Jail conditions in Georgia's Fulton County violated constitutional rights of inmates: DOJ report

Fulton County, Georgia, and its sheriff's office violated the constitutional rights of people housed at the county jail, according to a new report released by the Justice Department on Thursday.

"Fulton County Jail fails to adequately protect incarcerated people from the substantial risk of serious harm from violence, including homicides and stabbings by other incarcerated people," a report released by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said.

At a press conference on Thursday, a top official from the Civil Rights Division outlined the report's findings.

"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," Kristen Clarke, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, said. "It's not just adults, but also young people who are subjected to conditions and treatment that violate the constitution and defy federal law."

The report found other issues at the jail, including excessive use of force, poor living conditions, healthcare that doesn't meet "basic constitutional standards" and a failure to provide special education service to 17-year-old children in their custody.

Georgia is one of a handful of states where 17-year-olds are charged as adults, and the Justice Department found this exacerbated the jail's ability to care for inmates.

"None of these problems are new. And despite widespread awareness of these issues, the unconstitutional and illegal conditions have persisted," the report says. "Vulnerable populations— including children, those who are gay or transgender, people with medical and mental health needs, and others—often bear the brunt of these conditions."

The jail was also where President-elect Donald Trump turned himself in when he was charged in Georgia over his alleged efforts to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results.

Clarke said she is looking forward to working with the Fulton County Sheriff's office to find a resolution.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said at the press conference that the findings were "shocking."

The investigation started after a man was found dead in his prison cell in the Fulton County Jail in 2022.

"A medical examiner reported that his malnourished body was infested with an 'enormous presence of body lice,' and concluded that the man was 'neglected to death,'" the report says.

The report says several detainees died during the course of the investigation, including in April of 2024 when an inmate was stabbed over 20 times.

"Violent acts by incarcerated people against other incarcerated people in the Jail include homicides, stabbings, and sexual abuse," the report says. "People with serious mental illness, people identified as gay or transgender, and young people are particularly vulnerable to violence in the Jail. Poor supervision, classification, Jail maintenance, contraband control, and investigations contribute to the unacceptable violence."

From 2022 to the present, six people have died at the jail, according to the report, which says that "killings, stabbings and assaults are common."

"In 2023 alone, We identified 314 stabbings and more than 8,000 assaults," Clarke said. "The Fulton County Jail had as many stabbings in a single month as the Miami Dade County Jail had all year, and that's the facility with one and a half times more people since 2022."

Inmates who are suffering from mental health conditions represent over half (62%) of the population, according to the report.

"Exacerbating challenges facing the population with mental illness, the demand for competency restoration services has outpaced the availability of such services in Georgia," the report says. "When people charged with violent felonies are found incompetent to be tried and meet criteria for inpatient treatment, they are often held in the Jail for long periods awaiting placement in a state-run hospital."

Data captured by the sheriff's office might undercount the jail violence, the Justice Department says.

The Civil Rights investigation focused on six areas: living conditions, protection from harm, use of force, medical and mental health care, and discrimination against people with psychiatric disabilities.

The jail is operating at double it's bed space leading to severe overcrowding, the report says.

Food is also troubling at the jail, according to the report, which found that 90% of people living in the mental health unit were "significantly malnourished with obvious muscle wasting."

Fulton County did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.