ATLANTA, Ga. — By a single vote, the Atlanta City Council on Monday agreed to hand the Atlanta City Detention Center over to Fulton County for $68 million in a deal meant to relieve severe crowding at the county’s main jail on Rice Street.
The 8-7 decision came after an hours-long and at times confusing debate. Council member Michael Julian Bond tried to push the measure to the next meeting and then reopen it after it passed, saying questions from him and colleagues had gone unanswered. The council parliamentarian had to step in before members returned to the substance of the deal.
For the county, the purchase would open up more than 1,300 additional detention beds. The Fulton County Jail has been the target of lawsuits over its conditions and operates under a federal consent decree. The county already rents space in the city building, but that lease runs out in December.
For the city, the deal brings the $68 million sale price plus an estimated $20 million a year in operating savings. Atlanta would keep using part of the building for people in city custody, leasing that space back from the county for $1 under an arrangement that could last up to 50 years.
Supporters on the council said the savings could be shifted to programs that keep people from being jailed in the first place. Opponents, including Council member Liliana Bakhtiari, questioned whether more beds would fix the treatment and living conditions inside the county jail.
Mayor Andre Dickens’ chief of staff, Courtney English, warned that rejecting the sale could leave taxpayers facing a $1.4 billion bill for a new jail, with the city covering 60 percent. Officials are aiming to close by Dec. 2, and if talks drag past then, the city will pay $150 a day for each detainee. A separate intergovernmental agreement on how the building is run still has to return to the council.
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