ATLANTA — A detainee at the Fulton County Jail died over the weekend, days after filing a civil rights complaint in which he alleged excessive force at the facility.
The individual had been in jail for months - arrested on a second degree felony arson charge last December, held without bond until April and then granted a $30,000 bond his attorney was trying to get reduced.
A hearing on possibly reducing the bond had been scheduled for next month. The individual had never been indicted on the arson charge.
The complaint was filed Aug. 22 in federal court. Records show the individual died Saturday, Aug. 26.
11Alive is not naming the individual after the Fulton County Sheriff's Office said it was still attempting to reach his next of kin for notification. The sheriff's office said it had not yet been served the complaint paperwork, as it was still pending in U.S. District Court.
In the complaint, the detainee alleged excessive force including kicking and tasing against him by deputies that led to injuries and that they also failed to protect him from other detainees.
It is the fourth death at the jail in the last month.
According to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, at least 16 inmates have died in the months since LaSawn Thompson's death on Sept. 13, 2022. Four of those deaths came after the Department of Justice opened a civil investigation on July 13, 2023.
The Fulton County Sheriff's Office and Fulton County Government released a joint statement about the DOJ's investigation in July:
"Fulton County and the Sheriff’s Office have been made aware of a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice to examine conditions at the Fulton County Jail and will be cooperating fully with the investigation."
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat released an additional statement saying he met with DOJ officials and the jail is fully prepared to cooperate with its investigation.
"The humanitarian crisis at the Fulton County Rice Street Jail is not new. Recognizing the systemic concerns that have plagued the Fulton County Jail for decades, I contacted DOJ’s National Institute of Corrections (NIC) in September of 2022 making an urgent request for a security audit, technical assistance and support surrounding the circumstances at the jail," Labat wrote in the statement in part.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story reported that there were at least eight deaths of inmates in the custody of the Fulton County Sheriff's Office in the past year that 11Alive had previously reported on. This story has been updated with new information from the sheriff's office that a total of 16 inmates have died since September 2022.