Commissioners searching for answers to overcrowding 'crisis' at Fulton County Jail

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Fulton County leaders met Wednesday to try and address the crisis at the county's jail.

Attorneys with the Fulton County Public Defender's Office urged commissioners not to approve funding for the transfer of hundreds of inmates out of state.

Marilyn Primovic joined others with the Atlanta Judicial Circuit Public Defender Council who spoke out against a plan to transfer hundreds of Fulton County Jail Inmates out of state at the Fulton County Commissioners meeting Wednesday.

"They'll be over there without attorneys, Primovic said. "We'll be attorneys in name but not, actually. We need to see them and have face to face conversations with them."

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat told commissioners that transferring inmates would allow jail staff to address the unsafe conditions at the jail while allowing the sheriff's office to make needed repairs and upgrades.

"It's about safety first and foremost," he insisted.

The sheriff wants to relocate 800 to 1,000 inmates to a jail in south Georgia and a correctional facility in Tutwiler, Mississippi.

A Fulton County Jail inmate also spoke during the meeting, describing the deteriorating conditions at the jail.

"The walls are crumbling down and inmates are creating shanks out of the wall. So, you can go inside of the wall and get you a knife. You can go into your light and fix yourself up something to stab somebody next to you," the inmate explained.

Sheriff Labat told commissioners he wanted them to hear from the inmates themselves as he seeks about $30 million in funding to move inmates out of the Rice Street facility.

"That is up to the board of commissioners to see if they want to move in heavily, but ultimately they have better programming, safer facilities, and we can get back to creating a safer space in our own jail," said Labat.

Last week, Atlanta Judicial Circuit Public Defender Maurice Kenner filed an emergency petition to prevent the Fulton County Sheriff's Office from transferring clients who are represented by the public defender's office out of state.

"It doesn’t make good legal sense, it doesn’t make good fiscal sense. You might save a penny or two on the front end, but I promise you will pay on the back end," Kenner told commissioners.

Fulton County Jail in crisis

The jail, which opened in 1989, held more than 3,200 people earlier this year — well above its capacity of roughly 2,700. 

Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts has turned to the Atlanta City Council for help battling the overcrowding that officials say is to blame for inmates living in inhumane conditions.

This year alone, 10 inmates have died at the jail. In a five-week span, there have been a reported six deaths - the last being a 24-year-old inmate who was found unresponsive in his cell on Aug. 31.

After the last death, Pitts called the situation at the jail a "crisis and an emergency." 

He's asking the city to increase the number of prisoners allowed to be housed at the city jail. Currently, Pitts says about 400 people are held there, but the capacity is 1,300.

"That would enable the sheriff theoretically - I want to emphasize this theoretically - to better manage that jail better meaning more efficiently and more effectively because there would be up to 1,000 fewer inmates in the jail," Pitts said.

Pitts is also asking the county to eliminate the criteria for the movement of prisoners to allow for more transfers.

One option on the table is to move inmates to the D. Ray James Correctional Facility in south Georgia. The facility is a five-hour drive from Atlanta and can hold 1,900 inmates. The commission will also consider moving inmates farther to a facility in Mississippi.

"City leaders agree it's an emergency, and I'm simply asking them to do their part," Pitts said.

The Fulton County Jail remains under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal agency opened a civil rights investigation into conditions at the jail, with officials citing violence, filthy conditions and the death last year of Lashawn Thompson, whose body was found covered in insects. An independent autopsy done at his family’s request found he died from severe neglect. His family has since reached a settlement with the county.

Dayvion Blake, 23, was stabbed to death and four others were stabbed and injured during a fight at the jail on Aug. 31. Samuel Lawrence, 34, died Aug. 26 at Grady Memorial Hospital after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the jail. The other three people who died in the last month include 66-year-old Alexander Hawkins, 34-year-old Christopher Smith and 40-year-old Montay Stinson.

Fulton County inmates held for long periods of time on low-level offenses

"The majority of the people who have died in custody have been in custody for a significant amount of time and a lot of them on some particularly small charges," said Fallon McClure, deputy director for policy and advocacy for the Georgia ACLU.

McClure said while she is awaiting the outcome of the Department of Justice investigation into the jail, "all indications point to it being unconstitutional."

She said the problem is systemic and due largely to overcrowding at the jail, especially with people there who committed lower-level crimes who cannot afford their bonds, like Delmore.

"APD needs to use the pre-arrest diversion, the district attorney needs to indict people at 90 days, they can do cite and release on misdemeanors," McClure said.

One woman, who asked not to be identified, was held in the jail for three days last weekend on a low-level offense and says conditions haven't gotten better. She says some cells hold dozens of inmates.

She says female prisoners are held next to men, and some are denied food and water.

"Men are walking past while these women are using the bathroom, while these women are putting their clothes on," the woman said. "You don't feel comfortable in public because you fear if you do one thing, you're gonna end up back in that h---hole."

The county commissioners will hold their meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.