Justice Department enters consent decree with Fulton County over jail conditions The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that it has entered into a court-enforceable agreement with Georgia's most populous county after finding that violence and filthy conditions in county lockups violated the constitutional rights of people held in jail.
The Justice Department in July 2023 opened a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in Fulton County, citing violence, filthy living quarters and the in-custody death of a man whose body was found covered in insects.
Under the proposed agreement with the county and sheriff, officials will develop plans and policies to keep detainees safe from violence, improve supervision and staffing, ensure doors and locks work and require staff to adhere to constitutional standards when using force.
That investigation found that jail officials failed to protect detainees from violence, used excessive force and held them in “unconstitutional and illegal conditions.”.
The proposed consent decree must still be approved by a judge but would resolve problems found by Justice Department investigators, the agency said in a news release.
