Investigators from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation will travel to southwest Georgia Monday to survey jail conditions after the death of a local inmate.
Fabian Avery III, 17, was found dead Friday in his cell at the Pelham Pre-Release Center, located about an hour north of Tallahassee, Fla.
An autopsy is scheduled for Monday, GBI spokesman John Bankhead told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Avery was one of several Fulton County inmates being held in Pelham to alleviate overcrowding in the Rice Street jail. Inmates from Gwinnett, Johns Creek and Sandy Springs are also housed there.
Agents from the Thomasville regional office of the GBI are investigating the death, Bankhead said.
A Fulton County Sheriff’s spokeswoman said Avery was recently sentenced. Fulton jail records show Avery was arrested in December on multiple charges, including aggravated assault and armed robbery, and has since been sentenced.
“On Monday, high-ranking commanders from the Fulton County Jail are going to visit the facility to survey conditions,” spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said Saturday.
Pelham police responded to the death. On Saturday, Pelham police referred questions to Investigator Roy Williams, but said he would not be available until Monday.
Earlier this month, Johns Creek signed a contract with Pelham to pay $35 a day per inmate to house long-term prisoners. Sandy Springs and Gwinnett County also house inmates in Pelham, in addition to Fulton.
Pelham Police operate the 354-bed facility, which was decommissioned by the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2008.
Williams, of Pelham police, told Fox 5 that Avery “wasn’t eating right so he was put in isolation to monitor his food intake.”
Avery’s family told Fox 5 that the teen had complained of being sick and getting poor treatment. The family could not be reached for comment Saturday.
In 2005, Fulton signed a contract to send hundreds of inmates to the southwest Georgia facility to meet a federal court order mandating the inmate population be kept under 2,250. Inmates were also sent to Decatur County, Polk County and several facilities in Georgia.
At the time, Fulton agreed to pay $35 a day per inmate for food, clothing and transport.
The 2005 move was temporarily halted after defense attorneys filed a lawsuit, arguing the moves would make it difficult for attorneys to visit the inmates. The inmate transfers were approved after the sheriff’s office agreed to only move inmates who had already been sentenced or were waiting to be picked up by the state corrections department.
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