Department of Justice Investigation Reveals Constitutional Violations, Culture of Abuse and Neglect at Fulton County Jail
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [email protected]
ATLANTA – Nov. 19, 2024 – On November 14, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) released findings from its 15-month long investigation into the living conditions and treatment of incarcerated persons at the Fulton County Jail.
The investigation was launched in July 2023, largely in response to circumstances surrounding the death of LaShawn Thompson nearly a year earlier. Thompson, a 35-year-old man who’d been taken into custody for a misdemeanor assault case and was being held on $2500 bond, was found dead in his cell in September 2022, his body malnourished and covered in lice. In April 2023, the Southern Center penned a letter to the DOJ in support of Thompson’s family and calling for a formal investigation into the facility.
Among the numerous findings made by the DOJ, poor supervision by jail staff, lack of medical care and mental health treatment, and inattention to the maintenance of the Jail were identified as significant factors contributing to the violations of the constitutional and statutory rights of the incarcerated people at Fulton County Jail. The report also revealed patterns of abusive and neglectful behavior by Fulton County Jail deputies and detention officers, specifically naming the casual usage of tasers against incarcerated persons without adequate justification and citing specific examples of incarcerated persons being tazed for minor alleged transgressions like taking an extra sandwich during meal dispersion or not picking up a basketball when instructed to do so.
“While local elected officials have long blamed the dangers at the Fulton County Jail on the structural deficiencies of the facility itself, we are hopeful that Department of Justice’s findings and recommendations on the organizational culture of abuse, neglect and mismanagement within the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office have injected truth into the assessment and that improvement will improve the safety and well-being of incarcerated persons in Fulton County” , said Devin Franklin, Senior Movement Policy Counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights.
“Over the last several decades, the Southern Center has sued jail officials four times over abysmal human rights abuses in the jail. And these are just the suits our office has brought. The Fulton County Jail has and continues to be sued by survivors of excessive force, and inadequate medical and mental health care. And the families of people who didn’t survive this trauma are seeking their day in court. It is past time for federal intervention to end the needless suffering detained people regularly experience in Fulton’s custody,” said Atteeyah Hollie, Deputy Director of the Southern Center for Human Rights.
Alongside its community partners, the Southern Center successfully advocated against the proposed construction of the $2B replacement jail in Fulton County and continues to oppose the existing lease of cells at the Atlanta City Detention Center by Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and any related efforts by county officials to permanently acquire the building.
SCHR remains committed to making the case for decarceration in Fulton County, continuing to advocate for greater usage of alternatives and diversions to policing, as well as more efficient court processes.
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About the Southern Center for Human Rights
The Southern Center for Human Rights is working for equality, dignity, and justice for people impacted by the criminal legal system in the Deep South. SCHR fights for a world free from mass incarceration, the death penalty, the criminalization of poverty, and racial injustice.