Fulton County officials report falling jail population, outline facility blitz and maintenance needs

Fulton County commissioners heard an update Feb. 19 on jail population trends, the county's jail improvement ("jail blitz") program and maintenance issues, after public commenters urged the board to pursue decarceration and investigate reports of abuse and recent deaths.

County staff said the county's average monthly jail population fell to about 2,470 in January and remained near that level in mid-February. County strategy office presenter Steve Naraki told commissioners average length of stay dropped from 48 days to 40 days in January, but some clearance and disposition metrics for felony cases have declined and the county is rebuilding automated reporting for unindicted populations that was previously produced manually.

Naraki said the county is shifting to an automated inmate-analysis process to replace a time-intensive manual review. "We are now switching to an automated process to pull this data," he said, adding that standing up the new reporting will take several months.

Joseph Davis, director of estate and asset management, described the facility blitz that has refurbished housing units and returned some floors to service. He said seven of 11 housing units have been completed, representing a 64% completion rate; he said Housing Unit 5 South has reopened and 7 North is nearing completion, with a conservative target of March 1. Davis said the project timeline still projects completion of the first round of blitz work by late spring.

The briefing included a bed-availability summary. County staff reported 540 beds unavailable, down from larger prior estimates (the county previously had reported 744 unavailable). Davis said 1 North was re-added to the unavailable total because of repeated flooding and leaks; he told commissioners recent flooding there has stemmed largely from inmate plumbing issues rather than an external sewer backup.

Commissioners asked for operational and cost details about out-of-use facilities. Naraki confirmed 50 inmates remained at the Alpharetta facility and staff estimated the county pays about $50 per inmate per day for those placements.

Maintenance metrics were also discussed. Davis said work-order throughput has improved: preventive maintenance completion rose to about 98% and the number of backlogged work orders fell from 1,794 to about 1,661, though 606 of those are in upcoming blitz areas that require inmate movement to complete repairs. He also reviewed a $3.2 million allocation for critical repairs (including fire-alarm upgrades, padded cells and elevator modernization) and projected a May 12 completion date for the fire alarm upgrade.

Commissioners raised several operational concerns. Commissioner Dana Barrett requested aging and backlog breakdowns (for example, counts of work orders older than 90 or 120 days). Naraki and Davis agreed to provide additional aging analysis. Barrett and others also pressed for coordination between the jail assessment timeline and consent-decree deadlines, and county staff said the assessment and options analysis schedule is being coordinated with the county attorney and sheriff's staff.

Facilities-specific problems were highlighted. Davis reported one of two hot-water tanks suffered an interior leak; parts were expected to arrive Friday and the vendor agreed to install over the weekend. He said the plant's physical footprint limits quick temporary redundancy and that a longer-term capital solution will be part of the capital-improvement program.

Commissioner discussion also covered EMSI, the third-party contractor that inspects housing units and feeds maintenance work-order creation. County staff said EMSI remains engaged and inspects three housing units weekly; they noted funding for EMSI moved from the manager's office to the sheriff's budget for the current year and that the sheriff has not increased his budget to absorb approximately $800,000 in prior contract value. Commissioners asked for contingency plans if EMSI is discontinued and were told operations could continue but would lose an independent third-party perspective.

Public commenters and two speakers from advocacy organizations urged the board to pursue decarceration strategies and to focus beyond facility conditions on drivers of jail population, including prosecution and pretrial practices. Devin Franklin of the Southern Center for Human Rights and Michael Collins of Color of Change told the board they oppose adding beds and urged attention to bail, diversion use and court processes.

Where it stands: County staff said the facility assessment work will continue; an options analysis and assessment findings are scheduled for presentation to the board in June, with renovation recommendations in August. Staff asked commissioners for continued coordination with the sheriff and court partners as the county implements reporting and capital work.

Speakers quoted or cited above are from the board meeting transcript; direct quotes are attributed to staff and public speakers as noted.

Ending: Commissioners asked for more detailed aging and backlog reports and for tighter coordination between the county's assessment work and consent-decree timelines; staff said they will return with additional data in coming weeks.