Noni Battiste-Kosoko, a 19-year-old female inmate at the Atlanta Detention Center was found unresponsive in her cell by deputies and declared dead on the scene. The sheriff’s office said they found her by herself with “no obvious signs of injury.
The incarcerated teenager, who was arrested on a misdemeanor bench warrant for failure to appear, had been held in the facility since May on a $2,000 bond. The jail has been at the center growing concerns about the health and well-being of people being housed at the facility.
The Atlanta Detention Center (ICE) is a temporary holding facility for inmates arrested in and around the city. Apart from the temporary housing of inmates, the Atlanta Detention Center (ICE) is also used as part of the city’s police department providing services including holding inmate belongings, process inmates, and fingerprint and take their pictures at the facility.
ICE houses both male and female inmates to a capacity of 72 people.
During and after processing an inmate through the justice system, inmates with longer sentences are normally transferred to county jails. In comparison, those serving shorter sentences tend to stay at the facility. A short time may be anywhere between a month and a year.
The horror stories emanating from detainees and visitors to Fulton County Detention Centers continue to surface following the highly publicized death of an inmate, LaShawn Thompson, who was apparently eaten alive by bed bugs.
A number of local officials have repeatedly called for an investigation into the jails conditions and several have recommended closing the facility altogether due to inhumane treatment of inmates housed there, many of who have not been convicted of any crime.
Following the death of LaShawn Thompson, who was reportedly eaten alive by bed bugs, a coalition of civic groups and advocacy organizations sent a letter to Fulton County executives, Atlanta officials, Sheriff Patrick “Pat” Labat, and chief judges about the jail’s horrid conditions.
The letter reiterated the group’s opposition to Sheriff Labatt’s request for an additional $27 million dollars to keep the jail running without any accountability for addressing the systemic issues.
To date, the advocacy organizations have not received a response to the demands included in the letter.
The American Civil Liberties Union suggested officials explore reducing the jail population through alternatives such as pre-arrest diversion programs for people experiencing poverty, mental health concerns, and substance use.
“We were disappointed that Sheriff Labat has threatened litigation rather than turn these records over to the Fulton County Commission. Ten months after neglect and poor conditions killed LaShawn Thompson, the people of Fulton County deserve to know what is being done to prevent future deaths at the Fulton County Jail,” said ACLU of Georgia Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy Fallon McClure.