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Justice Department Finds Conditions at Fulton County Jail in Georgia Violate the Constitution and Federal Law

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The Justice Department announced today its findings that conditions of 
confinement at the Fulton County Jail (the Jail) in Georgia violate the 
8th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with 
Disabilities Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The department’s report details its findings from a comprehensive 
investigation of the Jail, funded and operated by Fulton County and the 
Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation included the Main 
Jail in Atlanta and three annex facilities: the Marietta Annex in 
Atlanta, the North Annex in Alpharetta, and the South Annex in Union 
City. The Jail currently houses around 2,000 people and in recent years 
has surpassed 3,000 people.

“Lashawn Thompson’s horrific death was symptomatic of a pattern of 
dangerous and dehumanizing conditions in the Fulton County Jail,” said 
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department’s report 
concluded that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office 
allowed unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the Jail.  As a result, 
people incarcerated in the Fulton County Jail suffered harms from pest 
infestation and malnourishment and were put at substantial risk of 
serious harm from violence by other incarcerated people — including 
homicides, stabbings and sexual abuse. The unconstitutional and 
unlawful conditions at the Fulton County Jail have persisted for far 
too long, and we are committed to working with Fulton County and the 
Fulton County Sherrif’s office to remedy them.”

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent, and hazardous 
conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County 
Jail," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice 
Department's Civil Rights Division. “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. It’s not just adults but also children who are 
subjected to conditions and treatment that violate the constitution and 
defy federal law. Many people held in jails in our country have not 
been convicted — they are awaiting hearings, trial dates or are serving 
short sentences for misdemeanors. At the end of the day, people do not 
abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door. 
Jails and prisons across the country must protect people from the kind 
of gross violations and unconstitutional conditions that we have 
uncovered here. We hope our findings report sounds an alarm that will 
prompt Fulton County officials to work with the Justice Department to 
implement the reforms necessary to ensure constitutional conditions 
going forward.”

“In Fulton County, people in custody awaiting formal charges or trials 
frequently must protect themselves from brutal physical attacks, endure 
frequent excessive force, manage their wellbeing with inadequate food 
and unsanitary living conditions, and hope they can find access to a 
strained medical and mental health care program. This is unacceptable,” 
said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of 
Georgia. “Our Constitution requires humane conditions while 
incarcerated that, at a minimum, ensure people in custody are safe. The 
findings regarding the Fulton County Jail reveal grave and diffuse 
failures to safeguard the men and women housed in its facilities, 
including a disturbing frequency of deaths among incarcerated people. 
We expect Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to share 
our sense of urgency about the seriousness of the violations described 
in this report and to work cooperatively with our office and the 
Justice Department to remedy these systemic deficiencies in the Jail.”

Following an extensive investigation, the department concludes that 
Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office routinely violate 
the rights of people incarcerated at the Jail. Specifically, the 
department found that the Jail:

Fails to protect people from the substantial risk of serious harm from 
violence by other incarcerated people, including homicides, stabbings, 
and sexual abuse.
Houses incarcerated people in unconstitutional living conditions that 
are unsanitary and dangerous.
Fails to provide adequate medical and mental health services to 
incarcerated people.
Uses solitary confinement in discriminatory and unconstitutional ways 
that exposes incarcerated people, including 17-year-old children and 
those with mental health disabilities, to substantial harm.
Fails to provide special education services to 17-year-old boys and 
girls who are entitled to those services while they are incarcerated at 
the Jail.
The unlawful and dangerous practices identified in the report are long-
standing and have contributed to multiple deaths and other serious 
harm. From 2022 to the present, six incarcerated people have died in 
violence at the Jail. In 2023, there were more than 300 stabbings in 
the Jail which involved uncontrolled contraband and makeshift weapons. 
There have been four deaths from suicide in the past four years, 
including as recently as April.

The Justice Department conducted its investigation of the Fulton County 
Jail under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 
Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C. § 12601, which prohibits law 
enforcement officers from engaging in a pattern or practice of conduct 
that deprives people of rights protected by the Constitution or federal 
law. These statutes authorize the Attorney General to file a lawsuit in 
federal court seeking court-ordered remedies to eliminate a pattern or 
practice of unlawful conduct. The department provided Fulton County and 
the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office with written notice of the 
supporting facts for its conclusions and the minimum remedial measures 
necessary to address the alleged violations. The County will work with 
the Justice Department toward a cooperative resolution.

The findings announced today are the result of the Justice Department’s 
civil investigation and are separate from any criminal cases brought by 
the Justice Department.

The Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and U.S. 
Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia investigated the 
case.

The Civil Rights Division continues to prioritize unconstitutional 
conditions and violations of federal law in correctional and juvenile 
justice facilities. It opened new investigations into prisons and jails 
in Tennessee, California, South Carolina, and juvenile justice 
facilities across Kentucky. The division also issued findings in its 
investigations of Mississippi prisons, Texas juvenile justice system’s 
facilities, and the Georgia Department of Corrections. The division is 
also litigating the constitutionality of conditions in Alabama’s 
prisons for men.

For more information about the Civil Rights Division and the Special 
Litigation Section, please visit www.justice.gov/crt/special-
litigation-section. You can also report civil rights violations to the 
section by completing the complaint form available at 
civilrights.justice.gov/. To provide information related to the 
department’s investigation of the Fulton County Jail, please call 1-
888-473-4092 or email the department at FultonCountyJail@usdoj.gov.

Updated November 14, 2024

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-conditions-
fulton-county-jail-georgia-violate-constitution-and

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