ATLANTA — Jail officials in Georgia’s most populous county are violating the constitutional rights of inmates by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and dangerous conditions, officials said Thursday. officials from the US Department of Justice.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office does not adequately protect inmates from violence by other inmates, including stabbings, sexual abuse and murder, federal officials say in a lengthy report that details alleged abuse and suggests corrective measures that can be taken. Vulnerable populations, including people who are gay, transgender, young, or with serious mental illness, are particularly at risk of violence, which causes lasting physical injury and trauma, the report said.

“Our investigation reveals long-standing, unconstitutional, illegal and dangerous conditions that jeopardize the lives and well-being of those detained there,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in a statement. a press conference in Atlanta.

Report results from federal investigation launched in July 2023 to examine living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, excessive use of force by staff, and conditions likely to give rise to violence between people held in county jails, which includes the most of Atlanta.

Federal authorities cited the death of a 35-year-old man in September 2022 Lashawn Thompson in a bedbug-infested cell in the psychiatric wing of the Fulton County Jail, noting that a independent autopsy carried out at the request of his family revealed that he had died as a result of gross negligence. Photos released by lawyers for Thompson’s family showed his body was covered in insects and his cell was dirty and full of trash.

Two other people from the same mental health unit died in the weeks following Thompson’s death. Both were killed by their cellmates and found with their feet bound, the report said.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and dangerous conditions people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” Clarke said. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail amounts to a death sentence for dozens of people who were murdered or died due to the atrocious conditions at the facility.

Assaults and stabbings with “shanks” are “a feature of life” in the prison, the report said, noting that there were 1,054 assaults and 314 stabbings in 2023. In some cases, officers authorized or initiated violence, and many attacks continue. are not reported or not properly documented.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was re-elected last week, has consistently raised concerns about overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and understaffing in the county’s jails . He pushed county leaders to build a new jail, something they have been unwilling to do until now.

The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the report’s findings.

Although county leaders and the sheriff’s office are aware of the violence and have spoken out publicly against it, “they have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis, and the homicides, stabbings and Other acts of violence continue at dangerous levels,” according to the report.

Clarke noted that the report provides basic corrective actions and said the Department of Justice is prepared to work with the county to resolve the identified issues.

“I hope that ultimately Fulton County can put in place the necessary reforms, measures and best practices so that it can serve as a model for other institutions across the country,” he said. she declared.

Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said the problems affect a large percentage of people detained in the county and noted that the rate of assaults at the Fulton County jail exceeds that of other big city jails in a ratio of almost two to one. An overwhelming majority of those detained are in pretrial detention and have not been convicted of a crime.

“The most obvious victims of civil rights violations committed in prison are those who leave prison in body bags,” he told reporters. “But our investigation revealed hundreds of other injured, traumatized and dehumanized people, all of whom deserve the protection of the Constitution as much as all of us here. »

The “violence crisis” in the Fulton County Jail is due in part to the lack of an effective classification system. resulting in extremely violent people and gang members being housed with vulnerable, low-risk people, he said.

Corrections officers “have a pattern or practice of using excessive force” against people detained in the county, the report said. Officers do not receive adequate training or guidance on use of force, they use Tasers too frequently and in an “unreasonable and dangerous manner,” and personnel who use excessive force are not consistently disciplined, says -your.

Fulton County has a main jail and three annexes, and investigators found the main jail to be unsafe and unsanitary, citing flooding from broken toilets and sinks, cockroach and rodent infestations, and dirty cells with dangerous wires exposed. There is not enough food for detainees and distribution services are unsanitary, the report says. This exposes inmates to parasite infestations, malnutrition and other harms, investigators say.

People detained in Fulton County receive inadequate medical and mental health care, in violation of their constitutional rights, putting them at risk of injury, serious illness, pain and suffering, decline in health mental health and death, the report said.

People with serious mental illness are routinely held in restrictive accommodation that puts them at risk of serious harm, including self-harm, physical decline and acute mental illness, the report said.

Jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system in Georgia ends at age 16, so 17-year-olds are incarcerated in county jails. They are held in restrictive housing and spend little time outside their cells, making them vulnerable to the onset of mental illness, depression and an increased risk of suicide, the report said.

The report includes 11 pages of “minimum corrective measures” that prison officials should implement. It ends with a warning that federal authorities could take legal action if the concerns are not adequately addressed.

A Georgia state Senate committee formed last year to examine jail conditions in Fulton County concluded in August that county officials needed to do more to work together to resolve the jail’s problems. He also called on the city of Atlanta to turn over its entire former jail to the county to house prisoners.