Fulton County commissioners are back to Square One in the debate over whether to build a $1.7 billion new facility or renovate the existing jail. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating conditions inside the jail, which has been plagued by inmate deaths, violence and problems with health care. Meanwhile, a new coalition is suggesting renovation, and reducing the inmate population with fewer arrests and quicker release of eligible inmates. Here are five things to know about the Fulton County Jail on Rice Street.
Where is it?
In Atlanta at 901 Rice St. NW, just west of the Georgia Tech campus and north of Bankhead.
When did it open?
1989
Who is in Charge?
Sheriff Patrick Labat, who is up for reelection in November. Atlanta’s former Corrections Department chief, Labat defeated then-Fulton Sheriff Ted Jackson in a runoff election in 2020. Labat is an Atlanta native and Clark Atlanta University graduate who began his career as a detention officer in 1988.
Population
Fulton’s jail has capacity for 2,254 inmates and now holds 1,575, with 911 held at other facilities, according to the sheriff’s office. The number of inmates in Rice Street is down from 3,221 in April 2023.
Inmate deaths
More than 60 people who were held in Fulton’s jail died between 2009 and October 2022, the highest total for any jail in Georgia during that time, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation. The DOJ launched a civil rights investigation of conditions at the jail in 2023, a year in which 10 more inmates died in county custody. As of April 10, three more inmates have died this year.
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