Public speakers and advocates press Atlanta City Council over ACDC lease, jail conditions and planned county jail

Dozens of residents, advocates and criminal justice experts pressed the Atlanta City Council on Oct. 20 over the city’s 2022 decision to lease the Atlanta City Detention Center (ACDC) to Fulton County and ongoing problems at the county jail system.

The concerns centered on deaths in custody, reports of people sleeping on floors, understaffing at Fulton County facilities and the effect of the ACDC lease on where people are housed. Speakers said the lease has not achieved promised improvements and that the county still operates overcrowded, dangerous facilities.

Why it matters: Witnesses argued the lease and related county decisions have real public-safety and human-rights consequences — including deaths in custody that, they said, continued after the lease took effect. Several speakers asked the council to press for a concrete plan and timelines tied to corrective commitments from Fulton County.

Details from the meeting

- Devin Franklin, senior policy counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights,…