Stabbing spree at Fulton County Jail raises security concerns

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Four stabbings have happened at the Fulton County Jail in as many days, the sheriff’s office confirmed to FOX 5 on Monday.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat says lives will continue to be put at risk until the county builds a new facility.

The sheriff's office confirms there was a stabbing on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week. Medics rushed three of those inmates to Grady Memorial Hospital, but a fourth inmate got treated at the Rice Street facility.

The family of the fourth inmate wants to know why he wasn't hospitalized.

"He says he's afraid to go to sleep, so he feels like he's going to die. My heart is just weighing heavy right now," mother, Crystal, explained.

The mother says her heart broke when she got word that her son was stabbed Saturday at the Fulton County Jail.

FOX 5 has reported vicious assaults like the one back in August of last year that show how easily things can get out of hand. Now four stabbings have taken place in four days.

"I put on my clothes and went down there to Rice Street and asked if I could speak to the captain. He said my son had been in an altercation with some guys. And he was stabbed. I asked him did he take my son to the Hospital, he talked about he was relieved with medics at the jail," the mom replied.

Jail officials say medics rushed all three inmates from the first three stabbings to Grady Memorial Hospital, but Crystal believes jail officials did not respond properly in her son's case.

"I felt like they should have taken him to the hospital. They did this little medical thing at the jail," the mom complained.

Sheriff Pat Labat says the wounds in the fourth stabbing were superficial and did not require hospitalization.

The mother believes her son also needed to go to the hospital.

"Right now, he says he's really hurting, like every time he breathes, by them stabbing him all in his arm, his side, his back, he said he's hurting. When he breathes, he says he's scared to go to sleep," Crystal commented. "I feel like if they had more security and more staff, a lot of that would not happen. If my son's door was locked. While he was sleeping, he wouldn't have gotten stabbed. My son was informing me that none of the doors are locked. They are broken. They don't lock because they are broken."

Sheriff Labat says homemade shanks were used in all four stabbings.

He says he has been transparent since taking office about the failing physical plant that he believes put detainees and his staff at risk.