The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fresh Take Georgia, a digital news service at Kennesaw State University’s Center for Sustainable Journalism, collaborated on this project. They asked all of the state’s 142 county jails for information about COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, infections, hospitalizations and deaths. They also interviewed surviving loved ones and combed through obituaries and websites that honor law enforcement officers who have died with COVID-19 in the line of duty. Additionally, AJC journalists obtained documents from jails through Georgia’s Open Records Act, reported inside the Walker County Jail and interviewed sheriff’s office employees there and elsewhere. AJC reporter Jeremy Redmon led the reporting and wrote this article with information supplied by Fresh Take Georgia reporters Lilly Carter, Salome Castro, Caleb Groves, Christian Gehrke, Alex Guevara, Skyler Heath and Melissa Walsh. AJC data specialist Jennifer Peebles also contributed to this report.
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