Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta

Atlanta council committee to discuss future of city jail

The city of Atlanta and some activists want to transform the near-empty city jail into an "Equity Center." Photo by Bill Torpy

Credit: Bill Torpy

Credit: Bill Torpy

The city of Atlanta and some activists want to transform the near-empty city jail into an "Equity Center." Photo by Bill Torpy
By Stephen Deere
March 4, 2021

The Atlanta City Council’s Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee will discuss plans to raze the city’s jail and repurpose the property at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

The committee will host a virtual work session to ask officials from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms administration about the mayor’s effort to demolish the jail and create a Center for Equity — a recommendation that came last summer from a task force that Bottoms established.

Not everyone on the council agrees on the fate of the city’s 1,300-bed detention center, whose average daily population can dip below 50 inmates. At Monday’s city council meeting, members introduced competing legislation involving the jail.

One proposal would have the facility demolished within the next 15 months. The other would explore the possibility of selling it to Fulton County to help ease overcrowding.

The meeting will be streamed on the Atlanta City Council website.

About the Author

Stephen Deere covers Atlanta City Hall and Atlanta government.

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