The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta has long been known for high levels of violence and abysmal conditions, concerns that were validated on November 14, 2024. That’s when a 105-page investigative report was issued by the United States Dept. of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

Pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997, the DOJ conducted a 16-month investigation that included the county’s Main Jail and Marietta Annex, both in Atlanta, as well as the North Annex in Alpharetta and the South Annex in Union City. The resulting report said that the Office of Fulton County Sheriff Patrick “Pat” Labat (FCSO), which operates the lockup, had failed to protect detainees from systemic violence and use of excessive and unjustified force. The jails were also cited for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 126, § 12101, et seq., as well as for maintaining unsanitary conditions, including in segregation units, which also likely violated detainees’ constitutional rights. Moreover, food was deemed inadequate and medical and mental health care abysmal, among other deficiencies.

“Despite widespread awareness of these issues, the unconstitutional and illegal conditions have persisted,” the report stated.

There is a stark racial imbalance as well. The Fulton County population is 45% Black, but in the jail it is 91%. The jail also made headlines in September 2022 with the death of LaShawn Thompson, who was found dead in an insect-infested cell, malnourished and covered with lice. He was being held on a misdemeanor battery charge. Three FCSO employees later resigned, and Thompson’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the county for $4 million, as PLN reported.

Still, in 2023, 10 more prisoners died, and over 1,000 assaults and 314 stabbings were reported. [See: PLN, Feb. 2024, p.12.]

Seven Stabbings in 24 Hours

The DOJ reported that “[i]n less than 24 hours in August 2023, at least seven people were stabbed and one was killed at the jail.” Since 2022, six detainees have been murdered by other prisoners. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said that detention in the jail “has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”

Moreover, staff often failed to investigate incidents of rape and sexual abuse. “The jail has inadequate systems for reporting sexual harm and misconduct that make it difficult to quantify the level of sexual violence and to stop it,” according to the DOJ.

Over 700 broken locks were reported at the Main Jail in August 2023, and the ability of prisoners to leave their cells at will contributed to the violence and sexual abuse. Understaffing added to high levels of violence, too; FCSO hired a private security firm to supplement jail staff in July 2023, but the company canceled its contract a year later due to nonpayment.

The DOJ report also found that jail guards had a “pattern or practice of using excessive force” against detainees, including the deployment of Tasers in “an unreasonable, unsafe manner.” Additionally, guards lacked adequate training and often did not face discipline for improper uses of force. Unnecessary force was used even when prisoners were “not actively resisting or posing a danger to themselves or others.”

Two guards, not identified in the DOJ report, were criminally charged for using excessive force in June 2023. One, who choked a female detainee until she was unconscious, was sentenced to four years in prison; the other fired a Taser at a handcuffed prisoner. In February 2023, a guard opened a door to facilitate an assault on a detainee and did not report the incident or seek medical care for the victim. The guard, who was not named, was fired and charged.

Rotten Health Care, Too Much Isolation, Crummy Food

The report also cited a lack of appropriate medical and mental health care, due in part to understaffing. Healthcare at the jail is provided by NaphCare, a for-profit contractor. “[A]lthough people with mental health needs are overrepresented in the jail population, the jail environment exacerbates symptoms of mental illness,” DOJ investigators found. “The jail does not adequately protect people from a risk of suicide and does not adequately treat serious mental health needs.”

Juvenile offenders held at the facility were often kept in their cells 22 hours a day and denied educational programs in violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). They were further “subjected to violence and excessive force, experience[d] sexual abuse, and [were] denied adequate mental health care.”

With respect to insufficient food, “Medical records show that [prisoners] in the jail have suffered from malnutrition and hunger,” the report noted. Due to inadequate meals, some detainees extorted food from fellow prisoners. In one case, a detainee who had a Taser used on him after taking an extra lunch sack “explained that he did so because he has diabetes and was hungry,” the report stated.

Moreover, the jail had a dysfunctional grievance system. In one case, a detainee submitted five grievances reporting that he was being attacked by other prisoners; when a grievance officer finally responded a month later, the detainee had been murdered.

Prisoners were placed in solitary confinement for disciplinary reasons for up to 188 days, with others held in administrative segregation for years. The jail routinely found prisoners guilty of disciplinary offenses without first holding a hearing, a violation of their due process rights.

Unsurprising Corruption

Finally, the report referenced a scandal involving misuse of the jail’s Inmate Welfare Fund that erupted in late 2023, when it was revealed the Sheriff’s Office had spent funds on gift cards for staff members, vehicles, Tasers, and other expenses that did not benefit detainees. As a result, the Inmate Welfare Fund was abolished.

The report concluded with 110 recommendations to protect detainees from harm, address excessive use of force by staff, improve sanitation and overall conditions of confinement, provide adequate medical and mental health care, reform solitary confinement and disciplinary practices, and ensure educational services for juvenile offenders.

Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said local officials “share[d] the concerns that were outlined” in the report and had allocated $300 million to renovate the jail and comply with the DOJ’s recommended reforms.

“The unconstitutional and unlawful conditions at the Fulton County Jail have persisted for far too long, and we are committed to working with Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to remedy them,” said then-U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

In a letter to the County, the DOJ noted that CRIPA authorized the Attorney General’s office to initiate a lawsuit 49 days after the report was issued to force the correction of violations if remedial actions were not taken.

Yet with new Attorney General Pam Bondi now in charge of the DOJ, it is unclear how aggressively any legal action will be pursued. Sheriff Labat was also reelected a week before the report was released. See: Investigation of the Fulton County Jail, DOJ Civil Rights Division (Nov. 2024).  

Additional sources: Atlanta Journal Constitution, Reuters News, WXIA

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login