First death of the year reported at Fulton County Jail, former lawman reacts

A 36-year-old Fulton County inmate is dead after being found unresponsive in the early morning hours of Jan. 10 by a detention officer.

According to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, jail staff attempted to revive 36-year-old Michael Anthony Holland before advanced medical staff arrived.

He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced deceased.

Holland was arrested by the East Point Police Department on May 4, 2023, for one count of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer and three counts of willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

He was booked into the Fulton County Jail and was being held on $55,000 bond.

The Atlanta Police Department will conduct a death investigation and the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office will conduct an autopsy on Holland. 

Fulton County Jail inmate death: Former lawman reacts

Fulton County retired Lt. Cmd. Charles Rambo says deaths at the Fulton County Jail faculty are happening too often.

"This has gotten away from being a crisis of facility, it is now coming into a crisis of leadership. The presence of supervision, policy and training that should be guiding the facility around incidents of this nature. It's just too many deaths," Mr. Rambo said.

OTHER INMATE DEATHS

Rambo, who has run for sheriff in the past, believes this disturbing trend of deaths at the Fulton County Jail can be turned around with both physical and leadership changes.

"The facility definitely needs repair and that is a sole responsibility of the county commissioners, that is the statutory responsibility, but the internal operations is strictly, solely upon the sheriff to correct conditions," the retired lawman said.

"It's just too many deaths," he added.