Fulton sheriff plans to turn away some misdemeanor arrestees from jail
Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat says he will stop accepting people arrested on low-level misdemeanor charges into the Fulton County Jail starting on July 1, citing ongoing concerns about deterioration of the troubled facility and overcrowding within it.
There will be exceptions, he said, including cases of domestic violence, sexual assault and “aggravated misdemeanor circumstances.”
It is unclear to what extent the policy change would improve conditions within the Rice Street jail — which were described as “abhorrent” and unconstitutional in a scathing report by the Department of Justice released in late 2024.
Labat’s office did not respond to questions or multiple requests for comment from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
County officials said 200 to 300 inmates typically are held solely on misdemeanors within the county’s entire jail system, which includes facilities other than the Rice Street jail. As of February, the total countywide population was nearly 3,000 people.
However, many of those accused solely of misdemeanors would not qualify for the new policy because of the seriousness of the allegations they face, according to Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who co-chairs a justice board that seeks alternatives to incarceration in metro Atlanta.
“Will this cause the jail population to drop by 30%? It will not,” McBurney added. “But that’s not the purpose of doing it.”
But McBurney said the new policy could help free up time for jail staff, which has been a major issue of the jail’s deplorable conditions.
“There will be fewer book-ins,” McBurney said. “There will be less of the in-and-out process that takes up time and is itself a security issue for any sheriff.”
Security issues in the jail have been top of mind amid a staffing crisis so bad that a court-ordered cap on the county’s jail population might be necessary to ensure safe operations, according to a federal monitor evaluating the progress of a legal agreement to improve jailhouse conditions.
McBurney said the sheriff’s new policy “ought to significantly boost” police officers’ use of the Center for Diversion & Services for minor offenses in lieu of incarceration.
He added that the number of people facing solely misdemeanors who are in jail for more than 30 days is very low.
“Misdemeanants do not make up a large percentage of the long-term jail population (because their stays are brief) but they certainly tie up booking and short-term housing resources,” he added.
Some Fulton officials have criticized the Atlanta Police Department for taking too few people who qualify to the city’s diversion center.
The APD declined to comment on Labat’s announcement.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said: “We are reviewing what Fulton County’s decision may mean for the city and its operations.”
A Tuesday news release making the announcement said Labat sought a legal opinion in October from the county attorney’s office “regarding the sheriff’s authority and responsibility relative to the intake of misdemeanor arrestees” into the jail.
He received the requested opinion on May 13, and then “resumed discussions with police chiefs, other law enforcement partners, mayors, and Fulton County justice partners to better understand the overall impact on their daily operations and our communities any changes would cause,” the news release says.
Last week, the county’s Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution, sponsored by Chairman Robb Pitts, asking Labat to decline bookings for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses, such as marijuana possession, urban camping and public drunkenness “where appropriate and consistent with public safety.”
Without proactive measures, the expected influx of as many as 300,000 visitors to Atlanta for the FIFA World Cup matches in June and July could lead to more arrests than usual for low-level offenses, the resolution says.
This could “exacerbate jail overcrowding, heighten safety risks for detained individuals and staff, increase county liability and divert limited resources away from serious public safety priorities,” it adds.
In an interview Wednesday, Pitts said he was pleased with the sheriff’s announcement but wished the new policy would take effect in mid-June, when the World Cup matches start, instead of in July.
“I’m sure he had a reason for that but I want to ask him if we can move it back,” Pitts said.
Advocates for alternatives to incarceration applauded the sheriff’s announcement on Wednesday.
“Keeping individuals with low-level charges out of Fulton County Jail will quite literally save lives,” said Moki Macias, executive director of the Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative, known as PAD, in a statement.
The sheriff’s office press release said that a town hall meeting will be held on the new policy before July 1.
It did not provide a date or a location.
About the Author
Reed Williams is an enterprise reporter on the Local team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
