Fulton commissioners have signed off on a new deal that should get inmates off the floor at the Rice Street jail, a situation that put the county in hot water with a federal judge.
Under an agreement approved Wednesday, the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail in Union City will house up to 200 Fulton inmates for $48.75 per inmate per day, or $50 per inmate per day if the monthly population is less than 200.
But the county is only buying time. Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob still expects a report by Dec. 1 on how the commissioners plan to add thousands more jail beds in the coming years, and his threat stands to hold them in contempt if they don't come up with a solution.
"Outsourcing is a temporary solution," Shoob's jail monitor, Calvin Lightfoot, said. "It's been a temporary solution for five years now."
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said in an email that the problem is incoming inmates can't be sent to outside jails until they've been through medical screening, which can take two days. Many have medical issues that require lower bunks, and if none are available they sleep on the floor in a plastic cradle with a mattress and bedding, referred to as a boat.
The deal with the regional jail should put a stop to that, she said. The sheriff's office will start sending detainees there at the end of the month.
Shoob is enforcing the county's compliance with a 2006 consent order stemming from a lawsuit that documented filthy, dangerous and overcrowded conditions in the Rice Street jail. After hearing of inmates still sleeping on floors, the judge threatened to lock up commissioners if they didn't buy the Atlanta city jail.
After the city more than doubled its asking price, Shoob told the county to look for other options and find a way to ease overcrowding until more cells can be built. He wrote in an order issued Monday that Atlanta's offer to lease space in its jail for $104 per inmate per day is "unreasonable," though negotiations are ongoing.
The Rice Street jail holds 2,500, and studies estimate Fulton will need about 4,300 beds by 2016 and 5,000 by 2026.
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