During a Wednesday meeting, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted to approve a $1.1 billion plan to overhaul its troubled jail system, despite opposition from two board members and community leaders.

The plan includes building a new special-purpose facility to house vulnerable inmate populations and renovating the county’s main jail on Rice Street. The plan is intended to reduce the need to outsource inmates to other locations and begin addressing years of dangerous and inhumane conditions.

Commissioner Robb Pitts previously said that he sees no need for a newly constructed jail and has not received any direction from the federal monitor that there is a need to do so.

The 4–2 vote was split, with Pitts and Commissioners Bridget Thorne, Bob Ellis, and Khadijah Abdur-Rahman votin

See Full Page