Senate panel told of ‘outrageous’ violations at Atlanta penitentiary
This article excerpt features Government Accountability Project clients Dr. Erika Ramirez and Ms. Terri Whitehead, and was originally published here.
“WASHINGTON — A former administrator at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary said a rat infestation got so bad that staff propped open the doors to the building so stray cats from the surrounding neighborhood could get in.
‘It is never a good idea to leave prison doors open,’ Terri Whitehead said during her testimony to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
That workaround to address the rat problem because the prison had no pest control plan was among the ‘outrageous’ policy violations and behaviors Whitehead described during Tuesday’s hearing. Former prison psychologist Dr. Erika Ramirez, whom the committee characterized as a whistleblower, said the problems also included sewage backups, mold, ubiquitous contraband, and a troubling suicide rate among the inmates at the prison, also known as U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta.”