ATLANTA — The Department of Justice announced disturbing revelations related to an investigation into the Fulton County Jail on Thursday, an announcement that comes after years of controversy regarding conditions inside the facility.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office doesn't adequately protect jail inmates from violence by other detainees, including stabbings, sexual abuse and killings, federal officials contend in a lengthy report that details alleged abuses. Vulnerable populations, including people who are gay, transgender, young or have with serious mental illness, are particularly at risk from the violence, which causes physical injury and long-lasting trauma, the report says.
“Our investigation finds longstanding, unconstitutional, unlawful and dangerous conditions that jeopardize the lives and well-being of the people held there,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said at a news conference.
The report resulted from a federal investigation launched in July 2023 to examine living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff, and conditions that may give rise to violence between people held in jails in the county, which includes most of Atlanta.
Officials referred to those conditions as "long-standing, unconstitutional, unlawful and dangerous.”
The DOJ further highlighted the severity of the conditions, saying, “The most obvious casualties of the civil rights violations occurring in the jail are those who leave the jail in body bags.”
In addition, the DOJ noted that the Fulton County Jail "does not adequately protect incarcerated people from violence and physical deficiencies." Officials notably pointed to the use of makeshift weapons built out of jail fixtures that are used to attack others inside. In 2023 alone, the DOJ said it identified 313 stabbings and more than 1,000 assaults inside.
Living conditions inside were described as "hazardous" and "unsanitary." Officials argued that the jail does not provide enough food for its inmates, "fails to provide constitutionally adequate mental health," and uses solitary in unconstitutional ways, on top of using lengthy confinement as a punishment without written explanation.
Investigators cited the September 2022 death of Lashawn Thompson, 35, in a bedbug-infested cell in the Fulton County Jail’s psychiatric wing, noting that an independent autopsy conducted at his family’s request found that he died of severe neglect. Photos released by attorneys for Thompson’s family showed that his body was covered in insects and that his cell was filthy and full of garbage.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” Clarke said. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who have died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was reelected last week, has consistently raised concerns about overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and staffing shortages at county lockups. He has pushed county leaders to build a new jail, which they have so far been unwilling to do. When the federal investigation was launched, he said he welcomed it and was prepared to cooperate fully.
Labat and Robb Pitts, chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, addressed the findings in a news conference Thursday evening. Labat said they had been anticipating the report and they are in a space right now where they are happy it has come out.
"I do want to put out that if you look at it (the report) in its depth, it is a point-in-time study if you will. A lot of the things, we have worked with the board the past few months to accomplish," he said.
Watch the remarks below.
While Labat said these are "fixable opportunities" that they hope to work on and move forward from, Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement "this is an extremely bad report."
"As I’ve said before, the people of Fulton County deserve to be treated humanely at all times—including when in custody. They also deserve the right to a fair and speedy trial," the mayor's statement reads. " This report highlights the failures to do so. Fulton County and its Sheriff must take swift, deliberate action on all of the DOJ recommendations to solve this humanitarian crisis.”
Another finding in the report claimed that jail officers “have a pattern or practice of using excessive force” against people in county custody, which violates detainees' constitutional rights. They do not receive adequate training and guidance on the use of force, they use Tasers too frequently and in “an unreasonable, unsafe manner,” and staff who use excessive force are not consistently disciplined, it states.
Investigators also found that the main Fulton County Jail building is hazardous and unsanitary, citing flooding from broken toilets and sinks, infestations of cockroaches and rodents, and filthy cells with dangerous exposed wires. Investigators contend that this exposes detainees to pest infestation, malnourishment, and other harm.
People held in Fulton County custody receive inadequate medical and mental health care in violation of their constitutional rights, leaving them open to the risk of injury, serious illness, pain and suffering, mental health decline and death, the report states.
People with serious mental illness and youth offenders are routinely held in restrictive housing that exposes them to risk of serious harm, including self-injury, physical decline and acute mental illness, the report says. These practices discriminate against people with mental health disabilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, it states.
Included in the report are 11 pages of “minimum remedial measures” that jail officials should implement. It concludes with a warning that federal authorities will likely take legal action if concerns are not sufficiently addressed. It says the attorney general may sue to correct the problems in 49 days and could also intervene in any related, existing private suits in 15 days.
Understaffing, poor training, and a lack of supervisory failures were also cited, with officials saying "detention had amounted to a death sentence… as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”
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