Family of man stabbed to death in Fulton jail sues sheriff, county

The parents contend that the jail is consistently mismanaged, overcrowded and understaffed, and that detainees identified as gay or transgender are particularly vulnerable to violence.

Fortner died the evening of April 4, 2024, after being attacked by a fellow inmate who reportedly used a 9-inch weapon fashioned from the jail’s crumbling walls, authorities said. The sheriff’s office identified the suspect as 36-year-old Edward Cherry, who had been in jail nearly four years awaiting trial on aggravated assault, kidnapping and robbery charges.

Cherry attacked Fortner in the day room of the housing zone where both men were held, according to the suit. Fortner was stabbed in the head, neck, torso, arms and legs, and was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital after the jail’s medical staff found him lying at the entrance of the housing unit covered in blood.

Credit: Ben Hendren

Credit: Ben Hendren

He was pronounced dead more than an hour later.

Fortner’s parents are suing Fulton County, the Board of Commissioners, Commission Chairman Robb Pitts and Fulton Sheriff Patrick Labat, alleging their son’s civil rights were violated at the jail. The lawsuit also includes several unnamed jailhouse staffers accused of contributing to Fortner’s death through their “negligent acts” or “deliberate indifference.”

“Mr. Fortner was a well-loved son, well known for his kindness, creativity and passion for fostering community,” his parents said in the suit.

He attended high school in Texas before graduating from Howard University in 2013 with a journalism degree.

Spokespeople for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the Fulton County government declined to comment on the pending litigation. Records from the sheriff’s office show Fortner was one of four detainees who died in custody of the sheriff’s office last year. Two more have died at the main detention center since the start of 2025, according to the agency.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice and Fulton County announced they reached a legal agreement, known as a consent decree, to resolve deplorable and unsafe conditions at the jail plagued by inmate deaths, violence and other issues for years.

The agreement requires the county and the sheriff’s office to address numerous problems outlined in its November report, which found jail conditions were “abhorrent, unconstitutional” and violated the Eighth and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The DOJ launched its civil rights investigation in July 2023, citing the Sept. 13, 2022, death of Lashawn Thompson, who was found in his cell covered with bedbugs. More than 60 people who were being held in Fulton’s jail died between 2009 and October 2022, the highest total for any jail in Georgia during that time, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found.

The federal probe into conditions at the Rice Street facility and three annexes found authorities frequently failed to protect inmates’ safety, presiding over an environment that led to homicides, stabbings and sexual abuse. Guards too often resorted to violence against detainees over small infractions and used solitary confinement in unconstitutional and discriminatory ways, the Justice Department found.

“Every loss of human life is tragic,” Labat told reporters during a news conference held after Fortner’s death, “but it especially hits home and hits hard when your job is that of protecting and serving.”

Fortner’s parents allege in their lawsuit that the sheriff was aware his jail’s method of separating certain inmates did not conform to generally accepted practices, and said their son should have been housed in a different part of the facility.