Prominent civil rights attorney alleges medical neglect at Fulton jail
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is calling for a criminal investigation into alleged medical neglect of a Fulton County Jail inmate, saying the man begged for his medication before he went into septic shock and had to have his lower legs and fingers amputated.
At a news conference outside the troubled Rice Street facility on Wednesday, Crump and other attorneys said Rashaad Muhammad had a chronic bladder condition and a catheter that collected urine and needed to be kept clean when he was jailed Aug. 11. He was in custody on an aggravated assault charge that has since been dropped.
Because of his condition, Muhammad was especially susceptible to infection, the attorneys said.
They also said the 33-year-old Muhammad asked medical providers and sheriff’s deputies for help, telling officials he would die if he did not get the antibiotics that prevent infection. He became sick after the third day of telling them he needed the medicine, Crump said, and at some point he was unable to stand during roll call.
Crump said Muhammad’s constitutional rights were violated and characterized his treatment as “the deliberate indifference for his medical care and his welfare.”
Ultimately, Muhammad developed an infection and went into septic shock, slipped into a coma and had to have the amputations or he would die, the attorneys said.
During his 11 days in jail, other inmates told officials that Muhammad needed help, Crump said. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital on Aug. 22.
“Where’s my due process?” said Muhammad at the news conference. “Why was I in this condition for this long?”
Muhammad added that he has a catheter in his stomach, put there because he was healing from a surgery.
“I know how to take care of myself. I don’t live in a dirty environment,” Muhammad said. “Me going septic is not possible unless I’m in a dirty environment and deprived of the stuff I need to live.”
Crump questioned why the same company, Naphcare, is still providing medical care at the jail as it was when Lashawn Thompson died in the jail’s psychiatric wing in 2022. An autopsy found Thompson died from severe neglect, and photos showed him covered in insects in a cell filled with garbage.
After Thompson’s death, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation of the jail and found the county and its sheriff had violated the civil rights of inmates at the Rice Street facility by allowing “abhorrent, unconstitutional” conditions. The county then entered into a legal agreement, known as a consent decree, to address numerous problems outlined in the November 2024 report.
In an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday, a NaphCare spokesperson said the company is “saddened by what Mr. Muhammad experienced.”
“We have conducted a clinical review of the care provided and stand behind the treatment delivered by our team,” said the spokesperson, Keri Burnett. “This involved a medically complex patient, and we believe our staff acted appropriately and did everything within their power to provide care and support under difficult circumstances.”
Burnett also said NaphCare “remains committed to providing quality health care in one of the most complex correctional environments in the country” and has helped care for tens of thousands of patients, improved access to treatment and “worked collaboratively with federal court monitors to support ongoing reforms under the consent decree.”
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on Muhammad’s medical condition, citing privacy laws, but noted in an emailed statement that Muhammad was at the hospital for 177 of the 188 days he was in the office’s custody.
“During his time at the Fulton County Jail, he was under the medical care of NaphCare,” the statement said.
Robb Pitts, chair of the Fulton Commission, did not provide comment to the AJC after initially agreeing to an interview.
The board has voted to extend NaphCare’s contract in each year since Thompson died.
Most recently, commissioners unanimously renewed a contract in December to pay NaphCare $45.1 million to provide physical and mental health services and medication to inmates at the Rice Street jail and other facilities.
Crump has represented in civil suits the families of Thompson and Breonna Taylor, who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, during a botched raid in 2020. He also represented the family of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police the same year.
On Wednesday Crump criticized the Fulton Board of Commissioners for not approving construction of a new jail, saying a more modern facility would be more sanitary.
“It is overcrowded, understaffed and all these things could be fixed with the Fulton County Commission being empathetic to their citizens,” Crump said.
Earlier this month, the board unanimously approved a $1.3 billion financing plan to renovate the Rice Street jail and build a new facility for inmates with special needs.
Muhammad was accused of shooting another man in the elbow early the morning of Aug. 11 in the 400 block of Sunset Avenue. An affidavit for his arrest said the man who was shot told authorities he was standing outside a home when another man got out of a vehicle and fired at him.
Muhammad reportedly called 911 and said he believed he had been shot by the other man, though the affidavit says he was not injured. A witness told police the man who was shot had approached the vehicle Muhammad was in before shots were fired.
Muhammad was indicted on a charge of aggravated assault and a related firearm charge, but a judge dropped the charges April 2 at the request of prosecutors, according to court records.
On Wednesday, Muhammad returned to the jail with his attorneys to meet with Fulton Sheriff Patrick Labat and discuss what happened to him.
“Coming back here today reminded him of how real this nightmare was,” Crump said after the meeting, “and how real this nightmare will be every day for the rest of his life.”
About the Author
Reed Williams is an enterprise reporter on the Local team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
