Fulton County government leaders have asked a federal judge to relieve them of his oversight of the troubled Rice Street jail, even though not all of his requirements have been met and conditions inside remain volatile.
The county said in court documents filed Friday that the jail is now safe, clean and no longer overcrowded, addressing issues raised in a 2004 lawsuit and a 2006 consent order. Fulton wants out from under the order by July 1.
“I think we’ve made a good-faith effort to try to be in compliance,” said county Commission Chairman John Eaves. “We’ve met all the conditions, even if the processes haven’t been finalized.”
The people who brought the lawsuit aren’t buying it and contend the jail should remain under federal oversight until all requirements of the order have been met — namely replacing more than 1,300 easily-jimmied door locks and hiring enough deputies to cover all shifts. Fixes for both problems are in the works, but replacing and testing locks could take almost another year.
Meanwhile, details emerging of a Christmas Eve fire set by inmates point to other troubles, such as detainees with access to contraband and taking orders from gang leaders from the outside. The incident sent two officers to Grady Memorial Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
“These incidents confirm both the inmates and the staff remain in danger,” said Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which filed the lawsuit on inmates’ behalf.
Investigators suspect the fire may have been part of a botched gangland slaying attempt.
The blaze itself would have been a diversion. During the evacuation alleged Bloods gang members jumped another inmate and tried to stab him with a homemade shank, but it was so dull it left only scratches, Chief Jailer Mark Adger said Monday.
The attack could be connected with the the stabbing death of 33-year-old Darryl Christmas a month earlier at Valdosta State Prison, he said. The alleged leader of the “Nine Trey Bloods” — a rival of the Bloods — was serving life for two Atlanta murders.
“We can’t prove it, because no one’s talking,” Chief Jailer Mark Adger said Monday.“But that’s what we think.”
Chairman Eaves said he did not see the fire as a setback.
“I think in the overall scheme of things — and I’m no jail expert — is what’s happening in our jail any different than what’s happening in other jails?”
The cost to taxpayers to resolve the lawsuit is nearing $150 million since the consent order was signed in 2006. Much of the expense was for required plumbing, heating, air conditioning and elevator system upgrades. More will be added to the tab now that the Fulton commission — after several false starts and months of political posturing — voted last month to add $5 million to the county’s debt to replace locks on all cell doors.
Including interest, the locks will bring the total cost of renovations to $92.7 million.
On top of that, county also has spent $53.4 million renting beds in other jails to keep the number of inmates below a cap currently set at 2,500.
County taxpapers also have been billed for the cost connected to the judge’s jail expert.
The county’s “motion to terminate protective relief” did not offer reasons why the jail should be allowed out of supervision, but said the county was relying on previous filings and reports from Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob’s monitor to support the request.
The monitor and the attorneys who filed the suit have said they will not agree to end court supervision until staffing is sufficient and until all the locks have been installed and tested for several months. Bright called the request to end supervision “audacious.”
“It’s truly remarkable that the county would ask the court to trust it,” he said, “when it still hasn’t accomplished what it promised to do six years ago.”
Adger’s account of the fire points less to the shortcomings laid out in the court order and more to inmates’ continuing access to contraband.
Items smuggled into the jail, often by staffers, have been a long-running problem for Fulton. In 2011, an inmate used a small gun to shoot another inmate in the hand. A month later the FBI investigation implicated eight men, including four jail workers, in various plots to bring in marijuana, cocaine, cell phones and cigarettes, or to sell drugs outside the jail.
The jail was at full staff on Christmas Eve, the chief jailer said.
Commissioner Bill Edwards, who voted against replacing the locks, said the fire points to incompetent staffers who should have noticed inmates up to no good with a contraband lighter and a mattress.
“No matter how you look at it, you’ve got a problem,” the commissioner said.
About the Author
