Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asserted in a Tuesday interview that Georgia state senators investigating the conditions at the Fulton County Jail should instead investigate the state prison system, though she said she “is not responsible” for the jail.
Willis made the remarks to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in response to an investigation launched in the Georgia Senate earlier this year over the conditions at the Fulton County Jail, where 10 inmates have died in 2023. One of the defendants in Willis’ high-profile Young Slime Life (YSL) racketeering case was stabbed in the jail this week, delaying the ongoing trial until 2024.
“Those state senators should worry about the state prisons,” Willis (pictured above) told the newspaper, declaring they “are out of control.”
Willis also claimed to AJC that the Georgia Senate investigation is “an extremely weak attempt to add a slap at this office” and “just politics.”
Though neither the Georgia Senate investigation nor the paused complaint from eight Georgia state senators against Willis filed with the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission mentioned former President Donald Trump, Willis told the newspaper that Republicans in the Georgia Senate are acting due to their “worry the hero is treated the same as everybody else. And now they want to come up with foolishness.”
Republicans have highlighted the backlog of cases in Willis’ office, which an official document revealed numbered nearly 150,000 earlier this year, for the extreme overcrowding and violence at the Fulton County Jail.
After Trump and his allies were required to surrender and have mugshots taken at the jail, Georgia State Senator Brandon Beach said Willis is “obsessed” with prosecuting Trump “for her own political gain” to the jail’s detriment, adding that the backlog of cases resulted in a dangerous, “concentration camp” environment. Similarly, former U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler said Willis’ blind pursuit of Trump has “frozen” Fulton County courts and established “a two-tiered system of justice.”
Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat (D), who has been accused of mismanaging the jail and using the Inmate Welfare Fund as a “slush fund” for frivolous purchases, blamed pandemic-era court closures for the backlog in his agreement to transfer some inmates to Forsyth County.
Willis also indicated to AJC that she may attempt to move up Trump’s trial, which she has requested to begin on August 5, 2024, after the Supreme Court agreed to determine whether Trump’s presidential immunity should prevent the Smith’s case against him from moving to trial.
The Fulton County prosecutor also indicated she may appear in court for the trial. Her most recent appearance, during which she argued in favor of revoking bail for former Black Voices for Trump director Harrison Floyd, was unsuccessful in swaying Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee to side with the state.
– – –
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].
Photo “Fani Willis” by Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
