Atlanta approves jail lease agreement with Fulton County

Regardless of opposition from dozens of group members, Atlanta leaders on Monday accepted a controversial settlement to deal with Fulton County detainees on the Metropolis Detention Middle.

Driving the information: Metropolis Council members voted 10-4 to approve the settlement to deal with as much as 700 detainees for not more than 4 years. No renewal choices are included within the settlement.

• Council members Keisha Sean Waites, Liliana Bakhtiari, Jason Dozier and Antonio Lewis voted towards the deal.

The proposal, sponsored by Councilmember Michael Julian Bond, requires the county to pay town $50 per detainee per day. Atlanta would even be entitled to 65% of commissary and telephone charges.

• The lease wouldn’t go into impact till a examine of the jail inhabitants is finished by the Justice Coverage Board, which was established in November 2021 by Atlanta and Fulton County.

What they’re saying: Bond famous that inmates have needed to sleep on the ground on the Fulton County jail, and argued they might contemplate overcrowding on the facility to be a “humanitarian disaster.”

• “It truly is time to do one thing to maintain our brothers and sisters and constituents who’re held in horrible circumstances by no fault of their very own,” he mentioned.

The opposite aspect: Utilizing a part of the Metropolis Detention Middle to deal with Fulton County detainees is opposite to Atlanta’s imaginative and prescient to shut the power and remodel it right into a Middle for Diversion and Companies, opponents argued.

• Moki Macias, government director of Atlanta’s Policing Options & Diversion Initiative, which opposes the lease, mentioned the group’s stance is about “whether or not we are able to maintain on to the progress we now have made and take a brand new method to group security and wellness.”
• Greater than 300 individuals who have been arrested within the final six months might have been diverted to PAD to get assist for points like homelessness, psychological well being crises, substance abuse and poverty, she mentioned.
• “You’re already investing in options,” she mentioned. “And there’s extra we are able to do collectively if we keep on the fitting path.”

What we’re watching: The Fulton County Board of Commissioners additionally has to approve the lease settlement, which might occur as early as its assembly on Wednesday