I believe that the city should shutter the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC). The ACDC, or city jail, is almost entirely empty, expensive to run, and in need of millions of dollars of repairs. Instead of spending millions of dollars a year on an empty building, we should redirect these funds to invest in programs that improve community safety and help poor people get jobs and get back on their feet.
This is an opportunity to rethink what is possible on the south side of downtown, while at the same time improving public safety and providing assistance to the most in need.
The ACDC is a massive, 1300-bed -- almost entirely empty -- relic that was designed and built prior to the 1996 Olympic games. There are no people who committed felonies housed in the ACDC (and there hasn’t been for decades). All the people who commit violent crimes are housed at the county jail. The ACDC is used to process misdemeanor offenders, the most common being for things like driving without insurance, driving with a suspended license, or other low-level offenses such as possession of a small amount of marijuana. The average number of people in the ACDC on any particular night is about 60 (out of 1,300 beds), and virtually all of these people are out the next morning.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Fulton County has proposed to enter into an arrangement to buy or rent space in the ACDC to help them with their overcrowding problem. Fulton County does indeed have a problem, but that problem can be solved in many ways that have nothing to do with the ACDC.
First, only 30% of the jail population in Fulton County is from the city of Atlanta – most of their population is from elsewhere. Secondly, the Fulton County court system is slow and backlogged, so the county jail has to house people for extended periods of time who are just awaiting their day in court. If this administrative problem would be fixed, the prison population would go down. Third, Fulton County could engage in one of many other possible solutions to manage their population better that have nothing to do with the ACDC (increasing capacity, working with neighboring counties, etc.). Fulton County’s mismanagement, and years of poor planning and a lack of investing in facilities, have nothing to do with the ACDC or the city of Atlanta.
Closing an empty building will not have a negative effect on crime in our city. In fact, by redirecting funds from running an empty building to community service programs, the city will be investing in programs that will reduce crime. More of our citizens will be employed, housed and paying taxes. Additionally, we will have more money to hire police officers and deploy technology (and other strategies) to attack crime and pursue and arrest violent offenders. Murders are up significantly in Atlanta (as they are in every major city in the country), and we need to re-deploy resources to where they are most needed.
All that being said, the city of Atlanta is still going to need a place to process arrests and house misdemeanor offenders for the few days that they might have to serve. The city is exploring several significantly less costly options, including retrofitting buildings. Regardless of what option is decided upon, the city does not need anywhere near the current 1,300-bed capacity that exists at the ACDC.
Lastly, the south side of downtown is a tremendous opportunity for development. It’s near the intersection of I-20 and the Connector, adjacent to the Gulch development and just minutes from the airport. This part of our city has been dominated by an empty jail, bail-bond storefronts and empty surface parking lots. Acres upon acres of land are vacant (next to an Opportunity Zone) that are adjacent to our government service buildings, Grady Hospital, Georgia State University, our arenas and stadiums and our downtown office space.
Other major cities have seen explosive growth in their downtown central business districts (such as Dallas) because they do not have a (empty) jail sitting in the middle of it that discourages development.
The closing of the jail represents an exciting opportunity to save money, invest in community safety, help our citizens, and rethink this overlooked part of our state capitol the way that Atlantans, since our founding, have always rethought, and rebuilt our city.
William McGahan is founder, Georgia Works and Housing Tonight Inc., and co-chair of Atlanta’s Task Force to Repurpose the Atlanta City Detention Center.
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