The kitchen at the Fulton County Jail was shut down by the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department on Tuesday due to a carbon monoxide leak that put one employee in the hospital.
Employees started exhibiting nausea and other symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, triggering an immediate evacuation of the kitchen, Sheriff Pat Labat said in a news release.
A contract employee who drove herself to the hospital was admitted according to the release. All other kitchen workers, including contractors, trustees, and employees, were okay.
Labat said a private contractor confirmed a high level of carbon monoxide in the kitchen. It appears the leak did not affect other areas of the jail.
The source of the leak has been traced to one of eight kettles in the kitchen. Six of the eight kettles were down as of 1:30 p.m. today. The kitchen needs at least four working kettles to prepare close to 8,000 meals daily, according to the release. That number sometimes rises to as many as 11,000 meals, depending on the population.
Some food had been prepared ahead of time in the event of emergencies. The Sheriff’s Office did not know when the kitchen will be operational.
“This leak is yet another example of the challenges caused by an aging, underfunded jail with infrastructure problems that have led to other resident health issues and stabbings with weapons fashioned from parts of the building,” Labat’s release said.
The sheriff protested the recent decision by the Fulton County Commission to assess renovating the existing jail facilities and not replacing them with a new building.
