Bipartisan group on Fulton commission want Kemp to consider suspending sheriff
Three Fulton County commissioners called on residents to ask Gov. Brian Kemp for an investigation to decide if Sheriff Patrick Labat should be suspended from office, in the wake of allegations that a former jail inmate suffered severe neglect, leading to amputations of his lower legs and fingers.
Fulton Commission Vice Chair Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, a Democrat, called for the probe on Wednesday — and was joined by Republican Commissioners Bob Ellis and Bridget Thorne.
All of that took place after prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump spoke during a commission meeting, demanding accountability and an independent investigation into the treatment of his client, Rashaad Muhammad.
“As the current sitting vice chair, I cannot, and will not, sit in silence while the performance of the sheriff’s office continues to deteriorate to a level that can only be described as unconstitutional and dangerous,” Abdur-Rahman said.
“This board has authorized hundreds of millions of dollars for jail improvements, staffing — yet the reckless performance ... still persists.”
Vincent Watkins, Abdur-Rahman’s chief of staff, said members of the public can request an investigation of Labat by calling Kemp’s office to report their concern, or by asking their state legislator to do so for them.
Also on Wednesday, Commissioner Marvin S. Arrington Jr., a Democrat, called for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to launch a probe of Muhammad’s treatment at the jail. Arrington said Labat has also requested an investigation from the GBI.
No one from the sheriff’s office, the GBI or the governor’s office responded to questions emailed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday afternoon.
Crump said last week that Muhammad, who also spoke during the commission meeting and demanded accountability, begged for the antibiotics he needed to prevent infection while he was held in the troubled Fulton County Jail last August.
Ultimately, he went into septic shock, a coma and had to have the amputations to keep him alive, Crump said.
On Wednesday, Muhammad told commissioners he asked detention officers, nurses and others for his antibiotics. He needed them because of a medical condition that made him especially susceptible to infection.
“Days go by,” Muhammad told commissioners. “Now I’m laying on the floor, I can’t get up. It’s worse and worse and worse to the point where I can’t get up off the floor, and inmates have to advocate for me.”
Muhammad, 33, was in the jail for 11 days before he was taken on Aug. 22 to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he remained in the custody of the sheriff’s office for about six months, undergoing several surgeries, said Liza Park, another of his attorneys.
The charges against him, aggravated assault and a related firearm charge, were dropped last month.
Abdur-Rahman said Muhammad’s account, along with other “heartbreaking and harrowing accounts” of issues involving the jail, “are a collective cry for help from a community that feels its safety and its tax dollars are being treated with reckless disregard.”
The three commissioners called for the investigation under a state law that authorizes the governor to decide if a sheriff should be investigated as a result of criminal charges, alleged misconduct in office or alleged incapacity to perform the functions of his office.
If the governor thinks a probe is warranted, the law says he could appoint two sheriffs from other counties in Georgia who, along with the attorney general, would make up a committee to conduct the investigation.
If the committee recommends suspension, the governor can suspend a sheriff for up to 60 days, with a possibility of extending it another 30 days. The governor also could ask the county’s district attorney to bring a removal petition against the sheriff based on the committee’s evidence.
After Abdur-Rahman called for the probe, Arrington, who said both Labat and Crump endorsed his run for chair of the Fulton Commission, warned against jumping to conclusions.
“Certainly what happened to Mr. Muhammad is unimaginable, but I don’t know that I hold the sheriff responsible for medical issues at the jail,” Arrington said.
NaphCare, the company that provides medical care at the jail, told the AJC last week it has conducted a clinical review of the care provided to Muhammad and concluded that staff acted appropriately.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Ellis noted that Crump endorsed Arrington.
“That whole set of facts needs to not play out in an investigation that’s led by the sheriff or encouraged by the sheriff and you, and this attorney in communication with him.”
Ellis, raising his voice, added that the sheriff bears responsibility for “safe confinement” of defendants awaiting trial.
“I am sick and tired of sitting up here and listening to the same conversation over and over and over,” Ellis said. “This is not about finger-pointing and blame. This is about a direct ask for accountability.”
The U.S. Department of Justice began investigating the Fulton County Jail in July 2023, after the death of Lashawn Thompson in the jail’s psychiatric wing. An autopsy found that Thompson’s death was due to severe neglect, and photos showed him covered in insects in a cell filled with garbage.
Crump has noted that NaphCare was providing medical care at the jail when Thompson died and questioned why the company is still the provider.
The DOJ investigation 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.
The conditions at the jail have led to finger-pointing among the county’s elected officials, the sheriff and many others. Labat has blamed commissioners for providing his office with too little funding.
Several commissioners have blamed the sheriff for what they say is his mismanagement of the facility and staff.
About the Author
Reed Williams is an enterprise reporter on the Local team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
