By Rhonda Cook
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Water service at the Fulton County Jail was interrupted for 17 hours over three days. Inmates got bottled water, but no showers, and they could not flush toilets.
A ruptured water pipe was blamed, and the county General Services Department said the problem was unrelated to the ongoing court-ordered $55 million renovation of the rundown building.
“They are fixing it. General Services [Department] has assured us,” said Sgt. Nikita Adams-Hightower, spokeswoman for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, which manages the jail.
Inmate visitation was suspended Monday and Tuesday because three of four elevators flooded. The one working elevator was needed for routine jail operations and could not be spared to take visitors from the ground floor to the visitation area.
Only the kitchen, which is served by a separate water line, was not affected, Adams-Hightower said.
Water service was disrupted Sunday evening and most of Monday. It was turned on twice so toilets could be flushed and then turned off again.
Uninterrupted water flow was restored early Tuesday morning.
In an e-mail, General Services said there was only “minor flooding.”
There also were some clogged toilets, but officials blamed that on inmates stuffing things into the pipes.
An inmate’s relative said the situation was more serious than the county portrayed.
“For the last three days there has been a problem with the plumbing,” said Pauline Mitchell, who received desperate calls from her son, who is being held on multiple felony charges.
“The toilets won’t flush. They were put on ‘lock down.’ This morning he was walking in raw sewage. Everybody [the inmates] is pretty agitated.”
The jail is under a federal court order to improve conditions, and one of the requirements is to upgrade the jails, plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning systems.
General Services said this problem was unrelated to the renovation, and the pipe that burst was part of the original construction.
Copyright 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution