Federal judge gives Fulton sheriff 30 days to explain jail housing

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A federal judge ordered Fulton County Sheriff Ted Jackson to report to him within 30 days why he has “opted to spend millions of dollars” housing inmates in other counties rather than find room for them in the  county  jail in northwest Atlanta.

U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob’s order, which was signed Thursday, made clear his impatience with Fulton County’s progress remedying problems at the center of a lawsuit filed in 2004 and settled with a consent order in 2006.

“After more than three-and-a-half years of efforts to achieve compliance with the consent order in this case, the sheriff has failed to adequately address the central problem facing the Fulton County Jail: overpopulation,” Shoob wrote. “For years, the number of inmates has exceeded the number of available beds at the Rice Street facility. Rather than addressing this problem head-on, the sheriff has opted to spend millions of dollars housing inmates at other jails.”

While several problems were detailed in the lawsuit, crowding was the core issue. Overcrowding taxes plumbing and electrical systems, stretches and endangers staff and causes delays in releases of inmates which in turn only makes crowding worse.

The consent order caps the jail's population at  2,250 but that number drops accordingly as sections of the facility are closed for renovation. The seventh floor, which holds 408 men, is closed.

Today there are 1,950 inmates at the jail.

To make room for the workers, and to reduce the population,  about 600 Fulton County inmates are in other jails, costing the county $27,000 to $28,000 a day. Fulton has budgeted $12 million for outsourcing inmates this year.

“This outsourcing of inmates is not a viable solution to the population problem,” Shoob wrote in his order. “It is unfair to the taxpayers of Fulton County, who are required to pay the exorbitant costs of outsourcing because their elected officials have failed to plan for adequate jail space. … It is the sheriff’s obligation, as the elected official directly responsible for jail, to take the lead in attacking this problem.”

The county on Wednesday called for a study to determine if buying the under-used Atlanta  Detention Center would be an option. That report is due in 60 days.

Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves said the demands of the order “is for the sheriff to respond to but we, the county, have done as much as we can in terms of infrastructure improvements to the jail. And No. 2, we are engaging in conversations right now with Atlanta about the possibility of acquiring the jail.”

This has been a topic several times before but either the city or the county was not interested in a sale at various times. This time the city jail is no longer holding federal inmates and there are fewer city violators there as well.

Jackson said the Atlanta jail “is a potential option [for addressing] overcrowding.”

Shoob said he wants the sheriff to explain “in detail the steps he is taking to eliminate inmate outsourcing and provide adequate space for all Fulton County inmates in the Fulton County Jail.”

The lawsuit against the Fulton jail was filed in 2004, when Jackie Barrett was sheriff and responsible for the lock up. A consent order was signed in February 2006, when Myron Freeman was sheriff. The order sets a population cap, minimum staffing levels and requires some $60 million in renovations, which started in April 2007.

The jail has always been in violation of at least one, but often several, aspect of the agreement since the order was signed. This is the first time the judge has criticized Jackson publicly. Freeman, who left office Dec. 31, was frequently a target for the judge's anger.

Recently there have been at least two reports and Shoob said he wanted Jackson to include his responses to them in his explanation due next month.

The county attorney commissioned a  study to determine if there should be more assessments on benefits of the county buying Atlanta's jail.

And earlier this year,  a proposal for managing the jail complex was developed and Shoob said he also wanted Jackson to comment to that report.