When President Donald Trump was booked at the Fulton County Jail, his mugshot became an iconic symbol of what many view as a weaponized justice system. It now hangs just outside the Oval Office—a reminder not only of political persecution, but of how the system can entangle people regardless of wealth or status. Yet behind the media frenzy lies a deeper, darker truth: the systemic abuse, neglect, and human rights violations that have plagued the Fulton County, Georgia correctional facility for years.
In 2025, Atlanta enters a critical political season with both its mayoral race and all 15 City Council seats on the ballot—setting the stage for major shifts just ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election and what’s shaping up to be one of the most dramatic midterms in decades. With over 80% of Americans believing the criminal justice system needs serious reform, the conditions are ripe for action, not rhetoric. The Trump administration—buoyed by bipartisan populist momentum—has the opportunity to turn widespread distrust into structural change. Fulton County Jail now stands as one of the most visible symbols of a broken system.
The conditions inside the facility have been described by the sheriff himself as a "humanitarian crisis,” marked by overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, rampant violence, and chronic neglect. Built to house just 1,300 inmates, the facility often holds more than 3,000 people, more than double its intended capacity.
The most disturbing consequence of this dysfunction has been the shocking number of deaths. In 2023 alone, 10 inmates died in custody. For context, Fulton County Jail has one of the highest inmate death rates in the United States, with many of those deaths occurring under preventable circumstances.
Just shy of a year before President Trump’s August 2023 booking, LaShawn Thompson was found dead in his cell—his body covered in bed bugs and insect bites. His family said he was "eaten alive.” His death sparked national outrage, yet meaningful reform remained elusive. That same pattern of neglect continued, leading to tragedy after tragedy.
Samuel Lawrence, 34, was strangled to death by his cellmate just four days after submitting a handwritten federal complaint detailing excessive force by staff and attacks from fellow inmates. His plea for help was ignored—like so many others before him.
Then came the death of 24-year-old Shawndre Delmore. Arrested for second-degree burglary and obstruction, he remained incarcerated for five months because he couldn’t afford a $2,500 bond. He died shortly after Trump’s booking, highlighting the glaring injustice of wealth-based pretrial detention. In fact, over 60% of inmates in Fulton County Jail are pretrial detainees, many there solely because they can’t afford bail.
The American criminal justice system—built on complex procedures intended to ensure fairness—too often traps the most vulnerable in a slow, impersonal, and punitive web. Inmates languish in jails like Fulton—many on low-level, non-violent offenses—because they cannot afford bail or because bureaucracy values paperwork over people. The process itself becomes the punishment. The repeated failures at Fulton County Jail are not incidental—they are institutional.
The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation in July 2023—under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA); the response has been widely criticized as bureaucratic and ineffective. The investigation, which aimed to examine conditions, use of force, medical care, and mental health treatment, found violations of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Act. In January 2025, a federal judge approved a consent decree overseen by an independent monitor to ensure the implementation of a comprehensive housekeeping and pest management plan, as well as to guarantee that any use of force by staff complies with constitutional standards.
The case of 19-year-old Noni Battiste-Kosoko was especially heartbreaking. Diagnosed with psychosis, she died on July 11, 2023, after being held for 53 days on a misdemeanor bench warrant. Though she was eligible for low bond, she remained incarcerated due to out-of-state charges. Her cellmate later reported she was suffering severe mental distress and was seen banging her head against the wall—yet staff did nothing. Officials later claimed there were "no apparent signs of injury.”
Reform must begin with action. That means terminating jail administrators and staff who have been complicit in abuse or negligent in their duties—particularly those responsible for ignoring medical distress, mental health emergencies, or complaints of violence. Additional federal investigations into Fulton County Jail’s systemic failures, as well as other correctional facilities across the country, must be launched with full independence and enforcement power—not as a symbolic review, but as a legal mechanism to impose binding oversight. Consent decrees, federal monitors, and mandated public reporting of deaths, use-of-force incidents, and mental health responses should be implemented immediately. Georgia’s state leadership must also be compelled to act, with funding tied to clear, enforceable standards of care. Real accountability looks like criminal charges for egregious neglect, civil penalties for violations of inmate rights, and the permanent closure or restructuring of facilities deemed incapable of meeting constitutional standards.
This moment also calls for national reform. Just as the Trump administration has taken steps to root out bias and corruption within federal agencies like the DOJ, it must now apply the same intensity to overhaul the correctional system. Implementing a "Tariff Model”—where state and local jails receive funding based on measurable outcomes like reductions in inmate deaths, improved mental health treatment, and decreased use-of-force incidents—would create a results-driven approach that rewards transparency and punishes failure. Fulton County Jail should be the first test case. By confronting this crisis head-on, the administration can turn a political flashpoint into a turning point—reclaiming public trust while delivering long-overdue justice to those who have suffered and died in the shadows of America’s carceral system. The Trump administration should also build on its earlier achievements, including the 2018 First Step Act, a bipartisan reform that reduced mandatory minimums and expanded early-release programs.
Several key Trump allies—many of whom were themselves targeted by what they describe as Biden-era judicial overreach—are calling for serious criminal justice reform. Top Trump advisors Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, both of whom served four-month prison terms under the previous administration, have spoken out about the dysfunction, racial disparity, and class bias they witnessed firsthand. Their experiences, combined with President Trump’s high-profile encounter with the Fulton County Jail, have thrust these facilities into the national spotlight.
As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, the time is now for impactful change to the nation’s approach to incarceration. Donald Trump’s arrest ignited a wave of populist, bipartisan concern and exposed deep public skepticism of the justice system. That rare political alignment has created a unique opportunity—to unite Americans across ideological lines and demand long-overdue criminal justice reform focused on fairness, transparency, and equal treatment under the law.
The reason, for everything bad in the WORLD, is the Brotherhood of the Cloth (EVERY lawyer, judge and lawgiver). Whose reason for being, is billable hours.
The jail is corrupt, overcrowded, unsanitary and dangerous, because all of those conditions generate, “Billable Hours” for the Brotherhood. Swift Justice does NOT happen because without billable hours, member of the brotherhood, could not get wealthy, and grow powerful enough to move to the bench and into “elected” office.
I have watched my hypothesis, playing out daily for 50 years now.