This story was updated on Thursday, March 20 at 2:32 p.m.
Stefanie Stokes didn’t find out about the incident involving her son, Bakari Stokes-Martin, until three days after it happened. Stokes-Martin is accused of stabbing a detention officer at the Fulton County Jail.
“I feel bad for the officer because I begged these people to help my son before this happened, during this time and currently,” she said. “I told them it would get to the point of him either hurting himself or somebody else.”
The 18-year-old was still a juvenile when he was first arrested on Feb. 10, 2024, by Atlanta police after he allegedly shot his younger brother to death at their home in the Peoplestown neighborhood.
Since then, he’s been awaiting trial in the Fulton County Jail that’s under federal oversight for its dangerous and inhumane conditions, particularly for vulnerable groups like minors and individuals with mental illness, which the U.S. Department of Justice found violated detainees’ constitutional rights.
Stokes-Martin’s mom says her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2023, but no one was able to get him the help he needed when she reached out — neither police, doctors, lawyers or nonprofits. Now, she feels like she’s lost two sons.
“My son was not a bad kid,” Stokes said. “Loved his mama. Loved his family. Liked to cook and be on the computers. We were getting ready for graduation and prom. We ain’t never get there. I don’t know how to stay up and keep going, because I miss both of them. We all had a special relationship.”
An attorney for Stokes-Martin did not respond to a request for comment, but his mom says she thinks the reason he still hasn’t gotten help despite receiving a mental health evaluation in jail is because he’s considered an adult and can refuse to accept treatment.
“From the time he’s been incarcerated, I’ve begged these people daily to help my baby,” Stokes said. “And they’ll say, ‘Well he seems fine to me.’ I’m telling you. I know my son. He’s not fine and nobody checked into that either.”
According to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, detention officer Rico George was stabbed at least twice in the neck and behind his left ear just after 11:30 a.m. on March 8 after he asked Stokes-Martin to remove a blanket he was using to cover himself.
After emergency surgery, George is expected to make a recovery.
Deputies later allegedly found Stokes-Martin had five shanks in his possession. He’s facing a flurry of additional charges and denied bond.
The news release from the sheriff’s office made no mention of a mental health condition.
‘That comes from the top’
At a Fulton County Board of Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, community activist LaQuana “LA” Pink again raised concerns about the alleged mismanagement and malpractice by Sheriff Pat Labat, which she says sets the stage for issues to continue.
“When you replace him, then you can be able to see a brighter light not only for the inmates but the deputies as well,” Pink said. “When deputies fear for their life to go to work and are pent up in a corner and don’t know sometimes whether they’re going to make it out alive, as well as the inmates, that comes from the top.”
The grandmother of the detention officer who was stabbed disagrees.
“I don’t feel the problem is with the sheriff,” Lucy Watts said. “I feel the problem is with the jail itself. The weapons that were used to inflect those wounds on my grandson were items that came out of the structure — from the ceiling, from the walls, wherever. It is my voice that says that jail needs to come down.”
After the incident, Labat also said it served as a reminder “of the dangers of this profession” and that the county needs a new jail and additional manpower.
According to the sheriff’s office, there are currently 367 sworn deputies and 193 sworn detention officers, including supervisors, working at the agency. It added there are 59 deputy vacancies and 34 detention officer vacancies.
In February, Kathleen Kenney was appointed by a federal judge to oversee the court-enforceable consent decree that aims to address the jail’s conditions for an initial period of two years. She has three decades of experience in corrections.
Kenney’s first public report is expected in the fall.
Meanwhile, the Southern Center for Human Rights has launched a “people’s process” to get the community involved in the changes they want to see at the Fulton County Jail.
Correction: This story has been updated to show that the number of deputies and detention officers listed is not just those working inside the Fulton County Jail, but those working throughout the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office.
