Criminal justice reform advocates are applauding Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat’s move to limit the number of people booked into the Rice Street Jail.
Why it matters: The agency has been in a long-running fight to address crowding and crumbling infrastructure at Rice Street.
- The jail has been plagued with violent assaults, deaths and deteriorating conditions that prompted a federal investigation and a subsequent consent decree.
The latest: Starting Wednesday, July 1, the agency will no longer accept people charged with misdemeanors unless those cases involve sexual assault, domestic violence and “aggravated misdemeanor circumstances” (when someone is classified as a repeat offender of certain crimes).
What they’re saying: Devin Barrington-Ward, founder of Black Futurist Group, an organization that advocates for social justice reforms, said he and other activists have for years “warned that flooding the jail with people accused of low-level offenses was making the overcrowded situation worse.”…