In the summer of 2022, members of the Atlanta City Council and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners pursued an intergovernmental agreement allowing for the lease of Atlanta’s City Detention Center to the Fulton County Sheriff. The lease was intended to be a solution to the overcrowding at the Fulton County Jail. Their conversations centered on the gross inhumane conditions at the jail. But little was said by elected officials about the gross inhumane policies that created overcrowding in the first place.
A coalition of community stakeholders and advocates, including Color Of Change and the Southern Center for Human Rights, warned elected officials that their proposed remedy was myopic, stale, and ineffective. We cautioned elected officials, that the jail was not overcrowded because the facility was too small, but because the Fulton County processes were too inefficient and slow, trapping hundreds inside of its walls. Leasing more space at another jail, they forewarned, was a “band-aid” that would provide no immediate relief, protection, or safety for people navigating the county’s legal system. We suggested that public officials should push system actors to work towards decarcerating the county jail through a combination of more efficient charging processes and bond considerations that would have both immediate and lasting impact.
Councilpersons and commissioners barely feigned interest in the option, agreeing to the legislation approving the lease in August 2022, and its failures were immediately obvious. On September 13th, 2022, LaShawn Thompson – a 35-year-old man – was found dead in his Fulton County Jail cell, eaten alive by bugs and forgotten by medical staff. Thompson’s case is tragic and sadly for people incarcerated in Fulton County it is not entirely unique, as the Fulton County Jail system has taken 10 lives this year. But there is a path forward that can save lives in Atlanta today.
That path is decarceration – an organized and systematic way to safely release people incarcerated pre-trial while awaiting their day in court. Decreasing the jail population will alleviate the strain on a jail system that is holding almost double its designed capacity. The only reason this many people are being held is because they cannot afford high bonds. They are there for economic, not legal, reasons. Fulton County is a national outlier when it comes to the jail crisis. Most urban jurisdictions do not have a felony case backlog of 11,000 cases and 10 deaths a year. The closest comparison would be Dallas, which has a backlog of 35,000 cases. But Dallas is more than double the size of Fulton County, has fewer jail deaths, and unlike Fani Willis, Dallas’ District Attorney handles misdemeanors AND felonies. We know that the maltreatment of incarcerated people is a national problem, but Fulton County has become a leader on this issue.
Color Of Change and the Southern Center for Human Rights have continued to point to decarceration as the single most powerful tool for change in Atlanta – and it seems like District Attorney Willis has begun to listen. Since August of this year – when five people died in the jail in a single month – we have seen a jail population reduction of more than 500 people. And most importantly, we have not seen anyone else die. This reduction is a clear sign that decarceration is both possible and effective and that if this continues, lives will be saved and the county will experience financial relief. According to our sources, it seems that these reduced numbers can be attributed to a process between District Attorney Willis and the Public Defender where bonds are being reduced and cases are being resolved or dismissed. This is exactly the direction we have been demanding of District Attorney Willis for months, and we are encouraged by this progress as we continue to demand further action.
The continuation of this positive trend rests almost squarely on District Attorney Willis’ shoulders. She must continue the efforts that advocates have long asked for and have proven more effective than legislative efforts by public officials in saving lives and giving accused persons their day in court. District Attorney Willis and other system actors must resist the temptation to fall back into the failed policies of more jails and more cages, as a hallmark solution to absolving jail deaths, namely the county’s proposed new $2 billion jail. Not only is that a shocking price tag for a new facility, but a new jail could take years to get approval and finish construction. The people awaiting relief in Fulton County do not have days to wait for a new facility, let alone years.
Decarcerating Fulton County will continue to be the foundation of our work to change the conditions experienced by incarcerated people in Atlanta, and a pillar of our national advocacy to change oppressive cycles of incarceration. We are encouraged by District Attorney Willis and other local decision-makers for beginning this process, but a true commitment to fairness and justice requires much more. In addition to reducing the county jail population, District Attorney Willis must dramatically decrease the usage of cash bonds and clear the case backlog in a timely manner. There is so much more work to be done, and we look forward to a future in Atlanta that puts first the humanity of all people, including those in the Fulton County jail system.
Michael Collins is the Senior Director for State and Local Government Affairs at Color Of Change. Michael lives and works in Atlanta, and was previously Policy Director for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney.
Devin Franklin is Movement Policy Counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights, and is based in Mableton, GA. Prior to joining SCHR, Devin was a Senior Assistant Public Defender at the Office of the Circuit Public Defender-Atlanta Judicial Circuit for over 12 years.
The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to Collins and Franklin and not necessarily those of The Atlanta Voice.
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