FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office says the jail is falling apart and say the contraband they found during a shakedown on Wednesday proves it.
Deputies found nearly 100 homemade knives within the jail during a shakedown on Wednesday morning.
They say most of the knives and shanks they found were made from screws or other pieces of the deteriorating jail.
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Channel 2′s Michael Seiden was inside the largest jail in the Southeast and saw firsthand the poor condition.
Since taking office in 2021, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has said he is in charge of running a jail that is overcrowded and falling apart.
He gave Channel 2 Action News an exclusive look at the problems he has been describing for months.
A shakedown inside the jail Wednesday morning was meant to sniff out illegal items like drugs, cell phones, shanks and homemade knives.
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Labat said that what makes the 96 shanks found so troubling is that the crumbling facility is giving inmates the means to make these knives.
Just last week, a detention officer was stabbed several times by an inmate armed with a shank.
“We want to make sure that our women and men know that they’re the most valuable assets we have, and this is the part making sure they safe as well,” Sheriff Labat said.
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Labat told Seiden that Fulton County commissioners are conducting a feasibility study that he’s hoping will lead to ground-breaking on a new facility.
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