Fulton County Jail. (Photo: Mark Greenberg/ALM)

Two days after a group of Fulton County public defenders filed an emergency habeas petition to have 183 pretrial detainees who couldn't make bond released from the Fulton County Jail over coronavirus fears, a lawyer with the Southern Center for Human Rights—which filed an amicus brief supporting the effort—said it appears to be bearing fruit.    

"It's my understanding that approximately 30 inmates have been released since the petition was filed, which suggests filing the petition was the right course of action," said the SCHR's Sarah Geraghty.

But she said the number of inmates still in the jail far exceeds the threshold that would allow inmates and staff members to stay a safe distance from each other.

"We have sent letters to every sheriff in the state of Georgia asking them to work with government officials to reduce the number of inmates," said Geraghty. "We've also written to all the state and superior court judges to allow low-level offenders get out of jail."

According to sheriff's spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan, as of midnight Wednesday the population of the jail's main Rice Street facility was 2,214. Another 215 were at the South Jail Annex for women in Union City. 

There are currently 12 male inmates with active coronavirus cases who are "progressing nicely," said Flanagan. Another three inmates have recovered, and three more have been released.

No jail staff are known to have contracted the virus, she said.  

Flanagan said the Alpharetta annex closed Sunday until further notice, and the inmates there were moved to Rice Street. 

In addition to freeing inmates who are eligible for bond but can't afford it, Geraghty said there is a push to get misdemeanor offenders out.

"The most recent numbers show 279 people being detained for misdemeanors in Fulton County," Geraghty said. 

"It's not just in Fulton," said Geraghty. "Throughout the state, we're seeing that people are being held in very difficult circumstances. Look at DeKalb, Hall and Douglas counties—we're seeing that those jails are still packed with people facing misdemeanor charges."

"In light of a global pandemic, that doesn't make any sense at all," she said. "The consequences could be dire."

The habeas petition, filed by Fulton Public Defenders Steven Phillips, Stephen Scarborough, Lauren Shubow, Cody Jung and Kevin Anderson, said all of the petitioners are behind bars because they can't afford the money bonds required for their release. 

"Herded together in a crowded facility with deficient infection controls in place, with jail staff and new arrestees cycling in and out, petitioners are all prey to a virus that continues to sweep through this community and that is confirmed to have reached inside the jail itself, where confirmed positives are steadily rising and numerous undiagnosed infections almost certainly exist," the petition said. 

"That they continue to languish in dangerous custody is a feature of the state's categorically different treatment of the wealthy and the poor," it said.

The SCHR's amicus brief, filed by Geraghty and center colleagues Atteeyah Hollie and Ryan Primerano, noted that there is no cure or vaccine for the virus, "just a single strategy to reduce the risk for vulnerable people from serious illness and death, and that is to prevent them from being infected in the first place."

"Due to its contagious nature, Covid-19 is devastating in crowded, closed environments" like cruise ships, nursing homes and aircraft carriers. 

"Jails are worse," it said. "They are, effectively, cruise ships packed with vulnerable guests but short on resources like cleaning supplies, protective gear, and medical care" that are even more hazardous "because of the closer quarters, less sanitary conditions, reliance on jail staff to provide for inmates' basic needs, disproportionate number of medically vulnerable people in jails, and constant cycling of detainees in and out of jail facilities."

The petition is before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Emily Richardson, who has scheduled a show-cause hearing via videoconference for April 15.

There was  no response from the office of District Attorney Paul Howard as to whether he will oppose the petition. 

Flanagan said that, since the beginning of the outbreak, 102 inmates have been released from the jail due to Covid-19, including 64 who were released after jail staff reviewed their cases.

"In general, these were people with release dates who were serving sentences in the jail," said Flanagan. 

Another 37 were ordered released by Fulton County State Court Chief Judge Fred Eady, and one was a probationer. 

"We have not been able to track how many probationers are leaving due to the coronavirus," said Flanagan. "They're not flagged as such."