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Fulton County presses to shore up jail staffing, unveils five‑point plan to reduce population
Summary
Fulton County officials said they have hired 48 detention officers year‑to‑date but face 34 separations, yielding a net gain of 14; the county presented a five‑point plan — ankle monitors, text reminders, bond review calendar, consolidated trial calendar and a diversion/warrant hub — aimed at reducing the jail population and speeding cases to trial.
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners on June 17 received a detailed update on corrections staffing and a multi‑part plan to reduce the county jail population and ease pressure on officers and facilities.
Kenneth L. Herman Jr., the county’s chief human resources officer, told the board that the county has hired 48 detention officers since January but experienced roughly 34 separations in the same period, producing a net increase of 14 officers so far. "We used those first two months to really get all the ducks in a row," Herman said, adding that the sheriff’s office’s average time to hire is 136 days, compared with a countywide target of about 60 days.
Commissioners and staff framed the hiring update as one piece of a broader five‑point plan designed to reduce the jailed population without large new appropriations. Steve Naraki of the county strategy office summarized the initiatives as: increase ankle‑monitor usage, implement automated text reminders for court dates, create a bond‑review calendar for timely hearings, establish a consolidated motions and trial calendar for long‑serving defendants, and stand up a diversion hub that would include a warrant‑resolution clinic.
The county reported a recent increase in ankle‑monitor utilization — roughly a net gain of about 150 monitors over three months — and said the text‑message reminders, led by the clerk’s office and Superior Court, could cut failures‑to‑appear by about 25 percent for those enrolled. Naraki said the bond‑review calendar would target unindicted inmates with bonds of $10,000 or less who have been incarcerated 30–90 days, and the consolidated calendar aims to accelerate trial‑ready cases now serving the longest terms in the jail.
Commissioner Bob Ellis, who pressed staff on budget performance, called current hiring results "abysmal" relative to the county’s goal of net 200 hires and the roughly $16.9 million allocated for the initiative. "We're over halfway through the year, and we've made next to no progress despite allocating significant funds," he said. County staff said approximately $725,000 has been spent to date on recruitment and retention and that a $10,000 retention bonus approved earlier this year had begun to reduce separations.
Staff also described other operational steps: a proposed warrant‑resolution clinic to speed adjudication of low‑bond warrants, automated court reminders due to launch by late summer, and a plan to use third‑party forensic labs with capped funding to reduce evidence delays that now cause continuances.
What’s next: staff will provide additional data requested by commissioners, including anonymized exit‑survey reasons for separations and a status update on whether the Walls Group engagement shortened hiring timelines. Several jail‑reduction items are slated for operational launches in August, pending coordination with courts and the sheriff’s office.
