ATLANTA — Sunday afternoon, the candidates for Fulton County sheriff came together for a forum at Berean Seventh-Day Adventist Church, in Atlanta.
Candidates were asked about the budget, overpopulation, relations with the Board of Commissioners, and staffing shortages. Viewer questions showed that the community wants to know how the next sheriff will put a stop to inmate casualties.
Candidate Kirt Beasley talked about her ideas of a divergent center for detainees with mental illness and who are experiencing homelessness, as well as other programs. She said she hopes to partner with the justice system to get more early releases. When addressing inmate deaths, she said there should be more check-ins.
"We need to get the staffing numbers up so we can make those security rounds, engage with the detainees, keep them on balance so that they don't know when we're coming, perform those cell checks--going in and making sure that we don't have things that they can use as weapons," Beasley said. "We've just got to beef up things. We've got to do things more readily. We've got to become smarter than the ones who are in jail. We can't allow them to control the jail. We have to control the people who are living at the jail."
Labat went on to explain that despite 100-150 staffing vacancies, there have been 700 hires while he's been in office.
Candidate James Brown outlined a retention plan emphasizing childcare and better healthcare for employees plus better maintenance for the facility. He hopes to work with the youth and create more programs, such as a crisis transition center. Brown believes that violent detainee deaths weren't nearly as common when he worked for the sheriff's office while understaffed.
"What we did was our job. During the administrations that I worked, if it was a death, it was because of an unpreventable death whether because of a medical issue or maybe because of suicide, but the deputies were doing their 30-minute rounds," Bown said. "We were doing what we were supposed to do. And we managed the facility correctly."
11Alive reported at least three inmate deaths already this year. The most recent was Leonard Fortner, 37, who was stabbed and killed while locked up a few weeks ago.
Candidate Joyce Farmer explained that she plans to bring in more staff and separate detainees with mental and medical issues to a different wing as well as continue treatment after release. She also hopes to reinstate the junior deputy program to connect with the youth earlier. Farmer took shots at the sheriff, using LaShawn Thompson's case as an example.
"To say that the inmates, 'we've got gang members,' that's because they're not being classified. They're just putting them in there," Farmer said. "We're not saying that the officers are not doing their jobs. They are doing their jobs -- for the few that are there. However, if they were doing their jobs, Mr. Thompson wouldn't have been found weeks later with the bugs. So, where are the officers?"
Thompson died in a filthy cell in the Fulton County Jail, eaten alive by bed bugs back in April 2023.
Labat said 80 percent of the jail is out of its life cycle and it needs to be completely replaced. He hopes to focus on using more technology as well as inmate advocacy to partner with the justice system to get more inmates released. Labat defended his staff and said the inmates are bringing more violence to the jail than ever.
"We have the worst of the worst. And they are attacking each other inside. Preventable deaths is one conversation. Those that are being weaponized are absolutely not," Labat continued. "We have more violent criminals. And anyone who doesn't understand that absolutely doesn't need to be running for sheriff."
The entire forum lasted for about an hour. Watch it here.
Early voting begins Monday at nine in the morning.