Atlanta City Jail Sale to Fulton County: Council Votes 8-7

The Atlanta City Council voted 8-7 on Oct. 19 to move ahead with selling the city’s downtown jail to Fulton County for $68 million, a narrow win for Mayor Andre Dickens after three hours of debate and loud opposition from advocates who wanted the building turned into something other than more jail space.

The vote authorizes Dickens to negotiate the transfer of the Atlanta City Detention Center to the county, which has struggled for years with crowding, violence and federal oversight at its main jail on Rice Street, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. A final agreement still has to come back to the full council.

“It’s a perfect solution to a problem that we have,” Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said, according to WSB-TV.

How the council voted

Seven council members voted no: Michael Julian Bond, Byron Amos, Jason Dozier, Eshe Collins, Liliana Bakhtiari, Kelsea Bond and Antonio Lewis, FOX 5 Atlanta reported. Michael Julian Bond tried a parliamentary move to push the vote to the next meeting and was outvoted, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“I think we need to do something bigger and better than this,” Michael Julian Bond said, according to the AJC.

What the deal includes

The 17-story detention center on Peachtree Street near Memorial Drive opened in 1995. It covers about 471,000 square feet and was built out to 1,300 beds two years later, according to the city. Fulton County has leased beds there for nearly four years, the AJC reported. That lease expires Dec. 8, CBS News Atlanta reported.

Under the plan, the city would keep space on the building’s fourth floor for its own detainees, room for up to 202 people, under a lease of up to 50 years at $1 a year, FOX 5 Atlanta and the AJC reported. The city usually holds between 60 and more than 180 municipal detainees; there were 84 on Monday, Corrections Chief Elder Dancy said, according to the AJC. The city would still pay for their food and medical care.

The price

The sale price moved around before both sides settled. The city first asked $80 million, citing a $144.6 million appraisal. Fulton offered $56.5 million in August. The city countered at $68 million on Aug. 31, Fulton agreed in early September and Dickens accepted on Sept. 8, according to CBS News Atlanta.

“This is an example of what can be accomplished when local governments work together,” Dickens said in September, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

The city spends about $30 million a year running its corrections operation. The city estimates it could save up to $20 million a year, the AJC reported. City Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla recommended putting the one-time proceeds into Dickens’ Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, using “one-time proceeds for long-term investment and recurring savings for recurring priorities,” WABE reported. He also noted that Fulton’s alternative is a new jail estimated at $1.3 billion.

Why Fulton wants it

Fulton County has been under pressure over its Rice Street jail for years. LaShawn Thompson, 35, died there in September 2022 in a bedbug-infested cell in the psychiatric wing. The U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation in July 2023 and in November 2024 reported a “crisis of violence” and “a pattern or practice of using excessive force.” The county entered a consent decree with the department in January 2025, The Associated Press reported.

Staffing has been a persistent problem. A court-appointed monitor wrote in February that “a court-ordered population cap aligned with available staffing levels may become necessary,” the AJC reported.

Sheriff Pat Labat has said current conditions force the county to “warehouse people,” Atlanta News First reported.

Pitts said “the overwhelming majority of our detainees are in fact residents of the city of Atlanta,” WSB-TV reported.

The opposition

Criminal justice advocates argued the county needs fewer people in jail, not more beds. “More jail beds is not going to be a solution to the crisis in Fulton County,” said Michael Collins of Play Fair ATL, according to the AJC. Tiffany Roberts of the Southern Center for Human Rights called the plan “rushed” and “haphazard.”

Advocates have pushed for years to turn the building into a community resource center, an idea Dickens backed when he was a council member, the AJC reported.

On the day of the vote, the Southern Center for Human Rights sued the city’s chief financial officer in Fulton County Superior Court under Georgia’s Open Records Act, seeking the records behind the savings estimate, the AJC reported.

How it got here

Aug. 31: The city counters Fulton’s $56.5 million offer at $68 million.
Sept. 8: Dickens accepts Fulton’s agreement to pay $68 million.
Sept. 28: The council’s Public Safety Committee approves the plan 4-2, WABE reported.
Sept. 30: The Finance Committee holds the measure for at least two weeks, Atlanta News First reported.
Oct. 19: The full council approves 8-7.

Members of the Finance Committee pressed for details when they paused the measure. “What are staffing levels for each floor?” asked council member Jason Winston, according to Atlanta News First. Council member Wayne Martin said the county jail’s problems “were 30 or so years in the making.” Martin ultimately voted for the sale, the AJC reported.

What happens next

Monday’s vote lets Dickens negotiate. An intergovernmental agreement still has to come back to the full council, according to the AJC and FOX 5 Atlanta. Unresolved questions include office space for city staff who work in the building, what happens to city corrections employees, how the savings will be spent and how the deal fits with the federal consent decree.

Fulton’s current lease on the building runs out Dec. 8, according to CBS News Atlanta.