Fifth inmate dead in five weeks at troubled Georgia jail being probed by feds

One inmate has died and “multiple” others are injured in a stabbing incident Thursday at Fulton County Jail, which means an incarcerated person has died every week for the last five weeks at the Atlanta facility currently under federal investigation.

The fatal stabbing Thursday is the ninth death at the jail so far this year, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office communications director Natalie Ammons told USA TODAY.

No other details were released on the active investigation, and an exact number of people injured in the stabbing was not yet available.

The Fulton County Jail is where former President Donald Trump and 18 others indicted along with him surrendered last week for booking on charges related to an alleged illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia.

Fulton County Jail's violent recent history

Before the stabbing, the last death reported from the jail was on Saturday. A detention officer found Samuel Lawrence, 34, unresponsive during dinner rounds, according to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. Lawrence was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The sheriff's office also announced the deaths of three other people in Fulton County Jail’s custody since July 31. Alexander Hawkins, 66, Christopher Smith, 34, and Montay Stinson, 40, were all found unresponsive and later pronounced dead.

Earlier this month, county officials approved a $4 million settlement for the family of a man who died at the jail last year after he was found unresponsive and covered in bed bug bites. An independent autopsy determined LaShawn Thompson, 35, died due to “severe neglect” from Fulton County Jail staff.

Following Thompson's death, county commissioners approved $5.3 million for inmate health tracking, cameras, and other jail upgrades in April, and the Department of Justice opened a civil investigation to determine whether the jail routinely violates inmates' constitutional and civil rights.

DOJ investigating jail after Thompson's death last year

The department will examine living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff, conditions that may fuel violence between incarcerated people, and discrimination against incarcerated people with psychiatric conditions.

The level of violence in the jail is "deeply concerning," Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, previously said.

At one point in 2022, the jail averaged more than one stabbing per day, and a search by the sheriff's office uncovered more than 200 weapons inside the main facility, according to Clarke. There were also three suspected homicides at the main facility last year, and in one case, the victim's body was reportedly concealed for hours before being found, she said.

"Inmates are literally crafting shanks from the crumbling walls of the dilapidated facility," Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat said earlier this year.