Justice Department: Fulton County Jail conditions violate the constitution

(The Center Square) – The deaths of at least four Georgia men with mental disabilities at the Fulton County Jail are “symptomatic of a pattern of dangerous and dehumanizing conditions,” the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The 97-page investigation also said inmates were not protected from harm by other inmates and the living conditions were “unsanitary and dangerous.” The conditions violate the Eighth and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Justice Department said in a release.

“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,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “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.”

Clarke cited the September 2022 death of Lashawn Thompson. He had mental health issues and was living in the mental health housing unit after his arrest on what Clarke called “low-level charges.”

“Three months later, staff found him dead in his cell, infested with lice and, as a medical examiner concluded, ‘neglected to death,'” Clarke said.

Six people have died violently since 2022 and 300 stabbings occurred in 2023, the Justice Department said in its investigation. Four people have committed suicide in the jail in the past four years.

“At the end of the day, people do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door,” Clarke said. “Jails and prisons across the country must protect people from the kind of gross violations and unconstitutional conditions that we have uncovered here.”

The Justice Department sent a letter to Sheriff Patrick Labat and Commission Chairman Robb Pitts warning of a lawsuit if a resolution is not reached in 49 days.

Labat and the board have sparred over funding for the jail. Pitts recently accused the sheriff of exceeding his budget and not having the money to pay vendors.

“Despite the funding support from the Board of Commissioners, Sheriff has [consistently] failed to demonstrate basic budget management practices,” Pitts said in a previous report. “The public has every right to be concerned about these issues.”