Ten inmates used homemade knives to stab a fellow inmate in a coordinated attack inside the Fulton County Jail on June 1, according to a warrant obtained by 11Alive and published Tuesday, July 21.

Eight of the 10 accused attackers were already being held on murder charges. One faced an aggravated assault charge; the other, armed robbery.

The warrant says the victim was using a telephone in a common area at approximately 2:35 p.m. when inmate Demonte Cargil approached without warning and began stabbing him with a handmade shank. Inmate Farley Samuel then joined with a second weapon. Eight more inmates, each allegedly armed with a shank, moved in and helped stab the victim multiple times.

Jail staff took the victim to the facility's medical unit. The warrant says he suffered serious injuries but does not describe his current condition or identify him by name.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office has not said how 10 inmates obtained the weapons or whether any shanks were recovered. When 11Alive contacted the agency about the attack, the office said only that the investigation remains active.

Investigation timeline

A sheriff's office investigator began reviewing the case after receiving an email about the attack on June 1, according to the warrant. The investigator reviewed evidence collected inside the jail, a supervisor's initial investigation, and security camera footage.

More than a month later, on July 6, a unit officer who was familiar with the inmates helped investigators review the recordings and identified the eight additional men accused of joining Cargil and Samuel.

A Fulton County magistrate judge signed an arrest warrant for inmate Jaylan Michael Pryor on Monday, July 13. Pryor faces three felony charges: aggravated assault, committing an unlawful act of violence inside a penal institution, and unauthorized possession of a prohibited item by an inmate. The warrant names the other nine as alleged participants but does not include copies of warrants issued for them.

The 10 inmates identified in the warrant are Demonte Cargil, Farley Samuel, Jakobe Moody, Jaylen Hill, Mason Bates, Davion Bailey, Tre'mon Palmer, Demarcus Gooden, Deshown Woodward, and Jaylan Michael Pryor.

Federal oversight

The attack adds to documented concerns about violence and contraband at the jail. Fulton County entered a federal consent decree in January 2025 to address conditions at the Rice Street facility, following a U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation that found the jail failed to adequately protect people in its custody from widespread violence.

At a Tuesday, March 4 Board of Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Patrick "Pat" Labat acknowledged the facility's long-running problems, saying the jail has faced "overcrowding, staffing shortages, aging infrastructure, and growing mental and medical health demands" for decades. The sheriff's office operating budget for the current fiscal year is approximately $156.6 million.

In August 2025, county commissioners approved a $1.1 billion plan to renovate Rice Street and build a new facility for detainees with mental health and substance abuse needs. That project is expected to take four to five years.