By Alexis Stevens
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — An inmate gathered garbage into a shower and started a fire that injured nine people Friday at the Fulton County Jail, according to Sheriff Pat Labat.
“A single detainee set a fire that ultimately resulted in several injuries,” Labat told reporters outside Grady Memorial Hospital late Friday.
Five inmates and four jail employees were taken to the hospital with various injuries, including smoke inhalation. Two people were placed on ventilators, Labat said.
“Everyone is stable, and ultimately everything else is part of an ongoing investigation,” Labat said.
Firefighters were called to the troubled jail on Rice Street around 5:15 p.m. and quickly extinguished the blaze on the seventh floor, the sheriff said. In a news release, the agency said the detainee gathered plastic trash bags and a plastic bag with Styrofoam food trays, placed everything in a shower and set it on fire.
The building’s sprinkler system worked as it should, Labat confirmed.
“The biggest part is the coordination between (Atlanta Fire Rescue) and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office,” Labat said. “And I honestly believe lives were saved because of it.”
Nearly 120 inmates were moved to another area in the jail, the agency confirmed.
Labat has advocated for a new facility to be built, but the Fulton commissioners have instead opted for a tax to fund improvements at the existing jail.
In a November 2024 report, the U.S. Department of Justice said Fulton County is violating the civil rights of the people housed at the jail by allowing “abhorrent, unconstitutional” conditions. Federal officials spent 16 months studying the conditions at Rice Street and three annex facilities and said authorities frequently failed to protect inmates’ safety, presiding over an environment that has led to homicides, stabbings and sexual abuse.
Smoking is not allowed in the jail, but Friday’s fire was not the first.
“And again, just because someone’s incarcerated doesn’t mean that they’re not educated enough to be able to start a fire,” Labat said. “And so we will leave that to the investigators to determine. But it’s not uncommon.”
In September, jail employees extinguished a pile of trash found burning, the fire department previously said. A jail spokesperson said 17 inmates and one staff member in the affected area were evaluated and medically cleared.
In January 2023, a fire started by two inmates caused a dorm at the jail to be evacuated and those inmates to be taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, officials said at the time.
And in November 2020, three people were taken to the hospital after inmates set two mattresses on fire, authorities previously said. Two employees and an inmate were treated at Grady.
Friday’s fire remains under investigation.
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