Overview
- Rashaad Muhammad and his lawyers, who met Sheriff Pat Labat on Wednesday, called for a criminal investigation into what they describe as deliberate indifference to his medical needs.
- Muhammad alleges jail staff ignored his repeated requests for antibiotics and supplies after his Aug. 11 arrest, and less than two weeks later he went into septic shock, fell into a coma, and lost his fingers and lower legs; prosecutors dropped the charges while he was hospitalized.
- The Fulton County Sheriff's Office says privacy laws limit what it can release and notes Muhammad spent 177 of his 188 days in custody at Grady Memorial Hospital, with NaphCare providing his care while he was at the jail.
- NaphCare expressed sorrow for Muhammad’s losses, defended its record at the jail, and said it will answer the allegations in court filings rather than in the media.
- Federal scrutiny of the jail has been ongoing since a July 2023 civil-rights probe, and a January 2025 consent decree placed an independent monitor, as county leaders this month approved borrowing up to $1.3 billion for jail upgrades.