Fulton County Jail

On June 20, 2019, the Division and the USAO for the Northern District of Georgia filed a Statement of Interest for the preliminary injunction motion in Georgia Advocacy Office v. Jackson, a conditions of confinement case alleging Constitutional and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) violations arising from the County’s prolonged restrictive housing of female prisoners with serious mental illness in the Fulton County Jail.  The private case was filed by the Georgia Advocacy Office and the Southern Center For Human Rights, on behalf of two individual Plaintiffs, M.J. and K.H.; and two classes of similarly situated women in the Fulton County Jail system with serious mental illness who were placed in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time because of their mental health condition.  The lawsuit challenges the Jail’s policy and use of solitary confinement for these women as violations of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.  Plaintiffs also allege that these women were denied services, programs and activities in violation of the ADA.  The Statement of Interest noted that the United States had investigated similar issues in its investigation of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail and referred the court to the legal discussion in that CRIPA notice, which addressed the rights of prisoners with serious mental illness housed in solitary confinement.  See CRIPA Notice re: the Hampton Roads Regional Jail.