As former President Donald Trump prepares to give up in Atlanta on Thursday to face prices associated to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, we communicate with journalist George Chidi, who has documented the inhumane circumstances contained in the Fulton County Jail, the place Trump will seem earlier than a choose. “Lots of people are getting killed” contained in the jail, says Chidi. “The jail is the biggest psychological well being supplier on this county, and that’s a tragedy all by itself.” He additionally discusses the dying of Lashawn Thompson, who was discovered lifeless inside his cell after being eaten alive by bugs, based on household. Chidi writes The Atlanta Goal e-newsletter, and his current piece for Atlanta journal is headlined “The true behind the wall: A glance contained in the notorious, lethal Fulton County Jail.”
TRANSCRIPT
It is a rush transcript. Copy will not be in its remaining type.
AMY GOODMAN: We start in the present day’s present in Atlanta, Georgia, the place Donald Trump has introduced he’ll flip himself in on the Fulton County Jail Thursday. Trump’s bond has been set at $200,000. This all comes every week after Trump and 18 co-defendants have been indicted by a grand jury for working a felony enterprise to overturn the 2020 election, in a case introduced by Fulton County District Lawyer Fani Willis. Trump has now been indicted 4 occasions since late March, however not like the opposite indictments, this would be the first time he should pay money bond. It’ll even be the primary time cameras might be allowed within the courtroom.
Becoming a member of us in Atlanta is George Chidi, impartial journalist in Atlanta, writes The Atlanta Goal Substack e-newsletter and is co-host of the podcast King Slime. He was lately subpoenaed to testify earlier than the Fulton County grand jury within the Trump investigation however didn’t find yourself testifying. In December 2020, he stumbled upon a secret assembly on the Georgia state Home of Republicans plotting to overturn the election by submitting a slate of faux electors. George Chidi has additionally reported on the dire circumstances contained in the Fulton County Jail, the place 15 folks died final 12 months, together with Lashawn Thompson, who was eaten alive by bugs and bedbugs in his cell. George Chidi’s current piece for Atlanta journal is headlined “The true behind the wall: A glance contained in the notorious, lethal Fulton County Jail.”
George, welcome to Democracy Now! It’s nice to have you ever with us. Earlier than we go to why you have been subpoenaed and your stumbling on that faux electors assembly, let’s discuss the place President Donald Trump is popping himself in on Thursday, the Fulton County Jail that you just’ve investigated so effectively. Clarify what this jail is all about, why it’s so infamous.
GEORGE CHIDI: Properly, it’s infamous partly as a result of lots of people are getting killed in it. Earlier than the pandemic, the jail might need two or three deaths in a 12 months. Final 12 months there have been 15. And so they’re as much as seven this 12 months, 4 within the final 30 days.
The circumstances are horrible. The infrastructure is falling aside. And the infrastructure is definitely troublesome to restore, as a result of restore individuals are afraid to go in as a result of the extent of supervision isn’t protected, of their opinion. The medical companies supplier pulled out and needed to be dragged again in by the county. They’ve an amazing staffing downside, which is form of emblematic of what’s occurring in regulation enforcement on the whole, however in Fulton County it’s an acute downside that’s getting folks killed.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: However, George, isn’t the duty for the circumstances within the jail a duty of the native authorities in Atlanta, which is essentially a Democratic administration?
GEORGE CHIDI: Properly, that’s appropriate. The sheriff is elected. The sheriff is a Democrat. The mayor is a Democrat. Town’s administrative our bodies are all run by Democrats, for essentially the most half.
Like, we’re speaking a couple of systemic downside that’s expressing itself, you already know, in an issue within the jail. That jail is overfull as a result of it’s overfull with individuals who largely shouldn’t be there. The most typical cost for any individual being jailed is felony trespassing, which may very well be, you already know, portray one thing on a wall, shoplifting. 5 % of the folks in there are in there for shoplifting prices, together with the man who died final Thursday.
AMY GOODMAN: Final month, the Justice Division introduced it’s opened a civil investigation into the circumstances within the Fulton County Jail in Georgia. That is Assistant Lawyer Common Kristen Clarke.
KRISTEN CLARKE: We are going to look at dwelling circumstances within the Fulton County Jail, entry to medical care and psychological healthcare, use of extreme power by workers, and circumstances which will give rise to violence between folks incarcerated on the facility. The investigation may also look at whether or not the Fulton County Jail discriminates towards incarcerated folks with psychiatric disabilities.
AMY GOODMAN: The folks incarcerated within the Fulton County Jail are predominantly folks of coloration, with knowledge exhibiting 87% of the jail inhabitants is Black. In case you can discuss Lashawn Thompson, who folks might keep in mind how he died, however the horror that, for the nation, considerably blew open or put Fulton County Jail on the map — once more, the place that President Trump goes to show himself in to on Thursday, George?
GEORGE CHIDI: Gotcha. So, Lashawn Thompson was discovered facedown in the bathroom in his cell, and he was coated in bugs, lice. Folks have described him as exsanguinated. That’s not precisely appropriate. That’s a little bit of hyperbole. However he died in squalor. He died like no human being ought to. And he died partly as a result of, you already know, a jailer wasn’t checking on him usually. He was of their psych ward, they usually missed him, as a result of there was negligence. And plainly there was negligence, as a result of the county simply settled for $4 million in that case.
However he’s certainly one of 15 folks. And once you begin drilling down into the opposite deaths which have occurred, two folks have been murdered. One was strangled in his mattress. The individuals are dying of preventable diseases. And loads of it’s tied to psychological well being issues. The jail is the biggest psychological well being supplier on this county. And that’s a tragedy all by itself and has to cease.
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