By Steve Visser, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Fulton County, Ga. Jail is becoming increasingly dangerous and unhealthy because of crowding and poor security, and immediate intervention by county officials is required to prevent serious harm to staff and inmates, according to a new report on conditions.
Robert Greifinger, who has monitored the jail since a federal lawsuit was filed in 1999, visited two weeks ago and found many inmates sleeping on the floor, puddles of water, inmates unable to shower, broken air conditioning and mold on the ceiling.
Greifinger - former medical director of the New York state Department of Corrections - has toured the jail 18 times in five years. His most recent visit prompted him to describe the jail as “scary.”
Few guards were supervising inmates, he said, suggesting the conditions could spark trouble with the expected increase of prisoners during hot weather. “I fear the onset of summer,” he wrote.
“The severe overcrowding and staff shortages have resulted in mounting tension within the living units, leading to violence,” Greifinger wrote.
Chief Jailer Roland Lane agreed with Greifinger’s findings and said they showed the effect of the county’s hiring freeze. The jail is down 94 positions, Lane said. It also has reported a 30 percent increase in the number of prisoners since 2002, he said.
The jail, which opened in 1989, has had many problems with crowding and conditions. In 1999 a class action lawsuit was filed against Fulton County alleging it failed to provide adequate health care. That prompted U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob to assume supervision of the facility.
Stephen Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, which brought the 1999 lawsuit, said jail conditions were deteriorating.
“This hiring freeze is keeping them understaffed, and I think they have a problem with people not showing up for work, which is not surprising,” Bright said. “You’ve had the pipes ruptured and raw sewage pile up. They’ve been mopping it up.”
Greifinger’s report said the jail provided adequate health care when prisoners were able to see the medical staff. But he said inmates often didn’t get treatment because the jail lacked the guards to escort prisoners to the infirmary, or to escort nurses into the cellblocks. “We have not had a problem of this magnitude in four years,” he wrote.
Bright said an inmate was beaten so badly by other inmates in April that he suffered brain damage. That inmate, Bright said, wasn’t treated quickly because guards were responding to another fight.
Lane said another inmate, whose ear was partially bitten off in a fight, didn’t get immediate treatment because no guard had seen the attack.
Lane said 20 guards had been attacked by inmates, with seven being injured in the first three months of this year, and that staff injuries were up 43 percent since the federal court order was lifted in 2002. Last Friday a guard received seven stitches after being injured in an attack by inmates, Lane said.
Lane said the sheriff planned to deliver an internal report outlining conditions to county officials Monday. County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel acknowledged the crowding problem Thursday, but she faulted Sheriff Jackie Barrett’s management.
Barrett, who is under federal investigation for $7.2 million in investments that county auditors say were illegal, has said the county needs a new jail. Attempts to reach her Thursday were unsuccessful.
“I know she wants a new jail, but she is not getting one,” the commission chairwoman said. “The people of this county aren’t gong to be supportive of building a $60 million new jail.”