As the Fulton County Jail and its leaders face criticism after the alarming death of an inmate in 2022, officials said another inmate was found dead inside his cell Monday evening.
The facility located on Rice Street is at the center of a civil rights investigation recently launched by the U.S. Justice Department. Between 2009 and October 2022, more than 60 Fulton inmates died, the highest total for any jail in Georgia during that time, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation.
Montay Stinson, who had been in the facility since October 2022, was found unresponsive shortly before midnight Monday with “no obvious signs of injury,” according to spokeswoman Natalie Ammons. Jail and medical personnel attempted to revive the 40-year-old, but officials said they were unsuccessful.
Stinson had been arrested by the Atlanta Public Schools Police Department on a charge of second-degree burglary.
Ammons said the medical examiner’s office will perform an autopsy.
Stinson is at least the second inmate at a facility controlled by the Fulton sheriff’s office to be found dead in their cell in the past month. On July 11, Noni Battiste-Kosoko was discovered unresponsive at the Atlanta City Detention Center with “no obvious signs of injury,” authorities previously said. Ammons stated Wednesday that the sheriff’s office is still waiting on the autopsy report in the 19-year-old woman’s death.
Atlanta Mayor’s Office spokesman Michael Smith released a statement soon after Battiste-Kosoko’s death, stating that Andre Dickens had convened a meeting with leadership to gather facts in the case. Dickens also reached out to county leadership and the sheriff’s office to express concerns.
“The mayor requested assessment of several items, including Fulton staffing levels at ACDC and their own facilities, an additional evaluation of existing Fulton detainees, an accounting of current detainees and the reason for detention, and other items,” Smith said at the time.
The DOJ launched the civil rights investigation into the conditions in the Fulton jail in July, citing the Sept. 13, 2022, death of Lashawn Thompson, a homeless and mentally ill man who was being held in the lockup’s psychiatric wing. On Wednesday, county commissioners voted 6-0 to approve a $4 million settlement in his death.
DOJ officials remarked that they had found credible allegations that the jail is “structurally unsafe, that prevalent violence has resulted in serious injuries and homicides, and that officers are being prosecuted for using excessive force.” Their investigation will also focus on medical and mental health care in the jail, and look into whether the sheriff’s office is discriminating against people with psychiatric disabilities.
Thompson’s body was found covered with insects in the jail’s psychiatric wing. His cause of death was undetermined, according to a Fulton medical examiner report that highlighted a severe insect infestation in the jail.
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