A federal judge ordered Fulton County to come up with a plan to gain additional permanent jail space and also to devise a stop-gap measure to ease crowding until more cells can be built.
Judge Marvin Shoob wrote in his order Monday Atlanta's offer to lease bed space in its Municipal Jail to the county for $104 per inmate per day is "unreasonable" and Fulton should consider other options.
Still, Shoob wrote, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Fulton Commission Chairman John Eaves say they are continuing negotiations "aimed at arriving at a fair and reasonable price that would include access to courtrooms in the Municipal Court building."
But should that option continues to be elusive, Shoob said, the county needs to also consider renting beds in the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail in Union City or discuss buying now-closed Metro State Prison in DeKalb County.
Fulton has struggled for years to keep its inmate population under a cap set five years ago to settle a 2004 lawsuit that said the jail was dangerous, dirty and crowded. Initially, the population limit was dropped from 2,500 inmates to 2,250 last spring.
In a meeting with the judge last month, Atlanta COO Peter Aman said the city was interested in selling its underused jail to the county. At the time, the most recent price was $40 million. But within days, the price had doubled to $85 million with other conditions added.
Shoob set a Nov. 1 deadline for the county to report its progress finding additional bed space for now as well as its planning for the 4,544 beds expected to be needed by 2026.
The judge said inmates should not be sleeping on the floor by the time of the first report from the county on Nov. 1.
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