The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
May 17, 2006 Wednesday
Main Edition
METRO NEWS; Pg. 1B

Lawyer: Jail too crowded to hold minor offenders

By: RHONDA COOK

The beleaguered Fulton County Jail should not incarcerate anyone charged by Atlanta police with petty offenses because conditions and crowding at the lockup are getting even worse, according to an attorney keeping tabs on the jail.

Stephen Bright wrote a letter Tuesday as a first step in getting U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob to use the power of the federal judiciary to force officials to take such difficult and controversial steps as turning away people the Atlanta police want locked up. Bright filed a lawsuit about jail problems that resulted in a federal court order mandating improvements.

Only a court order, Bright said, will stop Atlanta police from packing the aging and already overcrowded county jail with detainees charged with such offenses as traffic violations or public drunkenness. Such offenders, Bright said, "should not be in the Fulton County Jail."

An attorney for Fulton Sheriff Myron Freeman, whose office manages the jail, said he wants a court order limiting who comes into the Fulton facility.

"If the [Atlanta] Police Department isn't going to cooperate ... we have to do what we can," said attorney Ted Lackland. "We'd like to do it with the help and cooperation of the city, but we're not going to wait for it."

Earlier this year, Freeman asked the chiefs of law enforcement agencies in Fulton County to issue tickets or take detainees to their respective city jails whenever possible.

Bright wrote that Fulton should not bear the cost of an Atlanta police policy to pursue petty offenses aggressively in order to improve the city's quality of life.

APD spokeswoman Sylvia Abernathy read a statement from Police Chief Richard Pennington that said: "The Atlanta Police Department will continue to enforce the laws of the state of Georgia and the ordinances of the city of Atlanta."

David Edwards, senior policy adviser to Mayor Shirley Franklin, said the city had no comment "until we see something in writing."

On Feb. 3, Shoob signed an order settling a 2004 lawsuit that said the Fulton jail in northwest Atlanta was dirty and dangerous. Shoob's order mandates tens of millions of dollars in renovations, sets a cap on the number of inmates who can be housed in the main jail and two satellite lockups, and establishes minimum staffing levels.

Though the county has approved funding for the renovations, the jail, for the most part, has violated the court order every day since the order was signed. There have been as many as 400 to 500 inmates too many in the lockup and too few staff on the shift rosters to guard the facility safely.

While lawyers say they are confident Shoob will eventually issue an order restricting jail admissions, the consent agreement requires that parties involved in the lawsuit first have an informal "dispute resolution conference." The city was not a party to the suit, so Atlanta officials will not be part of the negotiations.

Bright noted crowding at the county jail escalated when Atlanta police stopped taking detainees to a city facility. Until January 2003, city police took virtually everyone arrested on any charge, including violating city ordinances or committing misdemeanors or felonies, to Atlanta's Pre-Trial Detention Center. For years, first court appearances of Atlanta detainees were done before city judges since Georgia law allows but does not mandate the practice. The city opted out when it merged its municipal and traffic courts while it was trying to reduce spending.

Bright contended Atlanta police officers are charging suspects with state crimes when city ordinances could be applied. That practice is also complicating the crowding problem at the jail, he said.

Bright provided examples of some of the people admitted to the Fulton jail in recent weeks who he believes should have been taken elsewhere.

* Duane Jenkins was charged with misdemeanor public indecency April 29 and released May 5.

* Amy Ligon was charged with misdemeanor public drunkenness May 3 and released May 13.

* Veliz Virgilio was jailed May 3 for public indecency --- he was nude --- and is still there because he cannot pay a $1,000 bond.

* Jesse Jordan was jailed April 9 to May 6 for misdemeanor traffic charges --- failure to use a turn signal, improper stopping and no proof of insurance.

"In addition, admitting and releasing people on such petty charges is taking a great deal of the time of the staff at the jail, contributing to delays in admissions and releases of other inmates. We want them out of the jail," Bright said.

Meanwhile, court monitor Patrick McManus, who is overseeing enforcement of the consent order for Shoob, filed his first quarterly report with the federal judge.

He noted Freeman has yet to comply with the court-ordered mandates, especially in regard to population caps and staffing levels. Almost every day the inmate population has been over the limit, sometimes by as much as 400 to 500 at the main jail building.

"Overcrowding either causes or exacerbates all the other problems that plague the jail," McManus wrote in his report. "It is so difficult to control because it results from a hodgepodge of policy and discretionary choices made by a variety of well-intentioned people."

Six law enforcement agencies bring people to the jail, accounting for 90 percent of the people there. Prosecutors, probation officers, judges and defense attorneys also play a role in the jail's population, McManus pointed out.

"All of these discretionary decisions are made within an intricate web of custom and statute. Uncoordinated discretionary decisions have determined the size and composition of the jail population, and it usually takes a 'crisis' like a court order to force the untangling of the web," he wrote.

GRAPHIC: Graphic: JAIL TIMELINE *
June 22, 2004 --- The Southern Center for Human Rights files a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that the Fulton County Jail is dirty and too dangerous for inmates and staff.
* Feb. 3, 2006 --- U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Shoob signs a consent order that requires tens of millions of dollars in renovations at the jail, sets a population cap and establishes minimum staffing levels. A prison and jail expert from Minnesota is chosen to monitor the jail's compliance with the order. The jail has 30 days to meet the population and staffing requirements.
* April 7, 2006 --- The first of a series of plumbing-related problems occurs at the jail. A water line breaks. A water heater supply line erupts and floods an elevator shaft that serves a visitation area. A sewer line is blocked and sewage leaks into inmate areas in the jail. Inmates are removed from flooded areas and still have not been returned to those cellblocks.
* May 3, 2006 --- The Fulton County Commission agrees to spend $55 million to replace or upgrade water, electrical, heating and air conditioning systems.
* May 11, 2006, --- Fulton Sheriff Myron Freeman says he is negotiating to bring back a consultant, John Gibson, to help ensure the jail is complying with the negotiated settlement.
* May 15, 2006 --- The judge's monitor, Patrick McManus, issues his first quarterly report based on a cursory inspection of the jail. He notes that the jail has not met any of the court order's requirements.
* May 16, 2006 --- The attorney for the inmates takes the first step required before asking the judge to issue an order limiting what kind of inmates can be housed in the Fulton County Jail.
--- Rhonda Cook