Fulton County, Ga., Sheriff Pat Labat thought he was so clever as he worked in cahoots with District Attorney Fani Willis to bring down Donald Trump. He and his department couldn’t wait to “have a mugshot ready” for the former president last week.
But Labat should spend less time trying to be cute and score left-wing political points and more time getting his house in order. On Thursday, the Fulton County Jail saw its fifth inmate death since July in a stabbing that also left two others hurt. In 2023 alone, nine inmates have died in custody.
“The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating three stabbings inside the Fulton County Jail,” reports WSB Radio. “Officials say one of the inmates has died and two others are injured. None of the inmates’ identities have been released.”
Authorities wouldn’t speak of the specifics of the stabbings; however, CNN reports that the county medical examiner’s office announced that it would perform an autopsy on the inmate who died, as it has with every inmate death so far this year.
Conditions at the Fulton County Jail are so bad that the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an investigation in July into the treatment of inmates housed there.
“The DOJ announced they will be doing a comprehensive investigation of the living conditions at the jail, access to medical care and mental healthcare, use of force, and conditions that may give rise to violence against inmates,” WSB reports. “They are also investigating whether the jail discriminates against incarcerated people with psychiatric disabilities.”
Recommended: Donald Trump Files Not Guilty Plea in Fulton County
The investigation came on the heels of the death of an inmate in the jail’s mental health unit who was covered in bugs. Fox 5 Atlanta reported on conditions in the jail in April, and reporter Morse Diggs’ report showed crumbling walls, standing water from leaks, and cells that were in such a state of disrepair that inmates slept in the hallways.
Interestingly enough, Labat accompanied Diggs for at least part of his tour of the jail, and the sheriff claimed he was trying to fix conditions there.
At a press conference on Thursday, reporters asked Willis about the conditions at the jail, and she didn’t mince words.
“Since I was a candidate for district attorney, I stated that… we should have had a new jail 15 years ago, and we’re not going to let people bury their heads in the sand and act like they didn’t know we needed a new jail,” Willis told reporters.
“We need a bigger facility, and it needs to be a facility that treats people humanely,” she concluded.
Between the deaths and execrable conditions at the jail and domestic terrorists causing havoc in parts of Fulton County and neighboring DeKalb County, Labat clearly needs to get his own house in order rather than trying to persecute and prosecute the former resident of the White House. The county should be ashamed of how it treats “the least of these,” and someone — perhaps Labat — should face accountability.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member