老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia Report 鈥 Fulton County Can Reduce Jail Population Without Building New Jail

December 13, 2023 12:00 pm

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ATLANTA鈥擜 second consecutive analysis of the overcrowding and conditions within Fulton County鈥檚 jail system by the 老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia shows the issues still persist after decades of failed solutions.

The analysis鈥斺Breaking the Cycle: Exploring Alternatives to a New Jail鈥濃攊s based on data provided by the Sheriff鈥檚 Office regarding people detained by the County on Oct. 26, 2023. On this day, Fulton County held 3,014 people in custody, which is down from more than 3,500 individuals that were in custody when we evaluated the County jails last year. While strides have been made to reduce the overcrowding, we have determined that further efforts are required on the part of the County to prove the need for extra jail space.

鈥淔ulton County should reject spending billions on a new jail when there is still work to be done to ensure we are not engaging in wealth-based detention and over incarceration. Fulton County鈥檚 history shows we cannot build our way out of overcrowding, and the 老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia recommends Fulton County leaders let state law and evidence-based scholarship be our touchstone to reduce the overcrowding at Rice Street before considering any new jail building,鈥 said 老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia Deputy Director of Policy and Advocacy Fallon McClure.

Before entertaining the idea of a new $2 billion jail, the County should implement the 老澳门开奖结果 of Georgia鈥檚 following recommendations:

  • Stop incarcerating people simply because they cannot afford their bond and set bonds much earlier in the court process;
  • Indict individuals within 90 days as required by Georgia law;
  • Ensure that the Atlanta Police Department institutes mandatory citation or diversion practices, instead of arrests, for any city ordinance violation or divertible offense;
  • Allow the County Sheriff to set a standing release order prioritizing certain groups for release when the jail population meets a certain threshold; and
  • Support the recommendations from the 2023 grand jury panel which was responsible for the annual review of the Fulton County jail.

A copy of the report, "Breaking the Cycle: Exploring Alternatives to a New Jail", can be found here:

A copy of last year鈥檚 report, "There Are Better Solutions: An Analysis of Fulton County鈥檚 Jail Population Data, 2022", can be found here: