“A deadly jail,” a special editorial page project published in the Sunday ePaper edition examines conditions at the Fulton County jail, after 10 people have died this year while in Fulton County custody.
They are among more than 60 who have died in Fulton custody since 2009. The four-part, three-page project explores how we got here and what can be done.
The lead article by the Editorial Board, entitled “The staggering loss of life is too much,” calls for Fulton County leaders to bring resources and action to improve conditions for inmates.
“It’s not as if the problems plaguing Fulton’s infamous Rice Street jail (or the Atlanta City Detention Center, where Fulton leases space for hundreds of county inmates) are somehow obscure. Far from it,” the Editorial Board wrote. “We all know what’s wrong. Our elected leaders especially so.”
The project also includes profiles and photos of those who have died in Fulton custody this year and a history of problems at jails operated or leased by the county.
Another full page is devoted to potential solutions, examining efforts by other states and local government, from reforming the bail process for nonviolent offenders, to building new jails, to holding jailers more accountable. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution project drew on articles shared by the newspaper’s partners in the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about social issues.
The project also offers resources for readers to learn more, including the sources and organizations that informed our reporting and links to previous articles by the AJC newsroom about conditions at the Fulton jails.
A version of the project is also available on ajc.com.
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
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