DOJ Says Conditions in Georgia’s Fulton County Jails Violate Inmate Rights

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said this week that current conditions in Georgia’s Fulton County jails violate inmate rights.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office fails to protect jail detainees from violence by other inmates, including stabbings, sexual assaults and homicides, according to a detailed federal report outlining alleged abuses and proposed corrective measures.
The report highlights that vulnerable groups—such as LGBTQ+ individuals, young detainees and those with serious mental health issues—are especially at risk, facing physical harm and enduring trauma from the violence.
During a press conference on Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said, “Our investigation finds longstanding, unconstitutional, unlawful and dangerous conditions that jeopardize the lives and well-being of the people held there.”
The report follows a federal investigation that began in July 2023 to assess conditions in Fulton County jails, focusing on detainees’ living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, allegations of excessive force by staff and factors contributing to inmate-on-inmate violence in the facilities, which serve much of Atlanta.
Federal officials highlighted the September 2022 death of Lashawn Thompson, 35, who was found in a bedbug-infested cell in the psychiatric wing of Fulton County Jail. An independent autopsy requested by Thompson’s family concluded that he died from severe neglect. Photos shared by the family’s attorneys showed Thompson’s body covered in insects and his cell littered with garbage and filth.
The report notes that two other individuals in the same mental health unit died in the weeks after Thompson’s death. Both were killed by their cellmates and were found with their feet bound.
“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 on Thursday. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who’ve died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”
Violence, including assaults and stabbings with homemade “shanks,” is described as “a feature of life” at the jail, according to the report, which recorded 1,054 assaults and 314 stabbings in 2023. The report also alleges that some officers have permitted or even instigated violence, with many incidents going unreported or improperly documented.
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was reelected last week, has repeatedly voiced concerns about overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure and staffing shortages in county jails. Labat has urged county officials to approve the construction of a new jail, a proposal that has yet to gain their support.
While county officials and the sheriff’s office have acknowledged the violence and condemned it publicly, “they have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis, and homicides, stabbings and other violent acts continue at dangerous levels,” the report states.
During a press conference on Thursday, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia said, “The most obvious casualties of the civil rights violations occurring in the jail are those who leave the jail in body bags.”
“But our investigation has revealed hundreds more injured, traumatized and dehumanized people, all of whom are just as deserving of the protections of the Constitution as all of us in this room,” he added.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.