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Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical
Loaded on May 1, 2026
by Chuck Sharman
published in Prison Legal News
May, 2026, page 15
Filed under:
Staffing,
Sanitation,
Guard Brutality/Beatings,
Consent Decrees,
Bail/Pretrial Release.
Location:
Georgia.
by Chuck Sharman
In a report issued on February 20, 2026, Geogia’s Fulton County and Sheriff Pat Labatt touted improvements made at the County lockup in Atlanta since entering a consent decree a year earlier with the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). The claims were issued in response …
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More from this issue:
- The Systematic Terror of Rankin County’s “Goon Squad”, by Anthony Accurso
- ACLU Threatens New Lawsuit After Indiana County’s Repeated Failures to Abide by 17-Year-Old Settlement Agreement, by Chuck Sharman
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Washington Governor Fires Independent Prison Watchdog
- Spike in Massachusetts Prisoner Suicides Blamed on Isolation, K-2 and Spotty Mental Healthcare, by Chuck Sharman
- Idaho Moves Closer to Firing Squad Executions
- Exonerated Texas Prisoner Entitled to $1.68 Million After 22 Years of Wrongful Incarceration, by Chuck Sharman
- Atlanta Jail Boasts Improvements Since Consent Decree, Reports from Monitor and ACLU Are More Critical, by Chuck Sharman
- Fourth Circuit Revives North Carolina Prisoner’s Suit Blaming Lazy Guards for Assault by Detainee, by Chuck Sharman
- Former Prison Dentist in Iowa Accused of Harassment
- Hospital Keeps Sending Detainees Back Without Care to County Jail in Colorado
- Pregnant Women Detained in Jail: The Hideous Story of In-Custody Births, by Douglas Ankney
- $9.8 Million in Settlements Reached with South Carolina County and Wellpath in Gruesome Jail Death, by Chuck Sharman
- New York Juvenile Detention Officials Sued for Abusing Adolescents with Solitary Confinement, by Chuck Sharman
- Idaho DOC Director Denies Verified Report of Rampant Sexual Abuse of Women Prisoners by Staff, by Douglas Ankney
- Prisoners in Norfolk, Virginia Left on Extended Lockdown, by Michael Thompson
- “Like the Walking Dead”: Smuggled Drugs Fuel Chaos Inside Ohio Prisons, by Laura A. Bischoff, USA Today Network, Doug Livingston, The Marshall Project
- NaphCare Pays $875,000 to Settle New York License Violations, Banned from State for Five Years, by Chuck Sharman
- Illinois Jail Reprimanded for Denying Detainees Mail Based on Media Content, P.O. Box Return Address, Settles Detainees’ Suit with $111,825 Payment of Legal Fees, by Douglas Ankney
- New Hampshire Officials Halt $700 Million Prison Replacement
- Texas Officials Testify That Cost to Air Condition Prisons Tops $1.5 Billion, by Chuck Sharman
- $2.135 Million Partial Settlement Reached in Schizophrenic Detainee’s Death from “Gross Medical Neglect” at South Carolina Jail, by Chuck Sharman
- Oklahoma Supreme Court: Jail Trust Cannot Withhold Requested Records under Law Enforcement Exemption of ORA, by Douglas Ankney
- Federal Court Grants HRDC Preliminary Injunction Against Mail Censorship at New Mexico Jail, by Matthew Clarke
- Faced with Record-Breaking Jail Deaths, L.A. County Supervisors Tell Sheriff’s Department to Improve Access to Naloxone, Camera Monitoring, and Security Checks at California Jail, by Matthew Clarke
- Taser Use Doubled After Grand Jury Report on Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Death, by Michael Thompson
- Pennsylvania Closes Its Second-Oldest Prison
- Federal Court Places Medical Care in Arizona Prisons Under Receivership, by Matthew Clarke
- Nearly 50 People Have Died in ICE Custody Since Trump’s Return to White House, by Jo Ellen Nott
- $1.25 Million Paid for Special Needs Teen’s Fatal Beating in Houston Jail, by Chuck Sharman
- Oklahoma DOC Paid Prison Guards $35.5 Million in Overtime in 2025
- Arkansas Board of Corrections Settles Sunshine Law Charges, Caving to Governor’s Power Grab, by Chuck Sharman
- Monitor Says Massachusetts Prisons Will Not Meet Settlement Deadline for Mental Health Reforms, by Chuck Sharman
- Watchdog Finds Barely 1 in 10 Complaints Against California Prison Staff Handled Adequately, by Chuck Sharman
- Trump Wants $152 Million to Turn Alcatraz Back Into a Prison
- Six Maryland Guards Convicted in Prisoner’s Beating, Cover-up; § 1983 Suit Filed, by Chuck Sharman
- Trump Approves Firing Squads for Federal Executions
