DOJ report calls jail where inmate was ‘eaten alive’ by bedbugs a ‘death sentence’ for its inhabitants

Background: The Fulton County Jail (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File). Insets: Lashawn Thompson and his Fulton County Jail cell (The Harper Law Firm).

Inmates held at a beleaguered county jail in Georgia have been subjected to unconstitutional, inhumane, and violent conditions that include homicides, stabbings, sexual abuse, pest infestation, and malnourishment, according to an investigation and report by the U.S. Justice Department.

Conditions of confinement at the Fulton County Jail in the Atlanta area violate the Eighth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, authorities said.

The jail houses 2,000 inmates, who are housed there while awaiting trial and other court hearings. According to the report, 91% of inmates at the jail are Black, and a “significant portion” of the inmate population has “an identified mental illness.”

The jail is where Lashawn Thompson, who was homeless and had schizophrenia, was found dead in his garbage-filled cell in the mental health unit in September 2022, three months after his arrest for spitting at a Georgia Tech police officer. 1He was found slumped over with his head on a toilet. He was malnourished and infested with an “enormous presence of body lice.” The medical examiner concluded he was “neglected to death.”

In a press release, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thompson’s death was symptomatic of a pattern of dangerous and dehumanizing conditions.

“The unconstitutional and unlawful conditions at the Fulton County Jail have persisted for far too long,” he said. “We are committed to working with Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s office to remedy them.”

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division called the treatment of inmates inhumane and violent.

“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,” Clarke said. “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,” she added. “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.”

The DOJ report found that from 2022 to the present, six inmates died in violence at the jail. In 2023, there were more than 300 stabbings, which involved uncontrolled contraband and makeshift weapons. There have been four deaths from suicide in the past four years.

The DOJ’s report outlined other fatalities in the mental health unit that took place in less than a year, including the death of a homeless man arrested for breaking into a building where he sought shelter and warmth. He stopped taking his medications, his health declined, and he was found unresponsive following a likely seizure. He died in hospice a month later.

After Thompson died, two other inmates were killed by their cellmates in that unit. Both had their feet bound. One of them was wrapped up in bedding “like a mummy,” the DOJ said.

In April 2024, an inmate died in the jail after being stabbed 20 times, the report said.

The DOJ launched a civil rights investigation into the jail conditions in July 2023. Within weeks of opening the investigation, six more inmates died in the jail.

One person was found unresponsive in his cell after his cellmate strangled him. Days later, at least seven people were stabbed — one fatally — in a 24-hour period.

“Poor supervision, poor classification practices, and inattention to the maintenance of the jail are major contributors to the unacceptable violence,” the report said.

Fulton County Jail deputies and detention officers use force — including deploying Tasers — without adequate justification, the DOJ said. The report also outlined the conditions, including standing water collecting in living areas, exposed wires, pests, and deficient services for providing clean clothing and sheets.

Poor meals served in unsanitary conditions result in pest infestation and malnourishment. Inmates don’t get proper medical and mental health care, and gaps in medication lead to medical and mental health complications and injuries, the report found. When medical emergencies occur, the jail fails to provide appropriate medical care, authorities said.

Jailers were also found to have punished people with long terms in restrictive housing without adequate due process protections.

Teen boys and girls are also housed there, as Georgia is one of only four states where the juvenile justice system’s jurisdiction ends at 16, the report said, and they too are subjected to violence and excessive force and are victimized by sexual abuse.

In a press conference, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, whose agency oversees the jail, addressed the DOJ report. He said his agency has been working on improvements such as reducing overcrowding, increasing staffing and upgrading the aging facility.

He highlighted recent accomplishments, including forming an inmate advocacy unit and revamping training. He also noted the facility recently attained its health accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.

“None of this is new,” he said. “This is a decade old. “These are fixable opportunities, and so that’s what our plan is as we get ready to move forward.”

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DOJ report calls jail where inmate was ‘eaten alive’ by bedbugs a ‘death sentence’ for its inhabitants

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