A 36-year-old detainee at the Fulton County Jail died Wednesday after he was found unresponsive in his cell, the sheriff’s office said.
Michael Anthony Holland was discovered during an early morning security round, authorities said.
Jail staff attempted to revive him until medical personnel arrived. Holland was then taken to Grady Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Natalie Ammons said.
Conditions at the notoriously dangerous jail are under review by the U.S. Justice Department. Between 2009 and October 2022, more than 60 Fulton detainees died, the highest total for any jail in Georgia during that time, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found. A total of 10 inmates died in custody last year, nine of whom were being held at the Rice Street jail. Another died at the Atlanta City Detention Center, according to Ammons.
County officials are eyeing construction of a larger jail that would cost an estimated $1.76 billion. The larger facility is recommended to have 4,416 beds, with 496 of them reserved for women, consultants told county commissioners last year. Nearly one third of those beds would be in medical or mental health units.
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC
Holland was arrested by East Point police on May 4, 2023, and charged with aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer and three counts of willful obstruction of law enforcement by use of threats or violence, according to the sheriff’s office.
He was being held on $55,000 bond.
The Atlanta Police Department will conduct an investigation into Holland’s death and the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy.
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