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

ATLANTA (AP) — Jail officials in Georgia’s most populous county violate the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday while threatening to get the courts involved if corrective action isn’t taken quickly.

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.

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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.

The sheriff’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the report’s findings.

Jail officers “have a pattern or practice of using excessive force” against people in county custody, which violates detainees’ constitutional rights, the report says. 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. There isn’t enough food for detainees and the distribution services are unsanitary, the report says. That leaves detainees exposed to pest infestation, malnourishment and other harms, investigators contend.

People held in Fulton County custody receive inadequate medical and mental health care in violation of their constitutional rights, leaving them open to 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.