Republicans in a Georgia Senate committee advanced a bill Wednesday that would force the city of Atlanta to allow the Fulton County sheriff to use the city jail for no more than the cost of maintaining it.
Supporters of the proposal said it would help relieve pressure on the county jail, which was the subject of a federal civil rights investigation that found detainees were living in unsanitary and dangerous conditions in violation of their constitutional rights. Fulton County and Sheriff Pat Labat last month entered a court-enforceable agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve the conditions in county lockups.
Thirty-two people have died in Fulton County custody since 2021, according to the sheriff’s office. That includes two deaths in the city jail, where the county already uses about 350 beds under an agreement with the city that allows them up to 700 berths.
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