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, by Matthew Clarke
- Nevada Non-Profit Founder Under Investigation for Misconduct
- Negligence, Lack of Training at Ohio’s Cuyahoga County Jail Led to String of Deaths, by Michael Thompson
- $750,000 Paid by NaphCare for New York Jail Suicide, by Chuck Sharman
- HRDC Sues Colorado Jail for Prohibiting Dozens of Magazines and Books, by Robert Haughn
- Connecticut Correction Ombuds Finds DOC in “Sustained Institutional Failure”, by Chuck Sharman
- Arrests of Unhoused People Driving Albuquerque Jail Bookings, by Michael Thompson
- Indiana DOC Found in Violation of State Public Records Act for Withholding Execution Drug Cost Information, by Chuck Sharman
- Federal Jury Awards $307.6 Million to Former Michigan Prisoner After Corizon Refused Surgery, Forcing Him to Wear Colostomy Bag for Two Years, by Robert Haughn
- Alabama DOC Terminates $1 Billion Contract with YesCare
- Records Show Culture of Impunity Among Kentucky Prison Guards, by Jo Ellen Knott
- Prisons in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula “in a Death Spiral” Due to Under-Staffing
- Prison Policy Initiative Updates Its Mass Incarceration Report, by Michael Thompson
- Texas Moves to Restrict Cashless Bond and Reverse Federal Court-Ordered Misdemeanor Bail Reform, by Matthew Clarke
- Judge Denies New York Prison Chief’s Motion to be Dismissed from Case Related to Robert Brooks’ Murder, by Michael Thompson
- Guaranteed Income Helps People Leaving Jail and Prison, and That Helps Everyone, by Aleks Kajstura
- News in Brief
More from Chuck Sharman:
- $3.25 Million Verdict in New York Against Jail Medical Profiteer Armor Health, July 1, 2026
- After Spoliation Sanction, CoreCivic Settles Suit Over Suicide in New Mexico ICE Lockup, July 1, 2026
- Conviction Tossed for Former Alabama Prisoner Paroled After 42 Years, July 1, 2026
- SCOTUS Continues to Hack Away At First Step Act, July 1, 2026
- California Supreme Court Limits Money Bail for Nonviolent Charges, July 1, 2026
- Alabama Barred from Executing Prisoner by Nitrogen Hypoxia, July 1, 2026
- Fifth Circuit Kills Louisiana Prison Medical and Mental Health Care Reform, July 1, 2026
- SCOTUS Shuts Down GEO Group Bid for Immunity in Suit by Colorado ICE Detainees, July 1, 2026
- $25,000 Paid to Former New York Jail Detainee Subjected to Delayed Healthcare and Denied Mental Healthcare— Despite Seven Suicide Attempts, July 1, 2026
- Prisoners’ Risk of Death In Custody More than Doubles in Solitary Confinement, July 1, 2026
More from these topics:
- New York to Become First State to Require Judges to Visit Prisons, July 1, 2026. Classification, Conditions of Confinement, Staffing, Prisoner Privileges.
- Multiple Detainees Escape from Dilapidated North Carolina Jail, July 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding, Staffing, Jail Specific, Security Systems, Criminal Justice, Prison Conditions.
- Wisconsin State Prison Population Approaches Record High, July 1, 2026. Statistics/Trends, Overcrowding, Staffing, Pardons/Clemency, Reduction of Prison Population.
- Arizona Lawmakers Refuse to Fully Fund Prison Healthcare Staffing Ordered by Federal Court, July 1, 2026. Systemic Medical Neglect, Staffing, Injunctions, Contempt (Civil Procedure).
- Tainted Chicken Leads to Widespread Salmonella Outbreak at New York Jail, July 1, 2026. Contractor Misconduct, Infections, Food, Sanitation, Negligence/Reckless Endangerment.
- CoreCivic’s Long Record of Abuse and Neglect in Tennessee, June 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Systemic Medical Neglect, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Medical Neglect/Malpractice.
- Warden, Four Other Louisiana Jailers Indicted for Brutalizing Compliant Detainees with Riot Shield, June 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Wrongful Use of Force.
- $112,500 Paid to Former New Mexico Prisoner Denied Public Records of Excessive Force by Guards, June 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Settlements, Public Records Act, False Imprisonment.
- North Carolina Prison Closing Due to Short Staffing, June 1, 2026. Transfers, Staffing, Guards/Staff.
- $75,000 for Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Excessive Force Claim Against Jail Guard, June 1, 2026. Failure to Treat, Guard Brutality/Beatings, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Monell Liability, Wrongful Use of Force.

