Law360 (October 27, 2026, 2:23 PM EDT) -- A Georgia federal judge declined to block the transfer of hundreds of federal pretrial detainees to a facility roughly 200 miles from Atlanta's federal courthouse, calling defense lawyers' argument that their clients' constitutional rights were being violated premature.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Mark H. Cohen denied Federal Defender Program Inc.'s motion for a temporary restraining order that alleged the U.S. Marshals Service was violating the constitutional rights of those pretrial detainees by moving them from the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility, or RADD, in Lovejoy to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia.

Judge Cohen said FDP, which represents about half of the 400 detainees being moved, only speculated in its Sixth Amendment claim that the distance would hurt the counsel's effectiveness. He also did not find violations of due process rights under the Fifth and 14th Amendments, saying FDP did not provide to the court a single instance where a detainee was sleep-deprived and unable to participate in their legal defense.

"The court and other stakeholders previously worked diligently to find solutions to avoid this precise issue, particularly in the context of multiday court appearances or trials," Judge Cohen said. "FDP fails to establish a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of its due process claim where the purported harms are hypothetical constitutional violations that have not occurred; moreover, all stakeholders involved have undertaken efforts to avoid that result."

FDP filed both a complaint and a motion for a temporary restraining order Oct. 6, alleging the move was impacting its attorneys' ability to do their job and failing to guarantee their clients due process of law and the right to a fair trial. FDP said detainees at Irwin would be forced to wake up at 3:30 a.m. to make it to the Russell Courthouse, where their cases are being handled. Their attorneys would be required to make the six-hour trip to meet with them, and travel costs would add roughly $1.3 million to FDP's annual budget, the complaint said.

FDP Executive Director Natasha Perdew said it was unclear why the Marshals Service decided to start moving the detainees Sept. 21. She said RADD had been cited for detention standards violations but was making improvements. Meanwhile, the Irwin County facility reopened in 2025 following numerous human rights abuses that led the USMS to previously discontinue housing federal detainees there, FDP said

In August, U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May issued a warning to the U.S. Department of Justice that ending the RADD facility, about 25 miles from the federal courthouse, would be a "catastrophe." Earlier this month, the FDP said Democratic Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock questioned USMS about the impact the plan would have on detainees' constitutional rights.

This month's suit and subsequent motion also alleged the USMS abandoned or destroyed the detainees' legal mail and arbitrarily terminated its contract with RADD in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

In response, the USMS submitted a declaration from its associate director of operations who said only the first group of detainees were separated from their mail that was returned to them once they were made aware of the situation. However, at least one inmate filed a declaration Friday stating he was still missing two manila envelopes and other personal belongings.

On Monday, Judge Cohen said FDP had not yet alleged a final agency action to succeed on its APA challenge to the destruction of legal mail and the USMS's decision to discontinue the RADD contract.

"While there does appear to be an ongoing issue with the return of legal mail to several client detainees, FDP has not established that either this issue or USMS's decision to rescind the RADD contract is reviewable under the APA. As such, FDP has not shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits as to any of its claims. Thus, injunctive relief is inappropriate at this time," Judge Cohen said.

The judge ordered the parties to file a joint report within 14 days about whether any detainee had yet to be reunited with their mail, what USMS has done to investigate and if there was evidence to suggest any mail had been destroyed. FDP said the USMS will continue to move the inmates until Oct. 31.

Attorneys for the Federal Defender Program did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Representatives for the U.S. Marshals Service declined to comment.

Federal Defender Program Inc. is represented by Uchenna Ekuma-Nkama, Alizé D. Mitchell and Lauren J. Towell of Dentons US LLP.

The U.S. Marshals Service is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Taylor and Neeli Ben-David.

The case is Federal Defender Program Inc. v. U.S. Marshals Service, case number 1:26-cv-05788, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

--Editing by Neil Cohen.

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