The DOJ launched a civil rights investigation into conditions at the Fulton County Jail after several inmates had died in a matter of weeks. One inmate, according to his family, was "eaten alive" by bed bugs.

The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta subjects inmates to “inhumane, violent and hazardous conditions” that threaten their safety, a US Justice Department official said Thursday, announcing the results of a 16-month investigation.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia will hold a press conference.

U.S. Justice Department officials said jail officials in Georgia’s most populous county violate the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions.

Georgia officials violated the rights of people in an overcrowded jail plagued by killings and inhumane conditions, a Justice Department report says.