via Pixabay
Disgusting food, overflowing toilets, and lengthy solitary confinement are just some of the realities at South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail in Georgia. This disastrous treatment of inmates and terrible living conditions has led to protests and a lawsuit.
The Georgia Advocacy Office is filing the lawsuit and the details are DISTURBING. What’s especially bad is that the mistreatment is targeting women with mental illness. What’s happening to these women is a violation of their human rights.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that, according to the lawsuit, “women were found lying on their floors with feces or food smeared over their bodies... unresponsive, and some communicated by writing messages in feces or food on their cell walls.”
Why would the jail treat anyone like this? Well, that has everything to do with who’s inside jails. Poor, vulnerable, Black women (especially those with mental illnesses) aren’t exactly a priority for care. That’s why many people are protesting!
This problem is BIGGER than jails and prisons. What we allow to happen to Black people who are most vulnerable amongst us, inside or outside of prisons, says a lot about what could happen to ANY of us. This can’t continue!