Georgia Republicans suddenly seek to clean up Fulton County jail as Trump RICO trials near

Story by Sarah K. Burris • RAW STORY

(Photo by Megan Varner/Getty Images)© provided by RawStory

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed Wednesday that the Republican-run Georgia Senate is seeking to clean up the Fulton County Jail – just weeks before it could house Trump's co-defendants.

The notorious lock-up has been cited for terrible conditions for years, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The announcement that the Senate is taking up the issue coincides with trials in the broad racketeering case surrounding attempts to overturn the 2020 election result in the state.

"The chamber’s top politicians have scheduled an announcement Thursday to unveil a new subcommittee focused on investigating the jail," said the report. "The panel expects to hold hearings as early as November, officials say, and could call on experts, local officials and judges to testify."

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The AJC links the new probe as part of the ongoing attacks on District Attorney Fani Willis. Republicans are seeking to use a new law they passed allowing them to remove district attorneys elected by their communities. The GOP is specifically targeting Willis after she announced the indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 of his allies.

"The subcommittee is expected to scrutinize Willis’ use of resources and her strategy to tackle an enormous backlog of cases that worsened during the pandemic," the AJC reported. "But officials say she won’t be the singular focus of the investigation.

“'We don’t know the root cause of the challenges so anything would be premature at this point. We will follow the facts,' said Sen. John Albers, who will be on the subcommittee. 'This issue is the conditions and deaths at the jail.'"

Ten inmates have died at the jail in 2023.

The Republican officials said that they would include one Democratic member on the committee.

Fulton County isn't the only jail that Republicans are suddenly interested in. Washington, D.C.'s jail is among the worst in the country and it has been called unacceptable for more than a decade. In 2021, a surprise inspection by the Justice Department under Joe Biden's administration cited the jail as unacceptable.

"The city of Washington has reached an agreement with the U.S Marshals Service to improve its jail facility," a Reuters report said at the time.

Little has been done, however. After conservatives were jailed following the Jan. 6 attack, Republicans became interested in abhorrent conditions.

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Members of Congress have taken an active interest and highlighted how terrible the jail is. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) visited once and upon her second visit, she said it was cleaner, but complained that the prisoners were required to clean the facility before the GOP members arrived.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) rejected the characterization saying that the Jan. 6 inmates are being treated far better than the others in the jail. The inmates, for example, are given tablets for entertainment, among other things.

“The privilege that I saw was actually quite astounding, even though we were supposed to talk about or review how bad the conditions were,” she told MSNBC's Joy Reid in March. “If anything, I have never seen a jail that afforded so many privileges to anyone and as I said, I’ve been licensed in Texas, Arkansas and in federal courts for almost two decades.”
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