Fulton County looking to acquire Atlanta’s jail; city says it’s not for sale

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Fulton County leaders are looking to leverage state support to acquire the Atlanta City Detention Center.

“Having control of that facility and manage our (jail) population, or rather, have our sheriff manage our population, is really important,” said Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett.

On Wednesday, Fulton County Commissioners identified the acquisition of the Atlanta City Detention Center as a top priority for the upcoming legislative session.

The 2025 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly convenes on Jan. 13.

“There is considerable interest at the state, by whatever means necessary, to force the city to give or sell that jail to us. That’s going to be a topic of discussion sooner rather than later. How they can and whether they can or cannot, I don’t know, but it’s certainly a hot topic over there (at the state legislature,)” Robb Pitts, Fulton County Board of Commissioners chairman, said.

It’s unclear what role the state could legally play in potentially forcing Atlanta to give up management of its facility.

On Monday, a spokesperson for Mayor Andre Dickens said the City of Atlanta is not interested in selling the city jail to Fulton County.

“We have no plans of selling (Atlanta City Detention Center) and the City of Atlanta encourages Fulton County leadership to explore alternatives to alleviate this humanitarian crisis,” said Michael Smith, press secretary.

Currently, the city is leasing 700 beds to Fulton County at ACDC.

As of last week, the county was using 425 of those beds.

“The city provided relief for county inmates via ACDC because it was the right thing to do and the county still has unused beds at their disposal,” Smith said.

On Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said she supports the county acquiring the city’s jail in an effort to improve issues plaguing the Fulton County Jail.

“The commissioners should do what’s right and they should build a jail that’s appropriate for Fulton County, but in between time, yes, absolutely the detention center would be helpful,” Willis said.

On Monday, the ACLU of Georgia said they do not support the county acquiring ACDC.

“The county should not acquire ACDC and the county should continue implementing the reforms we’ve listed in our previous two reports on the jail. Because we’ve seen a real impact on the numbers and we think they can keep going,” said Fallon McClure, deputy director for policy and advocacy at the ACLU of Georgia.

McClure said the issues plaguing the Fulton County Jail cannot be fixed with adding more jail beds.

“It’s just not the answer to have more beds. That’s never going to be the answer. And we have to look at more holistic solutions to make that sure everyone in our community can thrive and survive and that it makes our community safer when folks have access to recourses,” said McClure.

Barrett said ACDC is structured using direct supervision of its residents and the Fulton County Jail uses indirect supervision.

She said it’s that crucial difference in setup that makes ACDC such an attractive addition.

“Rice Street was built for half the people that are there and it was built as an indirect supervision model, which is what people are doing at the time,” said Barrett.

Barrett said the county does not have an alternative option if the city does not expand the county’s access at ACDC.

“If they don’t give us that building or transfer us that building or sell it in some way, we’re going to have to build some other building,” said Barrett, who said taxpayers would be on the hook for those costs.

Barrett argued acquiring ACDC would allow the city and county’s taxpayer dollars to be used most efficiently.