Ben Crump, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat talk about inmate's death at Fulton County jail
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - A press conference and rally was held Thursday at the Fulton County Jail by Lashawn Thompson's family and attorneys, which now includes well-known attorney Ben Crump, who specializes in civil rights and catastrophic personal injury cases.
Thompson was an inmate at the jail whose dead body was infested with bed bugs and insects. Thompson was in Fulton County Jail after he was arrested for misdemeanor simple battery on June 12, 2022. He was later transferred to the psychiatric wing of the jail due to mental health issues. Three months later, he was found dead in a dirty jail cell after reportedly being attacked by insects and bed bugs, according to the family's legal team. Jail records reportedly reveal that detention officers and medical staff at the jail noticed Thompson's deteriorating health but did nothing to help him, leading to his untimely death.
The cause of death was listed as "undetermined" by the county medical examiner.
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as announced that he is paying for an independent autopsy.
During the press conference, Crump and other community leaders talked about the need to provide proper care to the mentally ill and other people.
Family attorney Michael Harper said, "The investigation should have started and been completed by now. We do not buy the fact that it takes all this time to investigate."
Harper and Crump announced the Department of Justice and Sen. John Ossoff's office have contacted them about the case.
Sheriff Labat spoke about the steps they have taken to rectify the issues at the jail, including approving a $500,000 emergency expense to address the infestation of bed bugs, lice, and other vermin in the jail.
Several times the presser, Labat said that he did not want the press conference to be about him, insisting that the focus remain on the family.
"I have said since the beginning of the investigation; one, we will hold people accountable and two, as soon as APD closes its case, we will close ours and turn it over to the GBI," the sheriff said.
The family hopes that support will help them get justice for the 35-year-old who was found dead in his jail cell covered in bed bugs and other insects at the Fulton County Jail last year.
"God brought him here for a reason. He came to change things," Thompson's aunt told demonstrators.
RELATED: Family of inmate who died at Fulton County after being 'eaten alive' demanding justice
Labat has acknowledged issues at the jail and has accepted the resignation of key leadership at Fulton County Jail.
"Most importantly, we want to, once again, extend our sincere condolences to the family of Mr. LaShawn Thompson," said the sheriff. "The final investigative report will not ease the family’s grief or bring their loved one back, but it is my hope and expectation that it provides a full, accurate and transparent account of the facts surrounding Mr. Thompson’s death so that it provides all of the answers they are seeking and deserve."
RELATED: Sheriff accepts resignation of key leadership at Fulton County Jail
On Wednesday, Fulton County Commissioners approved the Sheriff's request for more than $5 million in funding for jail improvements, and another $800,000 for a feasibility study for a new jail.
READ SHERIFF LABAT'S FULL STATEMENT BELOW
I want to once again thank the family of Mr. Lashawn Thompson for inviting me to join them and speak at today’s news conference. Before the public event, we met privately. I listened and heard every word and concern they shared and take all of that to heart.
The Fulton County Jail has been operating in crisis mode for decades. Mr. Thompson’s death was an inexcusable and unconscionable tragedy. I understand and accept my responsibility to provide accountability and transparency in making sure something like this never happens again. Immediately upon taking office, I began working to address the dangerous overcrowding by partnering with other municipalities to move detainees out of Rice Street. The first 100 detainees were transferred to Cobb County in 2021, and presently 232 Fulton County detainees are housed in Cobb County. Additional interagency agreements were executed with the City of Atlanta, Forsyth County and Oconee County. Following Mr. Thompson’s death, I issued an "urgent all call" to Sheriffs across the state seeking additional bed space, which resulted in another 45 beds being offered. Presently, more than 650 detainees being held in surrounding municipalities, and efforts to address overcrowding in Rice Street are ongoing.
These problems at Rice Street are not new. The public has become more aware of these chronic problems because, unlike previous administrations, we have conducted investigations and provided much more transparency and accountability than ever before.
There’s always room for improvement. We should have been able to move faster on this investigation and realizing the horrific nature of Mr. Thompson’s death, the executive jail staff and investigators should have brought it to my attention much sooner than they did. I accept responsibility for that and am committed to improving and fixing our internal processes that have unintentionally added to this family’s grief.
For those who believe that spending millions of dollars to take a ‘fine toothed comb’ through the Rice Street Jail to identify problems that we painfully already know exist, we simply disagree. Immediately following the death of Mr. Thompson, I requested and received emergency funding in the amount of $500,000 to mitigate the infestation in the medical and mental health units — this was in addition to hundreds of thousands spent previously on pest control services. Despite the fact that the county has spent millions of dollars, the type of infestations that contributed to Mr. Thompson’s death are going to be a recurring problem in a jail where hundreds of detainees do not have cells and have to sleep on the floor.
Instead of risking more lives and passing a series of emergency funding requests that only put temporary band-aids on a sinking Titanic, I join the Thompson family in believing we need to do whatever it takes to provide humane conditions — and in this case, that requires a new jail. To be clear, I am not and have never asked for ‘more jails and more incarcerations.’ We are asking for a new facility that allows us to provide what the Rice Street facility cannot — safe and humane detention for those who are entrusted to our care.
We also join the Thompson family in calling for reforms that will allow detainees the fair, swift and due process they deserve instead of having hearings pushed back countless times leading to long and unacceptable delays in a system that is supposed to provide justice for all.
Earlier this week, the Board of Commissioners approved emergency funding to help address some urgent needs at the Rice Street facility including, but not limited to:
• Implementation of the Talitrix system that Sheriff Labat announced on February 17, 2023 (https://www.talitrix.com/)in the medical and psychiatric observation units. The wearable wristband technology allows biometric monitoring and automatically alerts medical and custody staff in the event of low blood pressure, elevated heart rates or other medical complications.
• Biweekly, clinical grade cleaning and decontamination of the medical and psychiatric observation units.
• 4D imaging of all incoming legal mail at the Fulton County Jail to detect the presence of narcotics.
• Additional cameras to provide real-time surveillance of movement within the jail, with specific emphasis on blind spots in the medical and mental health observation units. These cameras also have the capability to work in conjunction with the Talitrix wearable wristbands to automatically adjust the camera’s view upon receiving emergency alerts from the wristband.
On April 18, the current medical provider terminated its agreement with Fulton County for the provision of inmate healthcare services. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is currently reviewing proposals to secure a medical provider that is capable of meeting, and committed to providing, the standard of care required in a large jail setting with efficiency, consistency and compassion.
While that emergency funding request is a critical step in the right direction, I want to make it clear it is only a temporary fix. We have an urgent need for a new Jail and Criminal Justice Complex that will not only leverage modern technology to help alleviate chronic staffing shortages and other concerns, but will also provide a more permanent solution for the decades long dangerous overcrowding and congregant living conditions at the dilapidated Rice Street facility.
Again, these needs are not new. They have been overlooked for a very long time. I applaud each member of the Board of Commissioners for their unanimous vote earlier this week providing $5mil in emergency funding. By working together to meet this urgent need, we have demonstrated our commitment to seek collaborative solutions to meet and overcome these challenges. I’m asking anyone and everyone who believes in common sense and sustainable reforms to work with community leaders and elected officials, including the Board of Commissioners and my office to do all that we can to improve the health and safety of detainees and staff at the Fulton County Jail. We can do better. Much better. And as Sheriff, you have my promise that we will.