The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief last week in a decade-old lawsuit filed by former and current inmates of an Alabama prison that alleges pervasive prisoner-on-prisoner violence and sexual assaults , warning prison officials not to violate the prisoners’ constitutional rights.

The brief, known as a statement of interest, was filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Alabama in response to a lawsuit filed in October 2014 by former and current inmates at St. Clair Correctional Facility in Springville.

“The United States has a substantial interest in protecting the constitutional rights of all people, including prisoners, and ensuring the proper application of the legal standards grounded in the Eighth Amendment,” the statement read.

The inmates claim unsafe conditions at the prison are to blame for violence, sexual abuse and excessive force at the facility in violation of their Eight Amendment Rights against cruel and unusual punishment.

“The Constitution requires prison officials to take reasonable steps to protect the people in their custody,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement released Monday. “We must not allow violence and sexual abuse to run rampant in our prisons and jails. We are committed to securing the constitutional rights of all people, including those who are incarcerated.”

Added Prim Escalona, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama: “People do not lose their constitutional rights behind prison walls. Our office remains committed to ensuring constitutional conditions, including reasonable safety, within Alabama’s prisons.”

The brief filed by the DOJ claims that “perfect conditions” do not have to exist to protect the inmates’ constitutional rights.

“But people do not lose their constitutional rights behind prison walls. The Eighth Amendment guarantees humane conditions, which necessitates that prison officials take reasonable measures to provide for prisoners’ safety,” the brief stated. “Defendants violate this right if they fail to respond reasonably to known risks of harm, including by taking actions they know to be ineffective and refusing to take reasonable actions to mitigate the harm. The United States respectfully requests that the Court consider this Statement of Interest in applying the Eighth Amendment to this case.”