Atlanta officials say they are awaiting an official response to their proposal about leasing jail beds to Fulton County, where leaders have said they need more beds to accommodate inmates.
City and county elected officials met virtually Thursday to continue negotiations over leasing beds to alleviate inhumane conditions at the Fulton County Jail on Rice Street.
“Unfortunately we’ve received no formal response on the proposed partnership, unfortunately no proposed edits and unfortunately no proposed areas of compromise,” said Jestin Johnson, deputy chief operating officer for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.
The city passed a resolution to create a joint committee to make recommendations on the overcrowding issue if the city and county can’t reach a consensus by May 31, which seems unlikely.
Fulton’s jail was over-capacity Thursday, with 267 inmates sleeping on makeshift beds on the floors of common areas.
Bottoms offered to lease 150 of its 1,300 beds at the mostly empty Atlanta City Detention Center. Her stipulation is that the inmates be housed as part of a re-entry program, according to a memo from late April. The mayor also wants the inmates to be within six months of completing their sentence and be given access to housing and jobs along with other services.
But Fulton Sheriff Patrick Labat said Thursday only 10 of Fulton’s nearly 3,000 inmates would be eligible.
Labat griped that he hasn’t been looped in, but that was the general theme of the meeting: City council members and commissioners aren’t happy that the negotiations are just between Bottoms and Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts.
C. Elisia Frazier, Atlanta’s deputy city attorney, suggested that council members not negotiate in public during Thursday’s meeting. City councilman Michael Julian Bond rebuffed, saying they didn’t have to follow her advice.
Credit: WSBTV Videos
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