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Georgia Senate Republicans have chosen a convenient time to take interest in the squalid conditions at the Fulton County Jail.
For decades, social justice activists and people incarcerated there have sounded the alarm about the jail’s conditions, which have contributed to deaths, staff corruption, overcrowding and crumbling facilities. This led to the Justice Department opening a civil rights probe earlier this year. But it wasn’t until Thursday that Republicans announced a plan to investigate the situation.
Among those facing charges in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ racketeering indictment of former President Donald Trump are several people involved with the Georgia Republican Party. Each one of them, as well as Trump himself, had to appear at the Fulton County Jail for booking.
Georgia GOPers have hardly lifted a finger over conditions at the jail as activists advocated on behalf of those held there, a group that is predominantly Black. And despite what Republicans are saying about this probe, its political motives seem clear: Some Georgia Republicans have pushed to impeach Willis (and disrupt her case against Trump and his co-defendants, all of whom have pleaded not guilty). And it looks as though the conditions at the jail — which predate Willis’ time as district attorney — could eventually be used as pretext for that.
After senators toured the jail on Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones claimed: “We’re coming at it as a body that wants to help have solutions to this issue.” (Note: A special prosecutor needs to decide whether to bring charges against Jones for signing on as a fake elector in 2020 to unlawfully hand Georgia’s electoral college votes to Trump.)
Suffice it to say, I don’t believe his claim about wanting to help. Especially after reading the following in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Willis will likely face scrutiny over her use of resources and strategy in addressing an enormous backlog of cases that grew worse during the coronavirus pandemic. “The DA is required by Georgia law to have a grand jury inspect the sanitary condition of the jail and the treatment of inmates, and it isn’t clear she’s carried out that duty,” said state Sen. Jason Anavitarte, one of the chamber’s top Republicans. “She did find time and resources to pursue politically chosen cases when the jail has been deteriorating, resulting in deaths.”
Remarks like the above suggest that the Republicans’ probe is more about striking back against Willis than about ensuring human rights in the carceral system. Unsurprisingly, I’m not convinced that the Republicans who make up today’s lock-’em-up, shoot-’em-down conservative movement are truly concerned about humane law enforcement.
The AJC reported Friday, for example, that Republicans plan to focus solely on Fulton County Jail with this probe, although they “have discussed” expanding the probe to examine a raft of similar issues reported at other jails across Georgia — next year.
So rather than look at jail conditions as part of a systemic problem, Georgia Republicans seem set on pinpointing Fulton County (and its district attorney) as a very special problem.
The reason for that seems abundantly clear.