The U.S. Department of Justice recently released a 56-page report, which found that Alabama’s prison system “routinely violates the constitutional rights of prisoners” by failing to protect them from “prisoner-on-prisoner violence and prisoner-on-prisoner sexual abuse.”

The report notes “a high level of violence that is too common, cruel, of an unusual nature and pervasive.”

Further, the report concluded that the Alabama prison system failed to “provide safe conditions.”

All of these problems, according to the report, are “exacerbated by serious deficiencies in staffing and supervision and overcrowding.”

The report goes on to say that the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) “has violated and continues to violate the Eighth Amendment.”

The report describes an incident at “Bibb” in which two prisoners stabbed another inmate – when another prisoner attempted to intervene, he too was stabbed.

The report described another stabbing at “Staton” and a vicious beating at “Elmore.”

The report further describes incidents of rape and sexual assault, as well as drug use throughout Alabama’s prisons.

The report finds that prison officials are “deliberately indifferent to the risk of harm” and, despite knowing of the widespread issues for decades, “little has changed.”

On Wednesday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey responded to the report.

“We appreciate the U.S. Department of Justice’s efforts to ensure open lines of communication with the State of Alabama,” Ivey said. “DOJ has identified many of the same areas of concern that we have discussed publicly for some time.. Over the coming months, my administration will be working closely with DOLJ to ensure that our mutual concerns are addressed and that we remain steadfast in our commitment to public safety, making certain that this Alabama problem has an Alabama solution.

The ADOC has previously been under the DOJ’s gaze for its failure to adequately address mental health issues in prisons throughout Alabama.

The report sets a deadline of 49 days for the state to substantively address the issues or the DOJ may file suit against the state.