One year after 16-year-old Bre’Asia Powell was shot and killed outside Benjamin E. Mays High School, her West Atlanta community held a peace rally Tuesday in her memory. As a majorette, basketball player, cheerleader, and volleyball player, Powell was well known and liked in her West Atlanta neighborhood, according to family and friends. “I just […]
Madeline Thigpen
Madeline Thigpen is Capital B Atlanta's criminal justice reporter.
Posted inCommunity Spotlight, Environmental Justice
West Atlanta Alliance Fights Pollution, Promotes Nature Access
Na’Taki Osborne Jelks spent much of her childhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in one of the many Black communities along an 85-mile stretch between the city and New Orleans known as “Cancer Alley.” She said growing up in an area wracked by industrial pollution and the health problems that come with it put her on […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Politics & Policy
What to Know Before You Vote for District Attorney
Democratic voters in Fulton County will choose between incumbent District Attorney Fani Willis and Christian Wise Smith, a former prosecutor and current criminal defense attorney, as their choice for the county’s DA for the next four years. The primary vote is happening against the backdrop of the high-profile RICO prosecutions against former President Donald Trump […]
Posted inAsk Capital B, Criminal Justice, Policing
Ask Capital B: How Fulton County Sheriff Candidates Say They’d Fix Jail Overcrowding
Voters in Fulton County will hit the polls on May 21 to choose a sheriff at a time when county officials are wrestling with overcrowding and poor conditions at jails — especially at the notorious Rice Street Jail, where 10 people died in custody last year and three have died so far this year. One […]
Posted inHigher Education, Incarceration
We Need More Prison Education Programs. But Is the Money There?
When Kimberley Pugh was released after a 13-year term in Habersham County’s Lee Arrendale State Prison, her college classes were the only thing that felt “normal” about the outside world. “Everything around me was in complete chaos, but I had to focus on my reading, my writing, and make sure I had all my assignments […]
Posted inPolicing
3 Key Takeaways from the ACLU’s Fulton Sheriff’s Town Hall
As the top law enforcement officer in the county, the Fulton County sheriff plays a vital role by operating the county’s jails, providing security to the courts and superior court judges, and managing a $146 million budget, among other duties. However, polling done by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia shows that Fulton voters […]
Posted inCourts, Elections, Explainers, State Politics
Judicial Elections Are Coming. Do You Know Who You Support?
Judicial elections are just around the corner, but do you know who you’re being asked to vote for and what their duties are? Nonpartisan judges at all three levels of Georgia’s court system are up for election during the May 21 primary. Voters will be asked to decide who will wield power in this very […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Ahmaud Arbery’s Family Hopeful Hate Crime Convictions Won’t Be Overturned
Ahmaud Arbery’s family and their attorneys told the media they were optimistic after a hearing in federal court to appeal the hate crime convictions against the three white men who killed Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in a south Georgia neighborhood in 2020. Arbery’s family and attorney attended an appeal hearing in federal court in […]
Posted inCourts, Politics & Policy
Nathan Wade Resigns as Special Prosecutor in Trump Election Case After Court Ruling
Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor hired by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the racketeering case against former President Donald Trump, has resigned from his position, effective immediately, after a judge ruled either he or Willis had to step away from the case. Late last year, one of the defendants, Michael Roman, filed a […]
Posted inLocal Politics, Politics & Policy
Fulton County Commissioners Freeze Additional Funding to Sheriff’s Office
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners last week paused the reauthorization of double-overtime pay for detention officers and sheriff’s deputies over questions about how the money is being spent. Federal law requires that Fulton County Sheriff’s Office employees are paid time-and-a-half for overtime hours. Sheriff Patrick Labat, who was elected in 2020, has made efforts […]