Man dies after he was found unresponsive in cell at problem-plagued jail in Atlanta

ATLANTA (AP) — A man who was being held at the problem-plagued Fulton County Jail in Atlanta died Wednesday at a hospital after he was found unresponsive in his cell, authorities said.

A jail officer doing a security round found Michael Anthony Holland, 36, in his cell early Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Jail staff attempted unsuccessfully to revive Holland, who was pronounced dead at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Atlanta police will investigate the death, and the county medical examiner’s office will do an autopsy, the release says.

Holland was arrested by East Point police booked into the jail on May 4 on charges of aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers by the use of threats or violence, the release says. He was being held on $55,000 bond.

The Justice Department’s civil rights division last year announced an investigation into jail conditions in Fulton County, citing violence, filthy conditions and the death of a man whose body was found covered in insects last year. Ten people died in Fulton County custody last year, according to the sheriff’s office.