By DOJ
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
The Justice Department announced Thursday its findings that conditions of confinement at the Fulton County Jail (the Jail) in Georgia violate the 8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The department’s report details its findings from a comprehensive investigation of the Jail, funded and operated by Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation included the Main Jail in Atlanta and three annex facilities: the Marietta Annex in Atlanta, the North Annex in Alpharetta, and the South Annex in Union City. The Jail currently houses around 2,000 people and in recent years has surpassed 3,000 people.
“Lashawn Thompson’s horrific death was symptomatic of a pattern of dangerous and dehumanizing conditions in the Fulton County Jail,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department’s report concluded that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office allowed unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the Jail. As a result, people incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail suffered harms from pest infestation and malnourishment and were put at substantial risk of serious harm from violence by other incarcerated people — including homicides, stabbings and sexual abuse. 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 Sherrif’s office to remedy them.”
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent, and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Detention in the Fulton County 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. It’s not just adults but also children who are subjected to conditions and treatment that violate the constitution and defy federal law. Many people held in jails in our country have not been convicted — they are awaiting hearings, trial dates or are serving short sentences for misdemeanors. At the end of the day, people do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door. Jails and prisons across the country must protect people from the kind of gross violations and unconstitutional conditions that we have uncovered here. We hope our findings report sounds an alarm that will prompt Fulton County officials to work with the Justice Department to implement the reforms necessary to ensure constitutional conditions going forward.”
“In Fulton County, people in custody awaiting formal charges or trials frequently must protect themselves from brutal physical attacks, endure frequent excessive force, manage their wellbeing with inadequate food and unsanitary living conditions, and hope they can find access to a strained medical and mental health care program. This is unacceptable,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia. “Our Constitution requires humane conditions while incarcerated that, at a minimum, ensure people in custody are safe. The findings regarding the Fulton County Jail reveal grave and diffuse failures to safeguard the men and women housed in its facilities, including a disturbing frequency of deaths among incarcerated people. We expect Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to share our sense of urgency about the seriousness of the violations described in this report and to work cooperatively with our office and the Justice Department to remedy these systemic deficiencies in the Jail.”
Following an extensive investigation, the department concludes that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office routinely violate the rights of people incarcerated at the Jail. Specifically, the department found that the Jail:
- Fails to protect people from the substantial risk of serious harm from violence by other incarcerated people, including homicides, stabbings, and sexual abuse.
- Houses incarcerated people in unconstitutional living conditions that are unsanitary and dangerous.
- Fails to provide adequate medical and mental health services to incarcerated people.
- Uses solitary confinement in discriminatory and unconstitutional ways that exposes incarcerated people, including 17-year-old children and those with mental health disabilities, to substantial harm.
- Fails to provide special education services to 17-year-old boys and girls who are entitled to those services while they are incarcerated at the Jail.
The unlawful and dangerous practices identified in the report are long-standing and have contributed to multiple deaths and other serious harm. From 2022 to the present, six incarcerated people have died in violence at the Jail. In 2023, there were more than 300 stabbings in the Jail which involved uncontrolled contraband and makeshift weapons. There have been four deaths from suicide in the past four years, including as recently as April.
The Justice Department conducted its investigation of the Fulton County Jail under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C. § 12601, which prohibits law enforcement officers from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. These statutes authorize the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in federal court seeking court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. The department provided Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office with written notice of the supporting facts for its conclusions and the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the alleged violations. The County will work with the Justice Department toward a cooperative resolution.
The findings announced Thursday are the result of the Justice Department’s civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by the Justice Department.
