MARION COUNTY, Fla.  — A Florida women's prison has likely violated inmates' constitutional rights by failing to protect them from sexual abuse by staff, federal investigators announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the conditions at Lowell Correctional Institution in north Florida violate the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, according to a 36-page report. The Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual” punishment.

A list of misconduct allegations cited in the DOJ report included guards groping inmates and guards bribing prisoners with contraband and coercing them into sexual relationships. The investigation found that sexual abuse by staff was frequent at Lowell, and that the women remain at substantial risk, officials said. Prisoners are discouraged from reporting sexual abuse, and investigations of sexual abuse allegations are inadequate, investigators said in the DOJ report.

The investigation indicated that understaffing at Lowell resulted in inadequate supervision of the prisoners that exposed them to the substantial risk. The facility, one of the country’s largest prisons for women,  has 600 staff members and had about 2,200 inmates in 2019.

The Justice Department provided the prison with written notice and suggested minimum remedial measures that include installing additional video surveillance and adopting new policies to protect inmates, officials said.

No criminal charges were announced against specific staff members.

The Florida Department of Corrections issued a statement saying, “FDC has cooperated fully with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division during their investigation initiated in 2017 and will continue to do so.”

The state said it will share with federal officials the actions the prison has taken to address the serious concerns outlined in the review.

“Prison officials have a constitutional duty to protect prisoners from harm, including sexual abuse by staff,” Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Eric Dreiband said in a statement. “Sexual abuse is never acceptable, and it is not part of any prisoner’s sentence."

Representative Dianne Hart (D-District 61) said she was happy that the Department of Justice stepped in and made public the abuse that many of those housed at Lowell Correctional Facility endure.

Federal officials began investigating Lowell in April 2018 under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act.