At 3 p.m. today members of the Fulton County Blue Ribbon Criminal Justice Commission will hold a press conference on the steps of the vacant Atlanta Municipal Court building to explain why Fulton County needs this courthouse and 500 jail beds at the adjacent City Jail to resolve the dire crisis in Atlanta’s criminal justice system — and why they have asked Congress to intervene to let this happen.

 

As reported in yesterday and today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution, negotiations between the City of Atlanta and Fulton County over this transfer are at an impasse because the City says it is bound by a 1994 contract with the federal government that reserves almost half the City Jail for exclusive federal use. Therefore the Justice Commission members yesterday wrote to Georgia’s senators and metro-Atlanta congressmen asking for their immediate assistance in persuading the U.S. Marshals Service to release the City from this obligation.

 

Acting on the recommendation of the Justice Commission, the County is trying to save the vacant municipal courthouse from demolition. The City is poised to tear down the vacant courthouse that adjoins the City Jail because it succeeded in forcing the County several years ago to accept all persons arrested by the Atlanta Police Department for violations of state criminal laws at the County Jail. As a result the City no longer needs two-thirds of the beds in its jail and has vacated the courthouse that had been used process all the arrests made by the Atlanta police.

 

The Fulton County Commission created the Blue Ribbon Criminal Justice Commission 18 months ago. It includes professors from GSU, Emory and Georgia Tech, community leaders and some of Atlanta’s most prominent lawyers. Its charge is to propose short and long-term solutions to County’s problems in its criminal justice system such as the overcrowded county jail, inadequate courthouse facilities, unnecessary pretrial incarceration and delays in resolving criminal cases.

 

The press conference will be at the corner of Peachtree and Garnett streets (see map).

 

Inquiries may be directed to Justice Commission member Prof. Clark Cunningham at 404.651.1242. Supporting documents and background information are attached as PDFs and are also available at the Fulton County Justice Commission Web site at: http://www.fultonjusticecommission.org/