A hundred page contempt order has been issued by a federal judge who found Georgia Department of Corrections officials willfully disregarded requirements to improve deplorable conditions inside the high-security Special Management Unit prison in Jackson. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Marc Treadwell ordered the appointment of an independent monitor, at the prison system’s expense, to keep watch on compliance with the requirements.
He also imposed a $2,500-a-day fine for failure to comply with his order to improve conditions at the Special Management Unit, which is Georgia’s version of a “supermax” high-security prison. A lawsuit filed by a prisoner at the facility in 2015 ultimately resulted in a settle in 2019 that called for sweeping changes to policies and practices at the facility that included mandatory time for prisoners outside cells, library access, mental health evaluations and treatment and a halting of abusive treatment. The judge found that prison officials falsified documents to make it appear they were complying with the order.
