Elected officials, including the mayor of Atlanta, are again voicing their concerns over the deteriorating conditions and violence at the Fulton County Jail.
On Thursday evening, an inmate was fatally stabbed by a fellow inmate, the sheriff’s office said. He was the second inmate to die while in custody at the Rice Street facility this year, and the 26th since the beginning of 2022.
“My heart goes out to the inmate’s family ... no one should die in jail,” Fulton Commissioner Marvin Arrington told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an exclusive interview Friday.
The inmate, 37-year-old Leonard Fortner, was killed around 6:25 p.m. Thursday in a day room inside of the housing zone. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said Edward Cherry, 36, attacked Fortner and stabbed him multiple times.
Fortner was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at around 7:40 p.m.
“Every loss of human life is tragic, but it especially hits home and hits hard when your job is that of protecting and serving,” Sheriff Patrick Labat said Friday afternoon during a news conference at the jail.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens released a statement to the AJC earlier in the day saying he is disturbed by the “crisis” at the jail and emphasized that every individual must become a priority in the county.
“Historically, the Fulton County Commission has underfunded quality of life services for inmates, physical and mental health services for county residents, and people are paying the price — at times, with their lives,” Dickens said. “Fulton County is responsible for keeping their corrections facilities safe and sanitary, providing services to those experiencing homelessness, ensuring fair and speedy trials in their courts system, providing animal services and other health and human services. This is an election year and voters should take note and ask themselves: Why am I not getting what I deserve from Fulton County and its leadership?”
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
Labat said he has appeared before the Board of Commissioners to highlight the dangerous conditions that detainees and employees face every day. There have been numerous disagreements between the seven-person panel as to the requests the sheriff has made.
“Unfortunately, we have colleagues on the Board of Commissioners who they voted against things that the sheriff needs to at least try to maintain a healthy environment in the jail for not only the inmates, but for the Fulton County sheriff’s employees,” commissioner Natalie Hall told the AJC.
Several commissioners recently rejected a double-overtime request from Labat, meaning jail deputies went back to receiving time-and-a-half for OT work. The request was made due to high overtime demand because of employee shortages.
The commissioners have, however, approved a two-thirds increase in the sheriff’s base budget since Labat took office on Jan. 1, 2021. They have frequently agreed to his requests for “emergency” funding, totaling $46 million during 2023, according to figures from commissioner Bob Ellis. But often what the county approved was not as much as what Labat asked for.
Ellis insisted that the commission has allocated Labat “significant amounts” of funding.
“He continues to have a narrative that anything that happens is about money as opposed to his responsibility to manage things effectively,” Ellis said. “The sheriff has received a significant additional amount of funding for his operations, so that narrative is false.”
As for Dickens’ comments, Ellis responded: “The mayor should stick to running the city of Atlanta. If he wants to run for Fulton County commission chair or Fulton County commissioner, get engaged in that, then more power to him. He can join in that effort.
“I think he is misinformed in terms of investments that the county has made.”
In August, commissioners voted 5-1 to move ahead with plans to build a new jail, but there were arguments about how it would be funded. Robb Pitts was the lone opposition.
Arrington and Hall both said the facility is falling apart and inmates are taking pieces of the building and creating weapons. Arrington argues that Labat took over a crumbling facility.
“I think he inherited a mess. He inherited a dilapidated jail,” Arrington said.
Those conditions are under review by the U.S. Justice Department. A civil rights investigation was launched in July 2023, citing the Sept. 13, 2022, death of Lashawn Thompson, who was found in his cell covered with bed bugs.
In late February during an interview with the AJC, Labat shared that he planned to run for reelection this year, but he stressed the need for a new jail that could house additional inmates and keep them safe. Labat oversees a staff of 875 employees and manages an annual budget of more than $147 million.
“The Fulton County Jail is in crisis, and has been in crisis for decades. Even before I took office,” he said Friday. “It’s clear to anyone that has visited, anyone that has been incarcerated, and anyone that has worked here, the conditions of the jail have far outlived its lifecycle.”
The jail, which opened in 1989 and has a current “operational capacity” of 2,400 people, has held close to 3,000 inmates, the sheriff’s office said. If a replacement jail is built, Labat said it would hold up to 4,700 people.
Credit: Ben Hendren
Credit: Ben Hendren
When the fatal stabbing occurred Thursday, Labat said there was one officer roaming the floor and another overlooking the area in a tower. There were about 20 inmates in the vicinity.
“We were literally minutes away from the actual attack into reactive mode and taking care of the situation ... We were staffed properly. Could we do a better job? Absolutely,” he said.
Cherry has been in the Fulton jail without bond since April 5, 2020, on several charges including aggravated assault and kidnapping, the sheriff’s office confirmed. He was being housed in the same zone as Fortner. He is now facing additional charges of murder, aggravated assault and possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony.
Fortner was arrested Jan. 2 and was facing charges of criminal damage to property, obstruction and terroristic threats in two separate incidents, records show. He was being held at the jail without bond.
Fortner was scheduled to take a final plea in June in a case that began in September 2021. He had been indicted on charges of sexual battery, simple battery, battery, criminal trespass and obstruction, court documents reveal.
Earlier this year, a 36-year-old inmate at the Fulton jail was found unresponsive in his cell, according to the sheriff’s office. Michael Anthony Holland died Jan. 10 after being taken to Grady.
Between 2009 and October 2022, more than 60 Fulton detainees died, the highest total for any jail in Georgia during that time, an AJC investigation found. Ten inmates died in custody last year, nine of whom were being held at the Rice Street facility. Another died at the Atlanta City Detention Center, according to officials.
Atlanta police are investigating the stabbing incident, and the Fulton Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy.
— Staff writers Jim Gaines and Jozsef Papp contributed to this article.
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