Report: Atlanta losing money on jail

A new corrections audit raises questions whether Atlanta should continue to operate a city jail.

The report released Friday found that the city jail was over budget six of the last seven years —- despite two revenue-generating contracts to house prisoners for Fulton County and two federal agencies. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, the department was about $4 million over budget, the audit found.

Both deals, the audit found, actually cost Atlanta way more money than they generate.

Atlanta houses inmates for Fulton County, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at a rate of $68 per day —- a loss of about $20 a day, the auditors found.

Leslie Ward, Atlanta’s internal auditor, said the city relies far too much on overtime because of chronic absenteeism among jailers. She also found that some space inside the jail isn’t properly used.

“I’m starting to wonder why we are in the jail business,” Ward said.

So, too, does Councilman H. Lamar Willis.

“We’re dealing in desperate times,” said Willis, a criminal defense attorney. He also questioned whether the city should operate a jail. “We should at least be having these discussions.”

In the last 12 months, the city has closed one fire station and temporarily closed another, ordered furloughs for police officers and cut other services to plug several revenue gaps, which the city blames on the ongoing economic recession.

The city budgeted $38.5 million for the 12-month period that ends June 30 for its corrections department.

Willis said he’s had discussions with Corrections Chief Frank Sizer about selling the jail or outsourcing. The councilman suggested the city could work out an arrangement with Fulton County, which is under federal court order to reduce overcrowding and improve its own jail. Sizer could not be reached for comment Friday.

About 1,044 inmates are housed in the Atlanta jail every day, two-thirds of them federal or Fulton County inmates, the audit found.

“We need a holding cell, not a full-blown jail,” Willis said.

Corrections Sgt. Ellis Williams, a leader of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unit that represents corrections officials, criticized the audit, saying it was “willfully, deliberately and intentionally done” to encourage city leaders to close the jail.

Auditors recommended the city renegotiate the contracts with Fulton and the federal government. The daily charge was last changed in 2005. Ward and her staff also want the city to stop segregating federal inmates, saying it wastes some space in the jail.

City corrections officials have agreed to the contract renegotiation and said they will consider portions of other audit recommendations, including not separating inmates by jurisdiction. Auditors said the department’s decision last year to make officers work 12-hour shifts has reduced overtime. Williams, however, said it has hurt employee morale and threatens their safety.