Hakes to Newsmax: DOJ Needs to Shut Down Fulton County Jail

Former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes told Newsmax on Thursday that the Department of Justice needs to shutter Georgia’s Fulton County Jail, saying there’s no way to “justify” what’s happening there on the heels of another death.

“You’ve got prisoners dying left and right,” Hakes said on “The Record With Greta Van Susteren.“

Her comments come after an inmate was killed and another two injured in a mass stabbing at the infamous Rice Street jail on Thursday — the same jail where former President Donald Trump was booked last week.

The DOJ has opened an investigation into the jail, but Hakes said there’s no justification for not shutting it down now.

“This same jail has been under the receivership of a federal judge before in the past two other times,” Hakes said. “So two other times, conditions in this jail were such that they violated the Eighth Amendment. And a judge — a federal judge — put himself in charge and mandated changes so that conditions would improve.

“Well, clearly, it didn’t take. Or it’s just gotten back to being the same old, bad place it has been,” Hakes added.

Thursday was the fifth death in a month at the jail, which is also notoriously dilapidated and unsanitary.

“And what’s important here … is that when someone is either sentenced to jail or to pretrial confinement, as they are here at this jail, they’re in the care, custody, and control of the jailers. That means we have to care for them,” Hakes said. “They’re supposed to get medical attention. They’re supposed to be treated humanely. The Eighth Amendment … prohibits cruel and unusual treatment, whether that’s pretrial or post. And here, you obviously have cruel and inhumane treatment.”

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