Judge hopes to slash Fulton jail population

The Associated Press

Fulton County’s top judge is proposing to slash the population of the county’s beleaguered jail by creating an emergency court to reduce the jail population by 1,300 inmates.

Chief Superior Court Judge Doris Downs said Tuesday her plan would reduce the jail population from 2,606 inmates to 1,200 by July 2010.

The county is facing stiff budget cuts that could force judicial leaders to cut as much as $55 million — or 25 percent — from their spending plans.

The cuts would have a particularly sharp impact on the county jail, which is under a 2006 federal consent decree to improve understaffed and overcrowded conditions.

The Fulton County Commission is set to consider the proposal Wednesday.