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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   Fulton County is violating the civil rights of the people housed at the   
   county jail by allowing “abhorrent, unconstitutional” conditions,   
   particularly at the troubled Rice Street facility in Atlanta, according   
   to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.   
      
   Federal officials who spent the last 16 months studying the conditions   
   at Rice Street and three annex facilities said authorities frequently   
   failed to protect inmates’ safety, presiding over an environment that   
   has led to homicides, stabbings and sexual abuse. Guards too often   
   resorted to violence against detainees following small infractions and   
   used solitary confinement in unconstitutional and discriminatory ways,   
   DOJ said in a scathing 97-page report.   
      
   Jail leaders permitted dilapidated, unsanitary living conditions,   
   including broken toilets, standing water and exposed wire, pest   
   infestations and malnourishment, the report concluded. They also failed   
   to provide adequate medical and mental health services, DOJ concluded,   
   as well as special education services to 17-year-olds incarcerated   
   there, in violation of federal law.   
      
   “At the end of the day, people do not abandon their civil and   
   constitutional rights at the jailhouse door,” said Assistant Attorney   
   General Kristen Clarke during a news conference Thursday. “Jails and   
   prisons across the country must protect people from the kind of gross   
   violations and unconstitutional conditions that we have uncovered   
   here.”   
      
   Explore   
   AJC Editorial Board: There are far too many jail deaths in Fulton   
   County   
   Clark and Ryan Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of   
   Georgia, blamed understaffing, poor policies and lack of training for   
   the grim conditions at the facility, which has been plagued by inmate   
   deaths, violence and other issues for years.   
      
   Opened in 1989, the Fulton County jail was under federal supervision   
   between 2006 and 2015. It currently houses roughly 2,000 people, down   
   from the more than 3,200 who were there 18 months ago.   
      
   More than 60 people who were being held in Fulton’s jail died between   
   2009 and October 2022, the highest total for any jail in Georgia during   
   that time, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation.   
   10 more inmates died in county custody in 2023.   
      
   In its report, the DOJ cites several sets of data, all painting an   
   equally bleak picture.   
      
   In 2023, the rate of stabbings in the Fulton jail was 1.5 times that in   
   New York City jails and more than 27 times the rate of all incidents   
   involving “edged weapons” in Miami-Dade County lockups, according to   
   the DOJ. In fact, the Fulton jail at one point had as many stabbings in   
   a single month as the Miami-Dade County jails, which house 1.5 times   
   more people, had in a single year.   
      
   A cell filled with garbage   
   DOJ launched its civil probe in July 2023, shortly after the death of   
   Lashawn Thompson in the jail’s psychiatric wing. An autopsy found that   
   Thompson’s death was due to severe neglect, and photos showed him   
   covered in insects in a cell filled with garbage.   
      
   Explore   
   ‘Continuously victimized’: How a Fulton inmate’s death reflects a   
   county’s criminal justice crisis   
   Supporters of Lashawn Thompson rally outside the Fulton County Jail,   
   Thursday, April 20, 2023, in Atlanta. Lashawn Thompson, 35, was   
   discovered unresponsive in the jail's psychiatric wing covered in bed   
   bugs in September, according to a Fulton County Medical Examiner   
   report. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)   
   Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC   
      
   Supporters of Lashawn Thompson rally outside the Fulton County Jail,   
   Thursday, April 20, 2023, in Atlanta. Lashawn Thompson, 35, was   
   discovered unresponsive in the jail's psychiatric wing covered in bed   
   bugs in September, according to a Fulton County Medical Examiner   
   report. (Hyosub Shin / Hyosub.Shin@ajc.com)   
   The DOJ’s report is replete with examples of how Thompson and others   
   have been harmed by the horrific conditions, rampant violence,   
   indifferent supervision and poor medical care.   
      
   According to the report, medical personnel failed to respond when   
   Thompson repeatedly missed medications. In the month before his death,   
   he didn’t receive any of his prescribed medications, including those   
   for psychosis, the report says.   
      
   Lack of proper medical care also was cited in the case of another   
   prisoner, identified only as A.A., who died in 2022 from pneumonia   
   caused by seizures, and that of a 75-year-old man who, according to the   
   report, couldn’t get out of bed, couldn’t get into a wheelchair, was   
   incontinent and had ulcers on his back. The man reported to   
   investigators that he sometimes waited days for medical staff to change   
   his diaper and that, before getting a cellmate, he was alone for eight   
   months and lost track of reality and family ties.   
      
   Prisoners with mental illnesses have faced particular harm and neglect,   
   according to the report. Two people with serious mental illness were   
   killed by cellmates in 2022, one of whom, a 32-year-old man, was cold   
   to the touch when he was ultimately discovered. He was found with his   
   feet bound, a bloody nose and “raccoon eyes,” a sign of head trauma.   
      
   The jail also has been a house of horrors, the DOJ found, for 17-year-   
   olds, who in Georgia can be charged as adults.   
      
   According to the report, the DOJ identified a pattern of 17-year-olds   
   “initiating” other newly-admitted boys with violent assaults, including   
   five instances in which boys were seriously injured within two weeks of   
   their admission and required outside medical care for their injuries.   
      
   Debate over a new jail   
   Federal officials are encouraging the Fulton County Board of   
   Commissioners and the sheriff’s office to implement a series of   
   remedial measures. They include reducing contraband, bolstering medical   
   and mental health care and implementing a system that would separate   
   gang members and other violent people from the jail’s more vulnerable   
   population, including people with mental illnesses, gay and transgender   
   detainees and people under 18.   
      
   Explore   
   EXPLORE: Past coverage of Fulton County Jail   
   In its report, DOJ said that if local officials had not addressed their   
   concerns in 49 days they could sue to force changes. It will be left to   
   the incoming Trump administration to enforce them, and it is unclear   
   whether it will choose to do so.   
      
   “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 Department of Justice to remedy these systemic deficiencies in the   
   jail,” Buchanan said.   
      
   In a press conference late Thursday, Fulton Sheriff Pat Labat said he   
      
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