Fulton County enters into consent decree to improve jail conditions
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The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Photo: Alyssa Pointer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Fulton County's troubled jail is going under federal oversight for the second time in 20 years.
Why it matters: The legally binding consent decree will address the jail's deadly, unsanitary and unconstitutional conditions that U.S. Department of Justice investigators cited following a civil rights investigation.
What they're saying: Fulton leaders will work alongside the DOJ, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office and other entities "to ensure that the terms of this agreement are implemented," county chairman Robb Pitts said in a statement Friday, following the presentation of the agreement in a federal court.
- Last year, county commissioners pledged to invest up to $300 million to improve the Rice Street facility, and "we have already taken significant steps in that effort," Pitts added.
Zoom in: The decree requires the county and sheriff offices to implement several changes, including improvements to safety, cleanliness, staffing and medical and mental health care for inmates.
What's next: An independent monitor will be entrusted to review the jail's progress and provide updates to the public every six months. The public will be able to share information with the monitor as well.
- Sheriff Pat Labat said the department will close the North Fulton Annex jail in Alpharetta by July 1 to free up staffing for other detention centers.
- "This consent order is a road map to a better future for our facility, staff and the individuals entrusted to our care," Labat said in a statement.
Between the lines: The DOJ's report did not recommend building a new jail, a project Labat — who was re-elected in November — has lobbied for.
- The sheriff said he will work with the county commission to modernize the facility "if modernization is at all possible."
The other side: Tiffany Roberts, director of the public policy unit at the Southern Center for Human Rights, said in a statement that the consent decree is "a step in the right direction" to addressing conditions at the jail.
- The group will continue to "advance policy solutions that reach beyond the minimum so that Fulton County can end the cycle of human rights violations it consistently finds itself in," Roberts said.
Catch up quick: The Fulton County Jail, also known as Rice Street, has been in use since 1989, according to the AJC.
- Infrastructure, overcrowding and understaffing have been long-running problems. The detention center also went under federal court oversight in 2006. It took about nine years for Fulton County to take it back over that time.
- The Justice Department opened its most recent investigation into the jail in July 2023, roughly one year after the 2022 death of Lashawn Thompson, who was found dead in his cell and covered in insect bites.
- Fulton County commissioners approved a $4 million settlement with Thompson's family over his death.