Even though Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has decided to close the Atlanta City Detention Center, a move ratified by City Council, insiders hear rumblings that the move will put further pressure on the already-overcrowded Fulton County jail as well as translate into exorbitant costs to retrofit the jail into some other type of facility.
“Today, we have taken another critical step forward in the march for criminal justice reform by beginning the work to repurpose our jail to serve the people of Atlanta as a Center for Equity,” Bottoms said. “The process will be an inclusive one to ensure stakeholders and those most impacted by the criminal justice have a seat at the table.”
However, some law enforcement personnel– who for obvious reasons can’t go “on the record”– say the move is short-sighted. They point out that jail overcrowding in the Atlanta area has forced some magistrates and judges to give light, non-jail sentences or releases to criminals who don’t deserve it. Furthermore, they point out, Fulton County faces jail over-crowding as crime rises in some sectors of the city and surrounding county.
Some insiders say a cost/benefit analysis should have been undertaken before taking the surprise closure step. In any event, a task force has been established to evaluate potential uses and renovation costs for the old jail that could benefit Atlanta communities.
Task force members already named are:
• Chief Operating Officer, or her designee
• Chief Equity Officer, Office of Equity, Diversion, and Inclusion, or his designee
• Chief Resiliency Officer, Office of Resilience, or his designee
• One representative from the City Council, appointed by the council president
• One representative from the Committee on Public Safety and Legal Administration, appointed by the chairman of that committee
• City Attorney, or her designee
• Chief Judge, Atlanta Municipal Court
• Chief of the Atlanta Department of Corrections
• Chief of the Atlanta Police Department, or a designee
