By Eric Stirgus
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution
ATLANTA, Georgia — Some Atlanta City Council members said Tuesday they’re open to selling the city jail to Fulton County.
“I think we should look at the possibility,” Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd said after a work session Tuesday afternoon to discuss the city’s options. “Right now, we’re in a deficit and Fulton County has a need [for jail space].”
Said Councilwoman Cleta Winslow, chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee, “It’s something for us to think about.”
The talks come in the wake of a March report by the city’s internal audit office that found Atlanta’s corrections department overspent its budget by about $4 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Atlanta, like most big cities, is suffering financially through the economic recession.
The audit sparked debate among some Atlanta officials and leaders in Fulton County that the city should consider selling its jail to the county. The city’s corrections budget is $38.5 million. Top aides to Mayor Shirley Franklin presented the city’s options at Tuesday’s meeting.
Fulton is under a federal consent decree to ease overcrowding and improve other conditions inside the county jail. Atlanta has the opposite problem: an abundance of space.
About 1,044 inmates are housed daily at the Atlanta jail --- nearly 60 percent of them are federal or Fulton County inmates, city officials said. The county pays the city $68 a day for each inmate it guards. Atlanta has a similar arrangement with two federal agencies.
The city jail, located on Peachtree Street near I-20, has 1,314 beds.
Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution