amount of violence, sexual abuse, and prisoner deaths occur within Alabama's prisons on a regular basis," the report said. "The violations are severe, systemic, and exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision."

The report focused on conditions in 14 men's prisons -- one of which has since been closed -- housing more than 16,000 prisoners in the southern state.

According to the report, Alabama's prisons have the highest homicide rate in the country.

While the average homicide rate in America's prisons was seven per 100,000 prisoners in 2014, it was 56 homicides per 100,000 prisoners in Alabama's correctional facilities in 2017.

Violence is also regularly directed against prison guards, the report found.

"Since 2017, correctional officers have been stabbed, punched, kicked, threatened with broken broomsticks or knives, and had their heads stomped on," it said.

Sexual abuse is rampant, "occurring in the dormitories, cells, recreation areas, the infirmary, bathrooms, and showers at all hours of the day and night," the report said.

So is overcrowding and drug abuse.

The 13 men's prisons in Alabama house 16,327 prisoners in a system designed to hold 9,882, according to the most recent data.

"Dangerous and illegal drugs are highly prevalent in Alabama's prisons, and (the Alabama Department of Corrections) appears unable or unwilling to prevent the introduction and presence of drugs in its prisons," the report said.

The authors of the report recommended a number of immediate measures including the hiring of 500 more prison guards to address understaffing.

They gave the Alabama Department of Corrections 49 days to respond to the violations outlined in the report or face a lawsuit.

? 2019 AFP