Georgia State Senator Joshua McLaurin (D-Sandy Springs) called for embattled Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat (D) to resign on Monday in response to the “crisis” at the Fulton County Jail.
McLaurin cited Labat’s recent controversies, which include allegations he used the jail’s Inmate Welfare Fund as a “slush fund” and questions about why medical bracelets purchased from a company tied to Georgia legislators were not being used at the facility, before calling for his resignation.
“The commission needs a better partner,” McLaurin (pictured above, left) wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “I call on Sheriff Labat to resign.”
https://twitter.com/JoshforGeorgia/status/1731739300801184145
The most recent controversy McLaurin referenced involves health monitoring wristbands Fulton County Jail which were purchased by Tailtrix, which is chaired and partly owned by multiple members of the Georgia legislature, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Monday.
Fulton County pulled the funding for the wristbands on October 18 after it was revealed the wristbands, which are reportedly meant to monitor an inmate’s vital signs to help jail staff respond in the event of a physical altercation or medical issue, were not being widely used at the facility.
Prior to that, the Fulton County Commission ended the jail’s Inmate Welfare Fund after reports revealed Labat (pictured above, right) used it for a series of seemingly frivolous purposes, including department vehicles, ham giveaways, gift cards, and party supplies for the jail staff.
Additionally, 10 inmates have died at the troubled Fulton County Jail so far in 2023. Labat has repeatedly complained the facility is over its population limit and structurally unsound, claiming inmates regularly break off pieces of the building to use as makeshift weapons, and the county is currently considering building a new jail that would be ready in 2029.
A spokesman for Labat’s office reportedly invited McLaurin to contact them to “address his concerns directly,” according to Atlanta News First, which also reported that Fulton County Commission Chairman Rob Pitts suggested voters should determine Labat’s future at the polls. Labat is up for re-election in 2024.
Though Labat has few defenders, many Republicans have previously extended blame for the conditions at Fulton County Jail to District Attorney Fani Willis, especially in the weeks after former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants were required to surrender at the troubled facility in August.
In October, eight Senate Republicans alleged that Willis “cherry-picked” cases based on her personal politics in an official complaint to Georgia’s new Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission (PAQC). They charge that Willis’ “selective prosecution has resulted in dangerous, deadly, and unjust overcrowding in the local jail and an unprecedented backlog of cases in the judicial system.” However, the PAQC’s future remains uncertain, as the Georgia Supreme Court recently ruled against approving the rules suggested by the commission.
According to an agreement between the Forsyth County and Fulton County Sheriff’s Departments, Willis’ office has a backlog of nearly 150,000 criminal cases, contributing to the extreme overcrowding at the Fulton County Jail. At its peak, the facility had around 3,000 inmates, around three times its maximum occupancy rate of 1,000. The sheriffs attributed the backlog to COVID-19 court closures.
Georgia Senate also announced a subcommittee in October specifically to investigate the conditions at Fulton County Jail. The subcommittee is expected to include at least one Democratic state senator in the upcoming legislative session. Prior to that announcement, Georgia State Senator Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta) said Willis is “not doing her job,” and the backlog turned the jail into a “concentration camp.”
Similarly, former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler argued Willis’ blind pursuit of Trump has “frozen” the criminal justice system in Fulton County.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
