According to Georgia MPs, cooperation between prison authorities is the best solution to the problems in prisons

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia Senate committee believes greater cooperation among county officials would improve conditions at the Fulton County Jail while calling on the city of Atlanta to give its entire former jail to the county for inmate housing.

The committee was formed last year to investigate conditions at the prison after already overcrowded occupancy rates soared and a series of inmate deaths drew unwanted attention. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation last year into long-standing problems.

The Justice Department cited violence, filthy conditions and the September 2022 death of Lashawn Thompson, one of dozens of people who have died in county custody in recent years. Thompson, 35, died in a bedbug-infested cell in the prison's psychiatric unit.

In August 2023, former President Donald Trump went to Fulton County Jail to register and submit to the first mugshot of a former president after being indicted on charges of attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.

The number of inmates at the main jail has dropped from nearly 2,600 a year ago to just over 1,600 today. The county's overall inmate population has not dropped as much, however, as part of the Atlanta City Detention Center currently houses about 400 inmates daily.

The aim of such investigative committees is usually to draft legislation, but it is not clear whether this will happen in this case.

“Most of the things you'll see in this report are operational things that can be done by people working together and doing things in the normal course of business,” Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman John Albers, a Roswell Republican, told reporters at a news conference. “I think it's a little early to say how we're going to get into the 2025 legislative session.”

Instead, Albers and subcommittee chairman Randy Robertson, a Republican senator from Cataula, called on the Fulton County sheriff, commissioners, district attorney and judges to work more closely together to manage the jail and speed up court proceedings.

Robertson said judges are not hearing enough cases and District Attorney Fani Willis' office is not doing enough to speed up trials. The report also highlighted conflicts between Sheriff Pat Labat and county commissioners, saying their relationship was “fragile, unprofessional and not the behavior citizens should expect.”

Conflicts between sheriffs and county commissioners are not uncommon in Georgia. County commissioners often refuse to spend as much money as the sheriff wants, and county commissioners argue that sheriffs resist controlling spending.

In Fulton County, that conflict centered on Labat's call for a $1.7 billion new jail to replace the dilapidated main jail on Rice Street. On Thursday, Labat said a new building could provide more beds to treat mental and physical illnesses and improve conditions for all inmates. The county needs “a new building that is focused on changing the culture of how we treat people.”

However, county commissioners voted 4-3 in July to approve a $300 million project to renovate the existing jail and build a new building for special-needs inmates. Funding an entirely new jail would likely require a property tax increase, and three county commissioners face re-election this year.

The city decided in 2019 to close its detention center and convert it into an “equity center” with education and reintegration programs. Although the county has tried to purchase the city's jail, it has refused to provide more than the 450 beds that currently house inmates.

Albers said handing over the prison to the county was “certainly part of the right answer.”

“Anyone who thinks this will one day become a community center is, in my opinion, on the wrong track right now,” Albers said. “It was designed and built as a prison.”

However, Labat said he does not expect Atlanta to move its 1,300-bed prison to Fulton County.

“They said it's not for sale,” Labat said. “And that's why I believe the mayor when he says that.”

Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said that in addition to the city jail, more judges and more mental health facilities would be helpful. He said he is willing to work with lawmakers.