Two individuals, Shannon Jackson and Nkenegen Hambrick, have initiated a class-action lawsuit against the Fulton County Sheriff's Office regarding the dire conditions inmates face at the Fulton County Jail. As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, the suit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia alleges constitutional violations under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments due to overcrowding, violence, and unsanitary living conditions.
According to the complaint obtained by 11Alive, Jackson, one of the plaintiffs who was previously a defendant in the YSL RICO trial and is still detained on unrelated charges, has endured two stabbing attacks while in incarceration. Hambrick, having been housed from January to June 2023, developed severe wounds and sores in conditions described as unsanitary and bug-infested.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a report by the Department of Justice, which was released in November 2024, condemning the jail's conditions as inhumane and unconstitutional. With the weight of the federal probe highlighting rampant violence and inadequate healthcare, the plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief, an overhaul of policies, sanitation protocols, and improved medical care. "It is causing these kind of horrific physical scars on people that are innocent until proven guilty," Michael Harper, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, told 11Alive.
The class-action suit, which does not seek monetary compensation, instead demands a federal judge to decree changes be made after successive inquiries by state and local entities yielded no substantive reform. Describing a facility fraught with homemade weapons from decaying structures and malfunctioning locks, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat had earlier publicly admitted to the crumbling infrastructure and staff shortages, bringing weapons confiscated from the jail to an Atlanta City Council meeting as evidence of the problems.
Advocating for those subject to these conditions, Harper has previously represented the family of Lashawn Thompson, an inmate who died under similar circumstances at Fulton County Jail. Per 11Alive, Harper is concurrently pursuing financial damages for Dayvion Blake, another detainee who lost his life within the facility. Meanwhile, the jail administration, typically reserved on pending litigation, has not yet been served with the lawsuit, according to their spokesperson.
