The Fulton County Jail in Atlanta unconstitutionally subjects inmates to “inhumane, violent and hazardous conditions” that threaten their safety, a US Justice Department official said Thursday, announcing the results of a 16-month investigation.

The U.S. Department of Justice says dangerous, unsanitary and deadly conditions at the troubled Fulton County jail violate inmates' constitutional rights. Why it matters: Fulton elected officials and Sheriff Pat Labat have quarreled for years over how to fix the overcrowded northwest Atlanta facility.

Jail officials in Georgia’s most populous county are violating the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force, and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions,