Jail conditions in Georgia’s Fulton County violate detainee rights, Justice Department says

ATLANTA — Jail officials in Georgia’s most populous county violated the constitutional rights of detainees by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and keeping them in dirty and unsafe conditions, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office alleges the jail failed to adequately protect detainees from violence by other detainees, including stabbings, sexual abuse and murder; federal officials argue in a lengthy report detailing the alleged abuses and offering corrective actions that could be taken. Vulnerable groups, including gay, transgender, young people or people with serious mental illness, are particularly at risk from violence that causes physical injuries and long-term trauma, the report says.

“Our investigation reveals long-standing, unconstitutional, illegal and dangerous conditions that endanger the lives and well-being of people held here,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said at a news conference in Atlanta.

The report resulted from a federal investigation Released in July 2023 Examining living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff, and conditions that could lead to violence among people held in jails in the county, which includes most of Atlanta.

Federal officials cited 35-year-old’s death in September 2022 Lashawn Thompson In a bedbug-infested cell in the psychiatric wing of the Fulton County Jail, independent autopsy In the examination carried out upon the request of his family, it was determined that he died due to gross negligence. Photos released by lawyers on behalf of Thompson’s family showed his body was covered in insects and his cell was dirty and full of garbage.

Two other people died in the same mental health unit in the weeks following Thompson’s death. The report states that both of them were killed by their cellmates and were found with their feet tied.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and dangerous conditions that people are subjected to at the Fulton County Jail,” said Clarke. “Incarceration in the Fulton County Jail has become a death sentence for dozens of people who have been killed or died as a result of the horrific conditions inside the facility.”

The report states that “legged” attacks and stabbings are “a feature of life” in prison, with 1,054 assaults and 314 stabbings occurring in 2023. not reported or properly documented.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was re-elected last week, has consistently voiced concerns about overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and staffing shortages in the county’s jails. He pushed regional leaders to build a new prison, but so far they have been unwilling to do so.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the report’s findings.

Although county leaders and the sheriff’s office are aware of the violence and have spoken publicly against it, “they have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis, and murders, stabbings, and other acts of violence continue at dangerous levels.” report.

Clarke noted that the report provides key remedial actions and said the Department of Justice stands ready to work with the county to resolve the issues identified.

“At the end of the day, I am hopeful that Fulton County can implement the necessary reforms, measures and best practices so that it can serve as a model for other agencies across the country,” he said.

Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said the problems affect a large percentage of people in county custody and noted that the assault rate at the Fulton County Jail outpaces the assault rate at other large city jails by nearly two to one. The vast majority of those detained remain in pre-trial detention and have not been convicted of any crime.

“The most obvious victims of civil rights violations that occur in prisons are those who leave prison in body bags,” he told reporters. “But our investigation has uncovered hundreds of injured, traumatized and dehumanized people, all of whom deserve the protection of the Constitution, as do all of us in this room.”

The “crisis of violence” at the Fulton County Jail is due in part to the lack of an effective classification system. He said it resulted in highly violent people and gang members being housed with vulnerable and low-risk people.

Jail officers “have a habit or practice of using excessive force” against people in county custody, the report says. The report states that police officers did not receive adequate training and guidance on the use of force, used stun guns too frequently and in an “unreasonable, unsafe manner” and that staff who used excessive force were not regularly disciplined.

Fulton County has one main jail and three annexes, and inspectors found the main jail to be dangerous and unsanitary due to flooding from broken toilets and sinks, cockroach and rodent infestations, and filthy cells with dangerous exposed wiring. The report states that there is not enough food for detainees and that distribution services are unhealthy. Investigators allege this exposed detainees to pest infestations, malnutrition and other harms.

The report states that people detained in Fulton County receive inadequate medical and mental health care that violates their constitutional rights, leaving them at risk of injury, serious illness, pain and suffering, mental health impairment, and death.

People with serious mental illnesses are routinely held in restrictive housing that puts them at risk of serious harm, including self-harm, physical decline and acute mental illness, the report says.

The jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system in Georgia ends at age 16, so 17-year-olds are housed in county jails. They are held in restricted accommodation where they spend little time outside their cells, leaving them vulnerable to mental illness, depression and an increased risk of suicide, the report says.

The report includes 11 pages of “minimum remedial measures” that prison officials must implement. The message ends with a warning that federal authorities may take legal action if concerns are not adequately addressed.

A Georgia state Senate committee formed last year to study jail conditions in Fulton County concluded in August that county officials should do more to work together to solve problems at the jail. He also called on the city of Atlanta to turn over all of its former jails to the county to house inmates.