The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta puts the justice system to shame. As a building supposedly designed for housing inmates it fails on almost every front with basic human rights being ignored on a daily basis – it’s been said that being sent there is like receiving the death penalty.
A 16-month investigation conducted by the Justice Department made some incredibly disturbing findings when looking into the conditions at the jail. There were instances of housing being flooded by broken toilets, infestations of rats and roaches, dangers such as exposed wiring, lack of food and healthcare, and staff would also resort to using force on inmates.
Announcing the department’s reports, Kristen Clarke, the assistant US attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, stated that inmates weren’t receiving adequate protection from other inmates which included “stabbings, sexual abuse or even murder.” The investigation began after the death of Lashawn Thompson who died in a cell in the mental health unit.
Just a few weeks after the investigation began in July of 2023 there had already been six more deaths with one inmate dying during a series of violent assaults which took place across multiple units within a 24-hour time frame.
“Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”
The Fulton County Jail is just a stone’s throw from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district. The Republican Rep. is a huge proponent of the death penalty (shocker) but you have to wonder if even someone as cold-hearted as her could try and defend the conditions in this jail.
Fulton County Jail has a disturbing history
The jail is notorious in the area as it was also the very same building that Leo Frank was brought to in 1913 after he was made a scapegoat for the death of 13-year-old Mary Phagan. Frank was innocent but he never saw justice and tragically lost his life at the hands of a lynch mob in 1915. It took over 70 years for Frank to receive a posthumous pardon in 1986.
It seems like the jail has continued to fail its inmates from Leo Frank to Lashawn Thompson Fulton County Jail continues a dark legacy that will take a lot of effort to fix. While people like Marjorie Taylor Greene would no doubt tell you that prisoners deserve to be treated as less than human, let’s remind ourselves that nobody deserves to die alone and afraid. Marjorie probably would have said the same thing about Leo Frank had she been alive in 1913, but how wrong she would have been.
We can learn a lot from history if we just listen – the past of Fulton County Jail is practically screaming for us to pay attention and show some compassion. The silver lining here is that Fulton County has pledged to cooperate with the Justice Department to fix these problems with $300 million being approve to address the facility needs.