ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said Thursday that conditions at the notorious Fulton County Jail violate the 8th and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Education of Persons with Disabilities Act. Act.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and dangerous conditions people are subjected to in the Fulton County Jail,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke.

The DOJ report stems from an investigation of the jail, which is funded and managed by Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation included the main jail in Atlanta and three annex facilities: the Marietta Annex in Atlanta, the North Annex in Alpharetta and the South Annex in Union City.

“We are finding that the Fulton County Jail is not adequately protecting inmates from violence such as stabbing, sexual abuse or even murder,” Clarke said.

The 8th Amendment to the US Constitution protects citizens from excessive bail, fines, and cruel and unusual punishment, while the 14th Amendment prohibits states from denying equal protection of the law.

“Housing units are flooded with broken toilets, cockroaches, rodents and vermin abound. Standing water, exposed wiring and vermin make living areas unsafe. The prison does not provide enough food, leaving people severely malnourished,” Clarke said.

“Bacteria and disease-carrying pests are not only rampant in food preparation areas, but they have infested the bodies of people in prison, people like Lashawn Thompson,” said Ryan Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.

Fulton County now has 49 days to respond to the department’s findings and demonstrate an effort to address the conditions; otherwise, the US Department of Justice could file a lawsuit. However, those who come Donald Trump White House Administrationwhich will include a new attorney general, could decide not to pursue the matter.

“In 2023 alone, we identified 314 stabbings and over a thousand assaults. This rate of violence exceeds what we have seen in other cities across the country. The Fulton County Jail had as many stabbings in one month as the Miami-Dade County Jail had all year, and that’s a facility with one and a half times as many people,” Clarke said.

>> WATCH LIVE: Fulton County leaders address DOJ findings that jail conditions violate inmates’ constitutional rights.

>> READ THE FULL REPORT:

In a joint statement, Sheriff Pat Labat and County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said the county is still reviewing the DOJ report and that the jail and county worked closely with the Department of Justice throughout the investigation.

“Everyone in Fulton County shares the goal of making sure our jail is safe and humane, and we agree with the Department of Justice that the problems identified can be fixed,” the two said in the joint statement. “We believe our planned repairs and other programs will address the necessary improvements to the jail, and we are committed to continuing to work with the Department of Justice and the community to address the issues identified.”

The prison currently houses about 2,000 people and in recent years has exceeded 3,000 people.

The report specifically mentioned his death Lawshawn Thompsonwho died in 2022 while incarcerated in prison. Thompson, 35, had found dead in his cell after serving three months in jail on a misdemeanor battery charge. He had been housed in the prison’s psychiatric wing due to mental health issues.

“The horrific death of Lashawn Thompson was symptomatic of a pattern of dangerous and dehumanizing conditions in the Fulton County Jail,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland. “The Department of Justice report concluded that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office allowed unsafe and unsanitary conditions in the jail.

“As a result, inmates in the Fulton County Jail suffered injuries from pest infestation and malnutrition and were at substantial risk of serious injury from violence by other inmates, including homicides, stabbings, and sexual abuse,” Garland said. “The unconstitutional and illegal conditions at the Fulton County Jail have persisted for far too long, and we are committed to working with Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to fix them.”

“Today’s report from the Department of Justice confirms that the abuses at the Fulton County Jail were not only horrific, but unconstitutional,” said U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who, along with U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock and U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, urged DOJ earlier this year to strengthen its policies that track data on federal, state and local custodial deaths. “Every day these conditions persist is a failure to uphold the human and constitutional rights of Georgians.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the people of Fulton County “deserve to be treated humanely at all times, including when they are in custody.”

“They also deserve the right to a fair and speedy trial. This report highlights the failures to do so. Fulton County and its Sheriff must take swift and deliberate action on all DOJ recommendations to resolve this humanitarian crisis,” said Dickens.

Atlanta News First met with Dayvion Blake’s family. The 23-year-old inmate was stabbed to death with a makeshift weapon in 2023fashioned from a piece of the collapsed walls of the prison.

His stepmother Latoya Wright reacted to the DOJ report on the Fulton County Jail.

“Nobody trusts the prison system anymore,” she said. “It has been proven time and time again that loved ones go in and don’t go out.”

Wright said her stepson had already been violently attacked three separate times in prison before the fatal stabbing incident.

“He was stabbed multiple times prior to the fatal situation,” she said. “I don’t think the prison guards were doing what they had to do to separate him from whoever he was.”

Atlanta News First also spoke with Lashawn Thompson’s family and their lawyer in Buckhead Thursday, hours after the report was published.

“The DOJ has completed its investigation and found what we knew all along,” said family attorney Michael Harper. “It’s just a horrible place for inmates.”

“We can never get our brother back, but we try to move on and try to keep his legacy alive,” said Thompson’s brother, Brad McRae. “Not only for our brother, but for other families to get answers and try to see what’s going on in this prison.”

Both Ossoff and Warnock are Democratic senators from Georgia, while Williams represents Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, where the Fulton prison is located.

In September 2023, Ossoff also asked Garland to open a civil rights investigation into the Clayton County Jail.

In 2023, The Atlanta News is investigating first launched an award-winning multi-part series titled “Georgia’s Gitmo”, which investigated prison conditions. The investigation included interviews with Fulton County’s top political and legal officials who oversaw the jail: Commission Chairman Robb Pittsprosecutor Willis fanssheriff Labat bedand the Chief Justice of the High Court Ural Glanville.

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