Critics blast violent conditions at Fulton County jail

Georgia’s state prisons and Fulton County’s jail took center stage Friday before legislative committees tasked with making recommendations on how to deal with troubles arising from overcrowded and outdated detention facilities.

The Georgia Senate’s Department of Corrections Facilities Study Committee held its first hearing this month when it heard from the state’s top agency officials about the challenges of running a large prison system where severe understaffing, deteriorating buildings, smuggling of contraband have led to more violence among inmates, correctional officers and other prison staff.

State corrections officials told lawmakers at the Friday hearing the agency needs to upgrade aging prisons with more one-bed cells to resolve a typical underlying cause of violent attacks between inmates.

They also discussed the need to eliminate a complex system of drones that deliver cell phones and other illegal contraband to inmates and stop the spread of violent street gangs across the state that have a presence in Georgia prisons.

Department of Corrections Commissioner Tyrone Oliver said that there’s plenty of evidence that there are less violent conflicts amongst inmates who live in single bed cells. He referenced fewer incidents reported at Smith State Prison in Glennville since recently moving more of the population to single-occupancy cells, which makes it easier to manage the tensions that can lead to conflict with a bunkmate, Oliver said.

“When you look at our violence and most of our homicides we have it occurring in double man cells,” Oiver said.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Aug 15 that its analysis of 2024 data uncovered that the Georgia agency that oversees the state’s prisons is on track to have its deadliest year ever, with at least 24 homicides and a total of 156 deaths being reported in the first six months.

A couple of days prior to the prison hearing, federal prosecutors announced criminal indictments against two dozen current and former Georgia inmates accused of operating a network of drones to deliver drugs, cell phones and other contraband into state prisons.

The cost of building a new, state-of-the-art, secure facility can be high if Georgia’s aging prison complexes are to be replaced or renovated. The Department of Corrections reported data from June that the overall population level is approaching pre-pandemic levels with approximately 35,000 state prison inmates and nearly 50,000 inmates across several private prisons, transitional centers, and other corrections department facilities.

Oliver said he’s optimistic safety and other problems will be improved with the ongoing construction for building a about 1,500 beds complex that will be located next to the existing Washington County state prison. The new facility will fill some of the void left by the 2022 closing of the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville.

Several high-ranking Republican state lawmakers have taken a more keen interest over the last several months into the problems plaguing the state prisons system and local jails.

In June, GOP Gov. Brian Kemp announced the state’s partnership with Guidehouse Inc. for a year-long probe of the Georgia corrections department. Republican House Speaker Jon Burns, announced in July a House budget subcommittee that will evaluate the financial commitment needed to make Georgia’s correctional facilities safer and more secure.

In the state Senate, the Department of Corrections study committee is headed by Republican senators John Albers and Randy Robertson, a retired law enforcement officer for the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, both of whom wielded great power in recent years passing criminal justice legislation. The two of them agreed that single bed cells are the safest way to house prison inmates in facilities, especially ones with a high level of serious offenders.

“We have a lot of kumbaya groups when we talk about the safety of single man cells, they nod their heads and say this is the best thing in the world, we love it,” Robertson said. “And then when we tell them in order to build these we have to defund some of these feel-good wraparound programs and redirect the state funding into our Department of Corrections so we can build safe facilities for their neighbors, for their friends, for their families for their loved ones.”

Criminal justice reform advocates such as the Southern Center for Human Rights, the ACLU of Georgia and others have criticized lawmakers in the Republican majority for supporting increased bail bond restrictions and stiffer mandatory criminal penalties. They argue the recent laws are a trend of reversing reforms that emphasize rehabilitation over incarceration championed byr former GOP Gov. Nathan Deal.

Albers and Robertson released a draft report from a Fulton jail subcommittee that gave recommendations on how local officials can improve conditions of the detention center and reform criminal justice system.

Fulton County Jail’s subcommittee released a report highlighting 17 recommendations for improving a system that left too many inmates languishing indefinitely inside the jail.

The subcommittee was formed following a rash of inmate stabbings and the confiscation of a cache of weapons taken from inmates that offer a glimpse into the harrowing conditions inside a west Atlanta jail that is consistently overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded.

Albers said county officials are making progress by reducing Fulton’s overcrowded jail population by about 1,000 people. He credited Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, Fulton prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and other officials with offering programs like night court that expedite the processing of accused offenders.

They described a dysfunctional relationship between Fulton’s law enforcement, the county commission, and criminal justice officials that has hindered the timely processing of people who are detained at the Rice Street jail.

The report recommended that Atlanta officials should transfer control of its detention center over to Fulton so it can be used to protect detainees from potentially unsafe conditions. The report also encouraged Fulton commissioners to consider allocating several hundred million dollars to build a new jail that replaces the outmoded Rice Street facility.

Additionally, it was recommended that the Fulton District Attorney’s Office work with the public defender’s office to expedite the release of people who are arrested on non-violent, non-sexually related criminal charges. The report also suggests that a new jail advisory board be formed, and that the county hire a maintenance crew to tackle the vast repairs at the Rice jail.

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