A Fulton County grand jury wants an investigative panel to look at the troubled Fulton County Jail but said the county’s school system seemed to be well run.
The jail’s troubles have been public for many years, and the grand jury’s findings were not unlike the problems detailed in a federal lawsuit filed almost a decade ago.
The Southern Center for Human Rights sued the jail in 2004, outlining dangerous, crowded and dirty conditions. The county reached an agreement with the court in 2006 to fix those conditions. Still, the most critical issues have not been resolved: inadequate staff in the cell blocks; crowding beyond the jail’s 2,500-inmate capacity; and broken jail locks. .
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said he hoped the findings of the grand jury and a yet-to-be-empaneled grand jury would “bring an end to this 10-year-old lawsuit.”
The grand jury report said it looked at Fulton schools to be sure the district was not at risk of the same troubles experienced in Atlanta and Clayton and DeKalb counties. Clayton and DeKalb schools’ accreditation has been threatened recently and three dozen Atlanta educators were indicted last year for test cheating.
The recommendations to look at the jail came from the grand jury that was empaneled for the November and December term.
So far, taxpayers have spent more than $200 million on jail fixes.
Fulton is renting beds in the Union City Jail and holding female inmates there. Commission Chairman John Eaves has said he expected additional money for outsourcing more inmates to other jails in the 2014 budget, which has not been adopted.
Howard said he thought a special grand jury could get the county to do things two federal judges have not been able to do to fix the jail because it would be citizens making the request.
“I think elected officials pay attention to citizens,” Howard said. “I don’t see how anyone is going to be able to get around or ignore the findings of this special grand jury.”
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