Fulton County Jail Officials Found Shredding Documents

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – Fulton County Jail officials were found shredding documents yesterday. The jail has been under scrutiny since 2005, when a judge ordered it to address overpopulation, understaffing, and delays in releasing inmates.

In a court hearing, U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob asked the jail's auditor to share, under oath, what he saw on Monday. The auditor, Riley Taylor, said he found four deputies in a room with several clear plastic bags on the floor, in the middle of shredding papers.

Shredding documents, lawyers made clear, is not normal procedure for Fulton County.

After the hearing, Fulton County Sheriff Myron Freeman said he'd look into it.

FREEMAN: If something like that is going on, we're going to investigate it, and see where the investigation leads us, and the appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.

The hearing was originally supposed to center on the question of whether the Chief Jailer, John Gibson, should remain in his post. But yesterday, he resigned.

In fact, at the hearing, Judge Shoob strongly suggested that Taylor, the auditor who discovered the paper-shredding, take that job.