Fulton County commissioners and county leaders announced the approval of a new plan to relieve overcrowding at the Fulton County Jail. County officials recommended moving eligible detainees to other facilities, releasing those incarcerated on low bonds into pre-trial supervision, and reducing the number of people jailed on failure to appear charges by sending text messages to remind defendants of court dates.
Current detainees could be moved to the new Center for Diversion and Services housed in the same building as the Atlanta City Jail. The diversion center is a, separate, 24-hour facility designed as an alternative to jail, offering mental health and, support services with its own dedicated, non-jail entrance.
The jail, locally known as Rice Street came under intense scrutiny on local and national levels for a number of issues related to health and safety issues that lead to the deaths of at least a dozen inmates last year, with six of those deaths have been conclusively murders and another six who died from negligence when officers did not respond to requests for help…