The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a report on Thursday that the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta routinely violates the constitutional rights of individuals in its custody.

The DOJ’s report revealed the findings of a civil rights investigation launched in July 2023, uncovering pervasive abuses at the facility that included failures to protect inmates from violence, the use of excessive force, and neglect of essential medical care and humane living conditions. The report stated, “In less than 24 hours in August 2023, at least seven people were stabbed and one was killed at the Jail. The violence spanned five units and three floors.”

The DOJ claimed that jail officials violated the incarcerated individuals’ rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution when they were “deliberately indifferent to an excessive risk of violence.” The DOJ stated that these unconstitutional and illegal conditions have persisted unchecked despite the glaring awareness of the issues. The report further found that the individuals most at risk were children, LGBTQ individuals, and people with critical medical or mental health needs.

There were also reports of officials misusing solitary confinement in discriminatory and unconstitutional ways. The DOJ found that vulnerable populations, including teenagers as young as 17 and those with mental health disabilities, have been subjected to solitary confinement, causing lasting harm and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The report also found that the jail neglected its duty to provide special education services to 17-year-old boys and girls who are entitled to them under the law, violating the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The jail currently houses approximately 2,000 individuals, though in recent years that number has exceeded 3,000. In 2022, a mentally ill man named Lashawn Thompson died in the Fulton County Jail due to severe neglect and lice infestation. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said:

Lashawn Thompson’s horrific death was symptomatic of a pattern of dangerous and dehumanizing conditions in the Fulton County Jail … The Justice Department’s report concluded that Fulton County and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office allowed unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the Jail … 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 Sheriff’s office to remedy them.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also said, “We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent, and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail.”

The DOJ said it provided the county with the facts supporting its conclusions along with “the minimum remedial measures necessary to address the alleged violations.” The department further stated that Fulton County will cooperate with the DOJ to resolve the issues.