ATLANTA — Fulton County is violating the civil rights of the people housed at the county jail by allowing “abhorrent, unconstitutional” conditions at the Rice Street facility in Atlanta, according to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.

Federal officials who spent the last 16 months studying the conditions there said authorities frequently failed to protect residents from violence, too often resorted to violence against detainees and did not offer essential mental health services or sanitary conditions for inmates.

“At the end of the day, people do not abandon their civil and constitutional rights at the jailhouse door,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke during a press conference announcing the results of the civil investigation. “Jails and prisons across the country must protect people from the kind of gross violations and unconstitutional conditions that we have uncovered here.”

Clark and Ryan Buchanan, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, blamed understaffing, poor policies and lack of training for the grim conditions at the jail.

DOJ launched its probe in July 2023, shortly after the death of Lashawn Thompson in a bedbug-infested cell in the jail’s psychiatric wing.

Federal officials encouraged the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and the sheriff’s office to implement a series of remedial measures aimed at improving the situation at Rice Street. They include reducing contraband through increased oversight and implementing a classification and housing plan that would separate gang members and other violent people from the jail’s more vulnerable population, including people with mental illnesses, gay and transgender detainees and 17-year-olds.

In its report, DOJ said that if local officials had not addressed their concerns in 49 days they could sue to force changes.

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