ATLANTA (AP) — An independent monitor appointed to oversee an agreement meant to address dangerous and unhealthy jail conditions in Georgia’s most populous county said significant understaffing creates “serious safety risks for residents and staff.”

Kathleen Kenney was appointed in February to monitor the consent decree between the U.S. Department of Justice, Fulton County and county Sheriff Pat Labat. Her initial report filed Thursday provides an overview of her team’s baseline visit to the main jail and annexes in May and makes recommendations for the next six months.

The court-enforceable agreement was announced in January after a Justice Department civil rights investigation found that jail officials failed to protect detainees from violence, used excessive force and held people in “

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