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ACLU, Inmate Family Members Call For Change At Cobb County Jail
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The fight for answers involving inmate deaths at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center continues this week as residents and activists call conditions at the facility "inhumane."
Former public defender and American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia staff lawyer Kosha Tucker said the organization is fighting for inmates to have access to medical care, hygiene products and visitation of family members.
Seven inmates have died at the jail so far this year.
In response, the ACLU of Georgia filed an open records request with the sheriff’s office for more information regarding procedures within the jail.
During a town hall meeting Monday with the ACLU, the Cobb County NAACP, Cobb County Southern Christian Leadership Conference and La Gente de Cobb, Tucker noted the importance of highlighting the community’s ongoing efforts to seek answers and justice.
“We need the public to see this,” Tucker told GPB News.
RELATED: Changes Sought In Cobb County Jail After 4th Inmate Death
Inmates as well as family members have reached out to Tucker about what they call harsh treatment at the jail.
Tucker said many women were "forced to live in their own filth," after being denied hygiene products and access to the jail’s commissary.
The former public defender said these are people who are presumed innocent as they are still in the pre-trial portion of the criminal process.
“It becomes punitive for anyone to be treated like this, however, both pre or post trial,” she said.
Cobb County jail spokesperson Glenn Daniel declined discussing the causes of death for two of the men who recently died, but he said inmates have access to health care and other amenities while imprisoned.
“WellStar Health System continues to provide top level health care services at the detention center,” Daniel said. “Inmates continue to have access to health care, mail and their attorneys.”
Christopher Lawrence Hart, 45, was the seventh person to die after being incarcerated in Cobb's jail in the past 12 month. He was booked into the jail Nov. 14 on violations of probation. Two days later, Hart experienced what was described by jail staff as a “medical emergency believed to be related to preexisting conditions.” He died Nov. 17.
Kevil Wingo died Sept. 29 after also experiencing what officials called a "medical emergency" in his cell. The 36-year-old was pronounced dead at WellStar Kennestone Hospital. The cause of death has not yet been released, and family attorney Timothy J. Gardner said that after nearly two months they have still been unable to recieve a meeting with the sheriff's office to discuss Wingo's death.
William Kocour, 63, died Sept. 10 after experiencing a medical condition while at the jail for which he had to be hospitalized.
Steven Davis, 37, suffered a medical emergency while in custody June 9. He was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital, where he later died.
Bradley Emory, 33, had been in custody of the jail for three months when he was found March 10 with a sheet around his neck in the shower, according to the medical examiner’s office, which ruled his death a suicide.
Jessie Myles, 31, was found dead by guards inside of the jail on Feb. 25. The cause of death has not been released.
Reginald Wilson, 54, died of dehydration last December, according to the county medical examiner’s autopsy.
While the deaths of Kourtour and Davis occurred earlier within the year, the jail did not publicly release the information until last month.
As for future proceedings by the ACLU, Tucker said it will depend upon what the jail records report.
“And from there,” she said, “all options will be on the table.”
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