Man says severe medical neglect at problem-plagued jail in Atlanta resulted in amputations

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia man said Wednesday that he was traumatized by severe medical neglect at a problem-plagued jail in Atlanta that led to the amputation of his fingers and lower legs.

Rashaad Muhammad was arrested in August and taken to the Fulton County Jail, where medical staff failed to provide antibiotics and other medical supplies he repeatedly told them he needed, his lawyers said. Less than two weeks later, his condition had deteriorated to the point that he could no longer stand and he was taken to a hospital, where he was ultimately told the amputations were necessary to save his life.

“I'm not OK. Every day is a battle. It's a struggle,” Muhammad, who now uses a wheelchair, said during a news conference outside the jail after he and his lawyers met with Sheriff Pat Labat.

“It was coming back to a nightmare that you pray every day isn't real,” prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who's representing Muhammad, said of Wednesday's meeting with the sheriff at the jail. The treatment Muhammad received was “the very definition of deliberate indifference” and violated his constitutional rights, Crump said.

The Fulton County Jail has a long history of problems which led the U.S. Department of Justice to initiate a civil rights investigation into jail conditions in July 2023. Among other problems, the investigation found prisoners were held in filthy and unsafe conditions that violated their constitutional rights.

The Justice Department and county officials announced in January 2025 that they had entered into a court-enforceable consent decree. An independent monitor has been visiting the county's jails and documenting the issues and any progress in fixing them.

Crump said the board of commissioners bears a huge part of the blame for what happened to Muhammad because commissioners have been made aware of the problems but failed to act. He said the county needs a new jail, which Labat has pushed for.

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners earlier this month voted to borrow up to $1.3 billion for jail improvements, including a new special purpose facility and renovations at the existing main jail.

Crump also faulted the jail's medical provider, NaphCare, saying that its employees, along with jail guards, ignored Muhammad's pleas for help. NaphCare should not still be providing medical services at the jail after another man held at the jail, Lashawn Thompson, died in a bedbug-infested cell in September 2022, said Crump, who also represented Thompson's family.

The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday. The sheriff's office said it could not comment on Muhammad's medical condition or specific treatment because of privacy laws but said that during his time at the jail, “he was under the medical care of NaphCare.” A county spokesperson declined to comment.

Muhammad said his meeting with the sheriff “was productive but it's not enough.” Crump said they asked for a criminal investigation into what happened.

Crump said he and the rest of Muhammad's legal team are gathering details and exploring “every possible legal remedy” to secure justice for Muhammad and to hold those responsible for what happened to him accountable.

Muhammad uses a catheter for a chronic bladder condition that makes him very susceptible to infection, and he constantly carried necessary antibiotics and other medical supplies, said Liza Park, one of his attorneys.

He was involved in a shooting on Aug. 11 and called 911, Park said. When police arrived they ended up arresting him on aggravated assault and gun possession charges, online jail records show. He told the police as he was being arrested that he needed the antibiotics and medical supplies that were in his car, Park said.

He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for a check and was cleared to be taken to the jail, his lawyers said. He repeatedly told the medical staff at the jail that he needed antibiotics and other supplies and, as his condition deteriorated, other prisoners also pleaded with jail and medical staff to help him, his lawyers said.

He was in “severe medical distress” when he taken back to the hospital on Aug. 22, Crump said. After awakening from a coma a couple of weeks later, his hands and legs had become so infected that doctors told him it was a matter of “life over limbs," that his fingers and lower legs would have to be amputated, Crump said.

Muhammad spent months in the hospital and had multiple surgeries. While he was in the hospital, the criminal charges against him were dropped, Park said.