Fulton County approves massive Rice Street jail renovation plan
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The Fulton County Jail in 2023. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Fulton County's commissioners are embarking on a long-range plan to improve its troubled jail and build a new facility to house vulnerable detainees.
Why it matters: Wednesday's decision by the county, which is under a federal consent decree to improve poor conditions at the main jail known as Rice Street, is the latest in a series of initiatives and plans put forth over the years to solve its myriad problems.
The latest: Commissioners approved a proposal to build a special-purpose facility and make major improvements to Rice Street for $1.1 billion.
- The special facility will include medical and other care services required for detainees with mental health and substance abuse issues.
- Construction costs are estimated at $536 million for the new facility, which is expected to take four to five years to complete. Fulton then plans to start extensive work on Rice Street, estimated at $552 million.
By the numbers: Sharon Whitmore, Fulton's chief financial officer, said the county could fund the project using revenue from tax allocation districts over the next 20 years.
- The plan also counts on savings from expected reductions in pension fund contributions.
Caveat: The proposal is also based upon Fulton County being able to outsource 741 detainees to other facilities while Rice Street undergoes renovations.
- The county in 2022 entered into a lease agreement with the city of Atlanta to house up to 700 detainees at the City Detention Center.
- That lease expires next year, and a city council resolution introduced in March calls for the withdrawal of detainees from the space.
What they're saying: Commissioner Bob Ellis, who voted in favor of the proposal, said at Wednesday's meeting the county has reached "what appears to be a very sound recommendation."
- "I think this is the very fiscally responsible approach that puts us in position to hopefully hold the millage rate flat while also not financially exhausting us," he said.
The other side: Several community members, as well as two other county commissioners, took issue with the proposal.
- Tiffany Roberts, public policy director at the Southern Center for Human Rights, said the county keeps "repeating the same pattern of investing in buildings," despite being unable to respond to the needs of people who've died in those facilities.
- Commissioner Mo Ivory, the lone dissenter, said she couldn't understand how Fulton could approve a project so large based on what will or won't happen financially for the county.
Catch up quick: Fulton County in early January entered into a consent decree to improve conditions at Rice Street, which were identified by U.S. Department of Justice investigators following a civil rights investigation.
- The feds opened an investigation after Lashawn Thompson, a detainee with mental illness, was found dead and covered in bug bites inside a cell in September 2022.
Context: Infrastructure, overcrowding and understaffing have been long-running problems at the main jail, which opened in 1989.
What's next: Steve Nawrocki, Fulton's director of justice systems programs, said the county will continue fine-tuning the plan.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Fulton County's funding plan will rely in part on reduced pension plan contributions (and not also on a property tax rate increase).