Fulton County commissioners recently voted to move forward with a $1.2 billion overhaul of the county jail — a plan aimed at addressing overcrowding and unsafe conditions but one that has sparked pushback from critics, including Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who argues the county should build an entirely new facility.
At the Aug. 20 meeting, commissioners voted 4-1 to authorize planning for renovations at the Rice Street jail and construction of a new facility intended to serve “vulnerable populations and offset the future need for outsourcing of inmates to out-of-county facilities.” Commissioner Mo Ivory cast the lone “no” vote, while Commissioner Dana Barrett abstained.
Ivory said she opposed the measure because the county has yet to lay out a concrete funding plan. She noted that just last year, commissioners discussed a $300 million jail replacement — a fraction of the current $1.2 billion estimate. “This is what I’ve seen that this county does,” Ivory said. “We do these fake numbers, and we say, ‘let’s move forward based on these fake numbers,’ and then deal with the crisis when the crisis comes — which is why we’re in the crisis that we’re in right now.”
Barrett echoed concerns about the project’s financial feasibility, calling the proposal “fiscally irresponsible.”…