Fulton County officials had sought to have the problem-plagued Rice Street jail removed from under a federal judge’s oversight by the end of the year, but that’s looking unlikely.
The judge’s monitor strongly recommends against it in his most recent quarterly report. Calvin Lightfoot, a Baltimore jail expert, says dangerous conditions persist at the jail, with inadequate staffing and shoddy cell door locks that inmates can pop open at will.
That’s not all of the bad news. The county may have to shell out another $53,000 because it dipped into inmate welfare funds to pay for test locks. Welfare funds come from commissary profits and telephone charges and are supposed to go toward perks for detainees, such as televisions, exercise equipment, library books and educational programs.
Paying for locks is the county’s responsibility, Lightfoot’s report said, and it should repay the fund once it has the money to replace all the locks
The reimbursement would add yet another expense on top of the tens of millions of dollars taxpayers already have spent propping up the antiquated jail facility, which opened 23 years ago and was crowded from day one. Fulton is spending nearly $140 million complying with terms of a 2005 consent decree and likely will spend tens of millions of dollars more replacing locks and adding more bed space.
The consent order stems from a lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates over crowded, filthy and dangerous conditions. With crowding under control now, thanks to speedier court processes and diversion programs, Commission Chairman John Eaves set a goal of ending federal oversight by the end of 2012.
While he hasn’t completely given up on that, Eaves said he’s shooting for something more realistic. He hopes to have a proposal to pay for replacing more than 1,300 substandard locks — estimated to be around $5 million — in front of the commission in November.
“At least the process, hopefully upon approval, will get started,” Eaves said.
While the county is still having trouble covering required jailers’ shifts because of high turnover, much of the holdup in compliance this year has involved the locks. In May, the commission balked at spending $6.5 million on the lock problem, and staffers have since scaled down the cost estimate.
Col. Mark Adger, the chief jailer, defended using inmate welfare funds on test locks.
“It was the quickest way, without having to go through a long, drawn-out procurement,” he said. “The county, because of budget issues, had re-encumbered the discretionary funds that facilities and transportation services use for doing projects like that at the jail. When those discretionary funds were taken away there was no other way to fund the project.”
He ran a contest offering free food and personal hygiene items to anyone who could break out of a cell, and so far no one has.
Adger said better locks will protect inmates from being assaulted by other inmates who can leave their cells when they want.
Lightfoot’s report also recommends adding bed space, possibly adding another building to the jail property.
Consultants from HOK architecture-engineering firm, hired by the county to update jail population projections, said last month that it will likely cost Fulton about $100 million to add space for a total of 3,565 inmates by 2026. Adger has said the county is leaning toward adding onto the jail in increments. Adding 250 to 700 beds in prefabricated buildings is estimated to cost between $15.6 million and $53.8 million.
Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob, who is overseeing the county’s compliance, said Friday that he had not read the latest report and couldn’t comment. Lightfoot also declined to comment.
Some commissioners have questioned Lightfoot’s objectivity, since he has been paid more than $439,000 over the five years he has served as the judge’s jail expert.
Stephen Bright, senior counsel for the Southern Center for Human Rights, defended him.
“The county has no one to blame but itself for these matters not having been corrected by now,” he said. “If Chairman Eaves and the commission want to end the court oversight, they need to hire a sufficient number of corrections officers and fix the locks, and the minute those are, done the court monitor will probably recommend, and the court will probably terminate, the decree.”
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