ACLU, Southern Center File Lawsuit Against Clayton County Sheriff For Lack Of COVID-19 Transparency
By Ben Abrams | GPB | May 28, 2020
The Southern Center for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed a lawsuit against Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill Wednesday for refusing to disclose documents related to COVID-19 testing in Clayton County jails.
SCHR sent a public records request to Hill for information on how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting inmates in the Clayton County jail, according to the lawsuit obtained by GPB News. The request was part of a more significant effort by SCHR to understand how the epidemic is affecting inmates in jails across Georgia.
"There appears to be an outbreak of COVID-19 at this jail, and incarcerated people, their families, and the public have a right to know about it," SCHR attorney Sarah Geraghty said in a statement. "It is both illegal and wrong to withhold vital information about a public health crisis from members of the public."