Georgia jailers find shanks made from 'parts of the building' after inmate busts through concrete shower wall to stab another inmate: Sheriff

Kavian Thomas (L) in a Fulton County Sheriff's Office, (R) the hole in the wall.

When it comes to digging jailhouse tunnels, the objective is usually to escape incarceration forever. This time, the inmate accomplished little more than digging a deeper hole for himself legally, according to Georgia authorities.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office, headed by Sheriff Pat Labat, alleged that Kavian Thomas stabbed an inmate at the Rice Street jail in Atlanta last Wednesday night, May 17, after tunneling through a shower wall to stab Derondney Russell in a neighboring cell block.

The shanks made from "parts of the building" (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

Jail records did not list Thomas' age and authorities did not specify one in their press release on the incident. Records do indicate, however, that the Lithonia defendant Kavian Thomas (also connected in jail records to the names Kavion D'Quan Thomas and Kavion Dqwan Thomas) was most recently charged March 6 with first-degree arson, first-degree criminal damage to property, riot in a penal institution and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers.

November 2022 charges of theft, marijuana possession, and felon in receipt, possession, or transport of a firearm appear to be pending; Jan. 22-based charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm or knife during the commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies were dismissed, jail records say.

While a public indecency offense from December 2019 led to a suspended sentence, several other charges from earlier in 2019 were previously dismissed by prosecutors — including counts for armed robbery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and weapons possession offenses. A theft case from that year ended with defendant Thomas' transfer to the Department of Corrections, records say.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said that charges are also pending in connection with the alleged jail attack, though it is not yet clear what those charges are.

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The inmate Thomas allegedly stabbed "sustained superficial stab wounds to his upper body and is being treated in the medical unit," the sheriff's office said, adding that an ensuing "shake-down" of two cell blocks inside the jail uncovered several shanks. "Following the attack, a shake-down of both cell blocks led to the discovery of several weapons, including shanks made from parts of the dilapidated building infrastructure."

Interim Fulton County Jail commander Curtis Clark said in a statement that the discovery of shanks literally made from the building shows just how dire the Rice Street jail location's conditions are.

Another photo of the hole in the wall (Fulton County Sheriff's Office)

"It presents a constant challenge for us to eliminate things like this from access to the inmates. This jail has clearly outlived its useful life," Clark said. "That reality makes it even more challenging for us to do our job of providing the safest possible environment, not only for staff but for the inmates as well."

In an interview with WSB-TV, Clark said he's lost a lot of sleep since he was put in charge of the facility. Some of the interview showed Clark walking around the facility and pointing to other broken-down parts of the building that inmates could conceivably turn into weapons.