For Immediate Release: April 5, 2024
Contact: media@colorofchange.org 

In Atlanta, Color Of Change Presses for Decarceration as Fulton County Jail Records the Second Death of 2024

ATLANTA- On April 4th, it was reported that 37-year old Leonard Fortner was stabbed and killed at the Fulton County Jail. Fortner was charged with criminal damage to property and was being held without bond in Atlanta. In response, Color Of Change released the following statement from Michael Collins, Senior Director of State and Local Government Affairs:

“As these stories have become less than uncommon from the Fulton County Jail system, our first priority will always be to express our condolences to the family and the friends of Leonard Fortner. Mr. Fortner’s death is the second of 2024, and is a direct result of the ill-managed and overcrowded system that took 10 lives last year alone. As Color Of Change and partners have continued to engage with District Attorney Willis, we have seen the jail population fall by the hundreds. This recent trend of decarceration – the Rice Street population is down from a high of around 2500 last summer to around 1700 today – has made the jail system more manageable, more safe for incarcerated individuals in the system, and more reactive to cases of violence. But, we are nowhere close to a solution that will protect lives, and a system that would have prevented Mr. Fortner’s death. We need to see an end to the use of cash bail. We need to see the huge backlog of cases cleared. We need for the jail population to continue to see significant reductions. Mr. Fortner’s death is a consequence of inaction. When LaShawn Thompson’s name made national headlines, that should have been more than enough for a serious overhaul of the jail’s brutal inhumane conditions. Color Of Change will continue to activate our members and work alongside partners to install life-saving reforms that will prevent one more family from losing their loved one in the Fulton County Jail system.”

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